Alternatives to Strapi
Strapi is the best-known open-source headless CMS: a polished editorial interface, a large plugin marketplace, and content types defined through its own UI in its own tables. That last part — Strapi owning the schema — is what most people are reacting to when they start looking.
Published by Rebase, which is one of the tools on this page. Every other entry is described by what it is good at, several of the recommendations below are not us, and there are no prices anywhere — competitor pricing changes quarterly and a stale number is worse than none.
Start from why you are leaving
Almost nobody wants "the best alternative". They want the one that fixes the specific thing that broke. Find your row.
“We want the schema in code, not clicked into a UI”
Payload or RebaseBoth define collections as TypeScript in your repository, so a schema change goes through review and appears in a diff.
“We have a database already and Strapi wants its own”
Rebase or DirectusBoth read an existing SQL schema instead of generating one. Rebase is Postgres only; Directus supports more engines.
“The CMS is only part of it — we need a real backend”
RebaseAuth, realtime, storage, functions, cron and a typed SDK come from the same definitions as the admin panel, rather than being plugins around a CMS.
“It is a Next.js site and we want the CMS inside it”
PayloadDeploys as part of the Next.js app rather than beside it, which is one fewer thing to run and one fewer network hop.
“Our editors are the primary users and they are happy”
StrapiStay. Nothing here has a more finished editorial experience, and switching would be paid for by the people the product is for.
“We need a specific plugin from the marketplace”
StrapiThe marketplace is genuinely a moat. Rebase extends by writing React components, which suits a different team.
8 alternatives to Strapi
Ordered roughly by how often each one turns out to be the answer, not by any score. Where a head-to-head exists, it is linked.
- 1
Payload
Open source (MIT)· Self-host, or Payload Cloud for existing customersBest for: A CMS that lives inside your Next.js app
Config-as-code, TypeScript throughout, and it deploys as part of the Next.js application rather than beside it. Deep content modelling — nested blocks, localisation, versioning. The tighter the Next.js coupling suits you, the better this is. Part of Figma since June 2025; the repository is still MIT, and Payload Cloud stopped taking new sign-ups after the acquisition.
- 2
Directus
Source-available (MSCL)· BothBest for: A mature editorial interface over an existing database
Wraps a SQL database in a REST and GraphQL API and a well-built admin app, and it will work with a schema you already have. Permissions are enforced in the Directus layer rather than in the database, and the app owns a set of its own tables.
- 3
Rebase
That's usOpen source· BothBest for: A backend and an admin panel from one schema, on your own Postgres
A Postgres backend — REST API, typed SDK, auth, realtime, storage, functions, cron — plus an admin panel generated from the same TypeScript collection definitions. Row-level security is written in code and compiled to real Postgres policies, so authorization is enforced by the database rather than by the layer in front of it. Connects to a Postgres database that already exists.
- 4
Supabase
Open source· BothBest for: The largest ecosystem, and getting started fastest
Postgres with auth, storage, realtime and edge functions, and by a distance the most documented product in this category. The dashboard is a table editor rather than an admin panel, and RLS is written as SQL in that dashboard, which is the two things people most often go looking to replace.
- 5
NocoDB
Open source· BothBest for: A spreadsheet view over a database, for non-technical users
Turns a SQL database into an Airtable-like grid, with views, forms and automations. Excellent when the requirement is genuinely 'let the ops team edit rows'. Less suited to being the backend of an application, which is a different job.
- 6
Hasura
Open source (Apache-2.0)· BothBest for: GraphQL, especially federated across several sources
Generates a GraphQL API over Postgres and other sources with a permission system defined in metadata. The strongest option here if GraphQL is a product decision rather than a preference. It gives you an API and a console, not a back office for non-developers.
- 7
PocketBase
Open source· Self-hostBest for: One binary, one file, no infrastructure
A single Go executable with an embedded SQLite database, auth, file storage, realtime and an admin UI. Genuinely delightful for a small app or a prototype. The constraint is the same as the appeal: SQLite and one process, so horizontal scale and Postgres-specific features are not on the table.
- 8
Strapi
MIT (enterprise directory excepted)· BothBest for: Content editors, and a large plugin marketplace
The best-known open-source headless CMS, with a polished editorial interface and years of plugins behind it. It owns the schema — content types are defined through Strapi, in Strapi's tables — which is the trade you are making.
Rebase and Strapi, answered
What is the best alternative to Strapi?
Payload is the closest like-for-like for a code-first CMS, especially inside Next.js. Directus is closest if you want an admin app over a database you already own. Rebase is the answer when what you actually needed was a backend — auth, API, realtime, policies — that happens to include content management, rather than a CMS you then extend into a backend.
Is Strapi still open source?
The Community Edition is MIT. What is not MIT is the ee/ directory — the enterprise features — which carries its own licence, and the cloud offering has its own terms on top. So: yes for the product most people run, with a boundary inside the repository worth reading if you plan to build on the enterprise side. Payload, Rebase and NocoDB are MIT throughout.
Can I use a headless CMS with an existing database?
Rarely, and this is the sharpest split in this list. Most headless CMSes want to create and own their tables, because the content model is the product. Directus and Rebase are the exceptions here: both point at a schema that already exists and work with the tables they find.
Do I need a CMS at all?
Only if people who are not developers change content on a schedule. If the actual need is an operations team editing application data — orders, users, inventory — a CMS is the wrong shape, and an admin panel generated from your schema fits better and stays in step with it.
How do I migrate content out of Strapi?
Through its API rather than the database, in general. Strapi models relations through its own join tables and metadata, so reading the tables directly means reverse-engineering that. Exporting through the content API gives you the shape you were actually working with.
Don't take our word for it.
The comparison that matters is the one you run. Point Rebase at a Postgres database you already have and see how it holds up next to Strapi.
