Showing 3 results
Strapi
Leading open-source headless CMS — content APIs with admin panel.
MIT-licensed alternative to Contentful and Directus. Custom content types, REST/GraphQL APIs, role-based access, and plugin ecosystem.
Ghost
Professional publishing — newsletters, memberships, and monetization.
MIT-licensed alternative to WordPress and Substack. Handlebars themes, SEO built-in, Stripe integration for paid memberships, and Admin API for headless.
Payload
Next.js native headless CMS — code-first, type-safe, self-hosted.
MIT-licensed alternative to Sanity and Contentful. TypeScript schema, Admin UI, live preview, REST/GraphQL APIs, and MongoDB/PostgreSQL support.
This category covers headless CMS and publishing platforms — Strapi and Payload for structured content APIs, and Ghost for newsletter/publishing-focused sites.
Strapi has the widest plugin ecosystem and the most adoption. Payload is built natively for Next.js/TypeScript projects. Ghost is a different kind of tool entirely — a publishing platform with built-in newsletters and memberships, not a general-purpose content API.
FAQ
What's the best open-source alternative to Contentful?
Strapi for the widest adoption, Payload if your project is already on Next.js. See alternatives to Contentful for the full comparison.
Is there an open-source alternative to Substack or Beehiiv?
Yes — Ghost is built specifically for newsletters, memberships, and monetized publishing. See alternatives to Substack and alternatives to Beehiiv.
What's the difference between Strapi/Payload and Ghost?
Strapi and Payload are headless CMS platforms — they provide a content API for you to build a custom frontend on. Ghost is a complete publishing platform with its own frontend, subscriptions, and email delivery built in.
What are the top open-source content management tools?
Browse alternatives to Contentful above for more headless CMS options.