Summary

  • Backend framework with an admin panel for content administration (headless CMS)
  • Open source (MIT license)
  • Owned by Figma
  • Config-based: Content types and collections defined in TypeScript code only (no adding fields/schemas via the UI, that then would have to be stored in the database type safety for the frontend developer)
    • payload.config.ts
  • Creates migrations for sqlite, PostgreSQL or MongoDB
  • Based on Next.js (version 16 as of 2026-05-26)
  • Suitable to run in the /app directory of another Next.js app (exposes a local API)
    • Types generated in payload-types.ts for import elsewhere
  • But also exposes REST and GraphQL APIs for other frameworks
  • Suitable for serverless hosting (e.g. Vercel, Cloudflare)
  • Automatically creates copies of uploaded images with defined sizes (e.g. thumbnail, hero image, etc.)
    • Frontend users can manually crop and set hotspots
  • Supports drafts and automatic publish/unpublish at points in the future
  • Supports autosave
  • Other content can be embedded in the rich text editor for DRYness, including specific attributes (e.g. the price of a specific car in the middle of an article about it)
  • Access control (CRUD) can be based on the user and/or the content’s attributes (e.g. whether an item is currently published)
  • Hooks extend functionality, e.g. the afterRead hook can add calculated properties

Resources

Videos

Docs

FAQ

Scaffolding

pnpx create-payload-app@latest