DecapCMS vs Payload CMS
Compare DecapCMS and Payload CMS for your content needs. Find out what actual users are saying about each product and which one is best suited for you!


At a Glance
Quick overview of key features differences between DecapCMS and Payload CMS. Click on any feature to read more details.
Feature | DecapCMS | Payload CMS |
---|---|---|
Basic Features | ||
Hosting Option | Cloud & Self-hosted | Cloud & Self-hosted |
Content Modeling | ||
Blog on Subdomain | ||
Blog on Subdirectory | ||
Marketer Experience | ||
Mobile-first Experience | Limited | |
Automatic Content Linking | ||
Automatic CTA Linking | Limited | |
Engage with Comments | ||
Multi-tenancy | Limited | |
Read all reviews from marketers → | ||
Developer Experience | ||
Ease of Integration | Medium | Medium |
Custom React Components | ||
Full Text Search | ||
Starter Kits | (5 kits) | (3 kits) |
Read all reviews from developers → |
What Users Say
See what users who have used DecapCMS and Payload CMS have to say about their overall experience with the product.
DecapCMS's Key Strengths
Read what users love about DecapCMS.
Payload CMS's Key Strengths
Read what users love about Payload CMS.
DecapCMS's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with DecapCMS.
Payload CMS's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with Payload CMS.
What Marketers & Content Creators Say
Hear from the users who uses DecapCMS and Payload CMS daily about their experience with the editors.
DecapCMS's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about DecapCMS's editor.
Payload CMS's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about Payload CMS's editor.
DecapCMS's Editorial Experience Issues
What marketers dislike about DecapCMS's editor.
Payload CMS's Editorial Experience Issues
What marketers dislike about Payload CMS's editor.
Mobile Editing
Find out how the platforms handle the mobile-first experience for the new generation of workforce on the move.
Decap CMS provides a web-based UI allowing content editing on mobile, but experience can be cumbersome.
Payload CMS supports mobile-first experiences, allowing content creation on mobile devices seamlessly.
"It works seamlessly on desktop and mobile (still can't believe most headless CMS admin panels aren't responsive in 2022)."Source
"Payload will give you backend superpowers... even non-technical users can independently make use of its Admin Panel to manage whatever they need to without having to know code."Source
"Users in the Admin Panel have the ability to choose between light mode and dark mode for their editing experience."Source
Automatic Content Linking
Find out if the platform supports automatic linking of related content to help user discover more content without additional manual effort from the marketer. This automatically create topical clusters of content and is essential for SEO.
DecapCMS doesn't support automated related blog linking without manual input.
Payload CMS requires manual linking using the Relationship field; automated linking for SEO is not available.
"One of the most straightforward ways to manage related content in Payload CMS is through the Relationship field. This feature allows you to link different documents together."Source
"By leveraging these relationship types, Payload CMS enables users to build complex content architectures that cater to a wide range of applications, from e-commerce sites to blogs with related posts."Source
"The Rich Text field features a Link element which allows for users to automatically reference related documents within their rich text."Source
Automatic CTA Linking
Find out if the platform supports automatic display of Call-to-Actions using AI to help users take actions that are relevant to the content they are reading.
Decap CMS does not support automatic CTA linking features.
"At its core, Decap CMS is an open-source React app that acts as a wrapper for the Git workflow, using the GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket API."Source
"Developers are needed to implement several tasks, indicating a lack of automated features."Source
"Not suitable for complex and big projects, suggesting limitations in features."Source
Supports custom components but lacks dedicated automatic CTA linking functionality.
"All Custom Components in Payload are React Server Components by default. This enables the use of the Local API directly on the front-end."Source
"You can design and build your own Slate elements and leaves to extend the editor with your own functionality."Source
"You can use Relationships to link to existing documents within the Rich Text field."Source
DecapCMS does not include built-in commenting features for site visitors. Custom types can be created but lacks out-of-the-box support.
Payload CMS supports commenting via a dedicated plugin with features like comment approval and email alerts.
"A fully-customizable plugin for Payload CMS to create a collection for comments, reviews, or other user-submitted feedback."Source
"Implement a comment functionality where everyone can comment without logging in."Source
"The community discusses challenges and features of Payload, including the need for custom implementations."Source
Multi-tenancy
Find out if the platform supports managing multiple clients or projects within a single account. This is useful for agencies, multi-client or multi-project scenarios.
Decap CMS offers basic multi-tenancy features tailored for static site generators but lacks advanced management capabilities.
Payload CMS offers multi-tenancy via a plugin that enables hierarchical tenant management, domain mapping, and isolation.
"This plugin sets up multi-tenancy for your application from within your Admin Panel. It adds a `tenant` field to all specified collections."Source
"This plugin allows multiple tenants to access different resources in the same instance of Payload CMS."Source
"Payload's Access Control facilitated a multi-tenant, "subsite"-based system."Source
What Developers Say
Hear from developers who've integrated and built on DecapCMS and Payload CMS about their experiences.
DecapCMS's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with DecapCMS.
Payload CMS's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with Payload CMS.
DecapCMS's DX Issues
What developers dislike about building with DecapCMS.
Payload CMS's DX Issues
What developers dislike about building with Payload CMS.
Content Modelling
Find out how developers model and manage their content with the platform with key highlights and limitations.
Decap CMS supports customizable content models and fields, allowing for extensive content modeling capabilities.
"Decap CMS allows you to define custom content types and fields, allowing you to model your content in a way that fits your needs."Source
"Decap CMS allows you to define custom content models using YAML configuration files."Source
"Flexible content types: Specify an unlimited number of content types with custom fields."Source
Payload CMS supports content modeling with various field types including relationships, arrays, and blocks.
"Payload provides a wide variety of built-in Field Types, each with its own unique properties and behaviors."Source
"Payload allows parent/child content modelling using a nested docs plugin for hierarchical content."Source
"Each Collection can have its own unique Access Control, Hooks, Admin Options, and more."Source
Custom React Components
Find out if the platform supports custom React components to go beyond the basic HTML components for content.
Decap CMS supports custom React components through its widget system, allowing flexibility in content editing.
"The `registerWidget` requires you to provide a React component."Source
"React Components inline interaction. Decap CMS is a collection of React components."Source
"Decaps CMS interface is constructed with React, allowing the creation of custom-styled previews, user-interface widgets, and editor plugins."Source
Payload CMS supports custom React components through its admin panel, allowing rich interactive content.
Full Text Search
Find out if the platform supports full text search across multiple fields to help users find content quickly.
Decap CMS supports full-text search across multiple fields, allowing content search across the site.
"The search functionality requires loading all collection(s) entries, which can exhaust rate limits on large repositories. It can be disabled by setting the top level 'search' property to 'false'."Source
"Full-text search refers to techniques for searching a single document or a collection in a full-text database."Source
Payload CMS supports full text search through the @payloadcms/plugin-search, enabling advanced search across various fields.
Starter Kits
Discover starter kits and templates to help you get started with the platform.
Multiple starter kits and templates for Decap CMS are available.
(Expand section to see a list of DecapCMS templates and starter kits.)
Payload CMS offers several starter kits, including an Ecommerce and a SvelteKit template.
(Expand section to see a list of Payload CMS templates and starter kits.)
Pricing & Plans
Compare the prices of DecapCMS and Payload CMS.
Comments
Find out if the platform supports comments from your users to improve user engagement. This is often a great way to collect feedback and user emails.