CMS comparison Directus vs Progress Sitefinity

Directus vs Progress Sitefinity

Directus is a closed-source headless CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. Progress Sitefinity is a closed-source enterprise DXP 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 12.

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Directus Headless · Closed source · 18 of 28 built in
Progress Sitefinity Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 22 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Directus on 29 Sept 2026, Progress Sitefinity 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

Directus vs Progress Sitefinity feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Directus Headless	Progress Sitefinity Enterprise DXP
Overview
What it is	Source-available data platform and headless CMS that puts a Studio admin app and REST and GraphQL APIs over your own SQL database.	Progress's .NET CMS and DXP for websites, run self-hosted or on the Sitefinity Cloud PaaS, with ASP.NET Core and Next.js renderers.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Directus 12, self-hosted core tier or licensed plans, with optional Directus Cloud Version 12.4.1, released 23 Sept 2026	Sitefinity CMS 15.4 DX edition, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud Version 15.4.8639, released 29 Sept 2026
Vendor	Monospace Inc. directus.com	Progress Software progress.com
Licence	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	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	Self-hosting Vendor cloud Directus Cloud is a $99 per month add-on for Core and Team. Enterprise cloud on request.	Self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	TypeScript, Node.js, Vue	.NET, ASP.NET Core and Next.js renderers
Database	PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, MS SQL Server, Oracle, CockroachDB	Microsoft SQL Server
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Core free for 3 seats and 25 collections. Team $499 per month billed yearly or $599 monthly. Enterprise on request.	No free option Pricing on request. DX and DX+Enterprise editions, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud.
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.	Built in Schema snapshots are files in the repo, applied to an instance with the CLI. 16	Built in Export for deployment writes module and field changes to files for source control. 3
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in	Built in Module Builder.
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Page builders use many-to-any relations. 17	Built in Page editor widgets.
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in Translations field with related translation records.	Built in Multilingual content per item.
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in URL parameters and saved presets. 13	Built in Resize through URL parameters and thumbnail profiles. 4
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in	Built in OData REST web services. 5
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in	Built in GraphQL on the web services layer. 6
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in Through Flows. Core allows 5 Flows. 2 19	Built in Service hooks with a webhook action, available on all licences. 7
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Not available	Built in ASP.NET Core, Next.js or legacy MVC renderers. 1
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in Content versioning with a draft per item. 6	Built in
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Limited No schedule field. An official guide publishes future items with a scheduled Flow. 14	Built in Scheduled publish and unpublish per item. 9
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Limited Revisions kept 30 days on Core, 90 on Team, configurable on Enterprise. 2	Built in Revision history.
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in	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 Visual Editor module. The site adds the Directus frontend library. 7	Built in Page editor with widgets.
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Limited Built from a status field and custom permissions, which need Team, Enterprise or the grant. 15 2	Built in One or two approval levels, or a custom workflow. 8
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Not available	Not available Publishing and scheduling work per item. 9
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Built in Collaborative Editing with field locking. 8	Not available Pages lock while another user edits them. 10
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Built in Unlimited roles on Core. Custom access policies need Team, Enterprise or the grant. 2 20	Built in 11
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Paid tier Custom permissions for fields and item rules need Team, Enterprise or the grant. 2 5	Limited Module Builder types only, in the classic editing UI. Built-in content types have none. 12
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier Team plan and up, or the grant. SAML, OpenID, OAuth 2.0 and LDAP. 2 11	Built in OpenID Connect and external providers such as Azure AD. 13
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Limited Activity log kept 30 days on Core, 90 on Team, configurable on Enterprise. 2 12	Paid tier DX + Enterprise includes Audit Trail. Progress sells it as an add-on for DX. 14 2
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Not available	Built in Multisite with shared content and per-site permissions. 15
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in Extensions add interfaces, layouts, panels and modules.	Built in Custom fields, widgets and AdminApp extensions.
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Marketplace inside the Studio. 18	Built in Sitefinity integrations directory. 16
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Built in Forms module with a drag-and-drop builder.
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Built in API-only application users do not use Studio seats. 3	Built in Front-end users with registration and login widgets.
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Built in AI Assistant on every plan with your own OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini key. 2 9	Plugin or add-on Sitefinity AI subscription for text generation and agents. 17
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in Built in since 11.12. 10	Plugin or add-on Sitefinity MCP Server, 15.4.8633 or later, needs a Sitefinity AI subscription. 18

Directus sources

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

Progress Sitefinity sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Sitefinity CMS 15.4 DX edition, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud.

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

Where they differ

Directus and Progress Sitefinity get a different status on 12 of the 28 features and the same status on 16. Directus has 18 built in on its baseline edition, Progress Sitefinity has 22. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Free option: Directus has a free option. Progress Sitefinity has no free option.

Built in on Directus, a different answer on Progress Sitefinity 3

Real-time co-editing Directus: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Not available.
AI writing assistant Directus: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Plugin or add-on.
Official MCP server Directus: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Plugin or add-on.

Built in on Progress Sitefinity, a different answer on Directus 7

Renders the website Directus: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Scheduled publishing Directus: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Version history Directus: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Approval workflows Directus: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Single sign-on Directus: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Multiple sites Directus: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Form builder Directus: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 2

Field-level permissions Directus: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Limited.
Audit log Directus: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Paid tier.

More comparisons

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

Progress Sitefinity against other platforms

Open the CMS comparison tool to put up to six platforms in one table.

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