CMS comparison Contentful vs Directus

Contentful vs Directus

Contentful is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Directus is a closed-source headless CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 11.

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Contentful Headless · Closed source · 14 of 28 built in
Directus Headless · Closed source · 18 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentful on 29 Sept 2026, Directus on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.

WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.

Feature comparison

Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available

Contentful vs Directus feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentful Headless	Directus Headless
Overview
What it is	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentful. Contentful stores content in its cloud and delivers it over REST and GraphQL APIs.	Source-available data platform and headless CMS that puts a Studio admin app and REST and GraphQL APIs over your own SQL database.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	Directus 12, self-hosted core tier or licensed plans, with optional Directus Cloud Version 12.4.1, released 23 Sept 2026
Vendor	Salesforce (acquired Contentful in September 2026) contentful.com	Monospace Inc. directus.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source MSCL-1.0-GPL, source-available, GPL-3.0 after four years. Free under $5M revenue and 50 staff via the Open Innovation Grant
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud Runs only in Contentful's cloud. The local MCP server and SDKs are open source.	Self-hosting Vendor cloud Directus Cloud is a $99 per month add-on for Core and Team. Enterprise cloud on request.
Built with	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, SDKs for JavaScript and other languages	TypeScript, Node.js, Vue
Database	Managed by Contentful	PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, MS SQL Server, Oracle, CockroachDB
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Free plan. Lite $300 per month. Extra Lite Space $850 per month. Enterprise on request.	Free to start Core free for 3 seats and 25 collections. Team $499 per month billed yearly or $599 monthly. Enterprise on request.
Content modelling
Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited.	Limited Migration scripts run by the Contentful CLI change the model. No declarative schema files. 3	Built in Schema snapshots are files in the repo, applied to an instance with the CLI. 16
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in 1	Built in
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Reorderable reference fields to typed entries. Studio page building is Enterprise. 1	Built in Page builders use many-to-any relations. 17
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in 2 locales on Free, 3 on Lite, custom on Enterprise. 1	Built in Translations field with related translation records.
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Images API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 4	Built in URL parameters and saved presets. 13
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in 1	Built in
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in 5	Built in
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in 1	Built in Through Flows. Core allows 5 Flows. 2 19
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Not available	Not available
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 1	Built in Content versioning with a draft per item. 6
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Paid tier Scheduled publishing on Lite and Enterprise. 1	Limited No schedule field. An official guide publishes future items with a scheduled Flow. 14
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in 1	Limited Revisions kept 30 days on Core, 90 on Team, configurable on Enterprise. 2
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 6	Built in
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Live preview inspector mode opens the field next to the page. Needs the live preview SDK. 6	Built in Visual Editor module. The site adds the Directus frontend library. 7
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Paid tier Not on the Starter Space. Up to 5 on a Lite Space at $850 a month, custom on Enterprise. 1	Limited Built from a status field and custom permissions, which need Team, Enterprise or the grant. 15 2
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Plugin or add-on Launch is available on Lite and Enterprise plan families, but requires Contentful admin support to purchase and install. 7 8	Not available
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Paid tier Live collaboration on Lite and Enterprise, with per-field presence avatars. 1 13	Built in Collaborative Editing with field locking. 8
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Paid tier Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. Free has 2 fixed roles, Lite 3. 1 9	Built in Unlimited roles on Core. Custom access policies need Team, Enterprise or the grant. 2 20
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Paid tier Field and locale rules in custom roles. Premium plans only, sold as Enterprise. 10	Paid tier Custom permissions for fields and item rules need Team, Enterprise or the grant. 2 5
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier SAML 2.0 SSO on Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. 11	Paid tier Team plan and up, or the grant. SAML, OpenID, OAuth 2.0 and LDAP. 2 11
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Paid tier Audit logs on selected Enterprise plans, by sales agreement. 12	Limited Activity log kept 30 days on Core, 90 on Team, configurable on Enterprise. 2 12
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Paid tier One Starter Space on Free and Lite, plus one paid Lite Space. Multiple spaces on Enterprise. 1	Not available
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in App Framework for custom field, sidebar, entry and page apps. 14	Built in Extensions add interfaces, layouts, panels and modules.
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Contentful Marketplace. 15	Built in Marketplace inside the Studio. 18
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Not available
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Built in API-only application users do not use Studio seats. 3
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Plugin or add-on Official AI Content Generator app with your own OpenAI key. AI Actions need Enterprise. 1 15	Built in AI Assistant on every plan with your own OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini key. 2 9
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in Hosted beta server at mcp.contentful.com and an open-source local server. 16	Built in Built in since 11.12. 10

Contentful sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans.

Directus sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Directus 12, self-hosted core tier or licensed plans, with optional Directus Cloud.

Considering more platforms? Compare Contentful and Directus with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.

Where they differ

Contentful and Directus get a different status on 11 of the 28 features and the same status on 17. Contentful has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Directus has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Self-hosting: Contentful cannot be self-hosted. Directus can be self-hosted.

Built in on Contentful, a different answer on Directus 1

Version history Contentful: Built in. Directus: Limited.

Built in on Directus, a different answer on Contentful 5

Content model in code Contentful: Limited. Directus: Built in.
Real-time co-editing Contentful: Paid tier. Directus: Built in.
Custom roles Contentful: Paid tier. Directus: Built in.
Site member accounts Contentful: Not available. Directus: Built in.
AI writing assistant Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Directus: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 5

Scheduled publishing Contentful: Paid tier. Directus: Limited.
Approval workflows Contentful: Paid tier. Directus: Limited.
Content releases Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Directus: Not available.
Audit log Contentful: Paid tier. Directus: Limited.
Multiple sites Contentful: Paid tier. Directus: Not available.

More comparisons

Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Contentful vs Payload and Directus vs Payload.

Contentful against other platforms

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