# ButterCMS vs Payload > Payload scores 55.2 (C) to ButterCMS's 53.3 (D) for content management. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-payload - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-payload.md (~2,500 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-payload.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-payload.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - Updated: 2026-10-09 Payload scores 55.2 (C) on agent readiness against ButterCMS's 53.3 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. ButterCMS leads on reliability and schema & documentation. Both do content management. - ButterCMS: grade D, 53.3/100, rank #711 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/buttercms.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/buttercms.json - Payload: grade C, 55.2/100, rank #665 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payload.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payload.json - Best headless CMS and website publishing for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/cms/index.md - All 91 cms comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cms/index.md ## Which one, for what ### ButterCMS (D) Good for: A team already on a paid ButterCMS plan that wants an agent to draft and publish pages, collection items and blog posts in small volumes. Ahead on: - Reliability, 83 against 78 - Schema & documentation, 78 against 70 Also in its favour: - A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install - Free to start without a card Watch for: The Write API is a paid add-on on Advanced ($249 a month) and Professional ($399), capped at 2,000 and 5,000 write calls a month. Its price is not published ### Payload (C) Good for: Teams that build on Next.js and want the content model in TypeScript, with drafts, versions and localisation in the free core. Ahead on: - Security & auth, 57 against 36 - Payments & pricing, 45 against 20 - Maintenance & community, 78 against 27 - Transparency & trust, 62 against 51 Also in its favour: - Open source Watch for: 49 security advisories in the 12 months to 8 October 2026, 8 critical, 38 of them published since 18 September 2026 ## Score by category | Category | Weight | ButterCMS | Payload | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 78 | ButterCMS +5 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 70 | ButterCMS +8 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 64 | even | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 36 | 57 | Payload +21 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 45 | Payload +25 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 27 | 78 | Payload +51 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 62 | Payload +11 | | Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | -10 | | | **Total** | | **53.3 · D** | **55.2 · C** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | ButterCMS | Payload | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API | | Vendor | ButterCMS LLC | Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma) | | Hosted endpoint | `https://api.buttercms.com/v2` | no (local only) | | Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | | Auth | API key | API key | | Pricing | Freemium | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Proprietary service under ButterCMS's terms of service. The SDKs and starter projects on GitHub are MIT | MIT for the core and the official packages. Enterprise add-ons are sold separately through sales | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | Last release | 2025-09-04 | 2026-09-23 | | Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked | | Privacy policy last updated | 2022-08-15 | 2024-03-28 | | Customer content may train models | not found in the text | | | Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | | | Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | | | Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | | | Popularity | 6.9k npm/wk | 45k stars, 1.1M npm/wk | ## Verdicts **ButterCMS.** The Read and Write APIs have a public OpenAPI 3.1 file, Markdown docs and a status page with no incident since October 2025. The Write API is a paid add-on from the $249 plan, capped at 2,000 or 5,000 calls a month. Writes answer 202 with no identifier, support rotates tokens, and the terms are an undated website document. **Payload.** Payload generates REST, GraphQL and MCP interfaces from one typed config, with drafts, restorable versions and per-key MCP permissions in the free MIT core. The security record is the limit. The vendor published 49 advisories in 12 months, 8 of them critical, so an install older than 3.90.0 is exposed. No OpenAPI file is published. ## Before you call either ### ButterCMS 1. End every path with a slash. A missing slash returns a 301, and the vendor counts the redirect and the retry as two API calls 2. Send the write token only as `Authorization: Token `. The `auth_token` query parameter works for reads only 3. On page creation send every field key of the page type, with empty strings for fields left blank 4. A 202 means queued, not saved. Read the entry back with `preview=1` to confirm, and check a slug exists before retrying a create 5. Call the REST API directly for writes. The JavaScript SDK 3.0.3 has list, retrieve and search methods only ### Payload 1. Check the installed version first. Anything below 3.90.0 carries published critical advisories, so ask the owner to upgrade before writing 2. Send REST keys as `Authorization: {collection-slug} API-Key {key}` and MCP keys as `Authorization: Bearer {key}`. The two key kinds are separate 3. To publish, set `_status: 'published'` in the data. The `draft` parameter only relaxes validation and chooses where an update is written 4. Upload files with multipart POST to the upload collection, with other fields as JSON in `_payload`. No MCP upload tool is documented 5. Roll back with `POST /api/{collection-slug}/versions/:id` after listing versions. Versions exist only where the collection config enables them ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, ButterCMS or Payload? Payload scores 55.2 (C) on agent readiness against ButterCMS's 53.3 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. ButterCMS leads on reliability and schema & documentation. ### Do ButterCMS and Payload need an API key? Both need an API key. ### Can an agent call ButterCMS and Payload without installing anything? ButterCMS has a hosted endpoint at https://api.buttercms.com/v2. No hosted endpoint is listed for Payload. ### Are ButterCMS and Payload open source? No open-source release is listed for ButterCMS. Payload is open source (MIT for the core and the official packages. Enterprise add-ons are sold separately through sales). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-payload.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-payload.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "buttercms", "b": "payload"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare buttercms payload` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/buttercms.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payload.json ## Other comparisons with ButterCMS or Payload - [ButterCMS vs Contentstack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-contentstack.md) - [ButterCMS vs DatoCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-datocms.md) - [ButterCMS vs Directus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-directus.md) - [ButterCMS vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-ghost.md) - [ButterCMS vs Hygraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-hygraph.md) - [ButterCMS vs Kontent.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-kontent-ai.md) - [ButterCMS vs Prismic](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-prismic.md) - [ButterCMS vs Sanity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-sanity.md) - [ButterCMS vs Storyblok](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-storyblok.md) - [ButterCMS vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-strapi.md) - [ButterCMS vs Webflow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-webflow.md) - [ButterCMS vs WordPress](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-wordpress.md) - [Contentstack vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentstack-vs-payload.md) - [DatoCMS vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datocms-vs-payload.md) - [Directus vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-payload.md) - [Ghost vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-payload.md) - [Hygraph vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hygraph-vs-payload.md) - [Kontent.ai vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kontent-ai-vs-payload.md) - [Payload vs Prismic](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-prismic.md) - [Payload vs Sanity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-sanity.md) - [Payload vs Storyblok](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-storyblok.md) - [Payload vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-strapi.md) - [Payload vs Webflow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-webflow.md) - [Payload vs WordPress](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-wordpress.md)