# Payload vs Strapi (slim)

> Strapi scores 65.7 (B) on agent readiness against Payload's 55.2 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do cms content. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-strapi.md (~2,150 tokens) · this version ~630 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-strapi.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-strapi
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

Strapi scores 65.7 (B) on agent readiness against Payload's 55.2 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do cms content.

- Payload: C 55.2, rank #516 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payload.min.md
- Strapi: B 65.7, rank #252 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/strapi.min.md
- Payload, good for Teams that build on Next.js and want the content model in TypeScript, with drafts, versions and localisation in the free core.
- Strapi, good for Teams that want to own their CMS and let an agent draft, localise and publish entries under a narrow token. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 80 against 70; Security & auth, 66 against 57; Payments & pricing, 50 against 45; Maintenance & community, 87 against 78; Transparency & trust, 72 against 62.

| Category | Payload | Strapi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 78 | 82 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 70 | 80 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 64 | 65 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 57 | 66 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 45 | 50 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 78 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 62 | 72 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Payload | Strapi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma) | Strapi, Inc. |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| Licence | MIT for the core and the official packages. Enterprise add-ons are sold separately through sales | MIT for the Community Edition. Code under ee/ directories is under Strapi's Enterprise Edition licence, and Strapi Cloud is a paid service under its own terms |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-07 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-03-28 | 2023-03-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | 45k stars, 1.1M npm/wk | 73k stars, 259k npm/wk |