# Directus Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra

> With the help of Capterra, learn about Directus Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Dashboard products and more.

Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/156619/Directus

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# 

 Directus Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons

Last updated on March 13, 2026

Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team.

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[Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[Features](#features)[Pricing](#pricing)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews)

Directus

## What is Directus?

Directus is an Open Data Platform for managing the content of any SQL database. It provides a powerful API layer for developers and an intuitive App for non-technical users. Written in JavaScript, Directus is completely open-source, modular, and extensible, allowing it to be fully tailored to your exact project needs. Directus is the perfect alternative to Supabase, AirTable, Hasura, and Contentful.

## What is Directus used for?

[Headless CMS](https://www.capterra.com/headless-cms-platform-software/)[Content Management](https://www.capterra.com/content-management-software/)[Data Management](https://www.capterra.com/data-management-software/)

Top alternative

Featured

Overall rating

Based on 60 user reviews

Reviews sentiment

Positive

95%

Neutral

5%

Negative

0%

Starting price

$25

Flat Rate, Per Month

Free trial  
not available

Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products...

Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings...

Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings...

Do you work for Directus?[Manage this product listing](https://digitalmarkets.gartner.com/get-listed/claim-bx?url=https://directus.io&name=Directus)

## Compare with a popular alternative

Capterra selects software alternatives based on relevant features, verified user reviews and user interactions. Placement may be influenced by client status.

### Directus

4.5 (60)

VS.

[4.3 (144)](https://www.capterra.com/p/142300/Adobe-Experience-Manager/reviews/)

Starting Price

$25

Flat Rate, Per Month

Starting Price

Contact vendor

Free Trial

Free Version

Pricing Options

Free Trial

Free Version

Ease Of Use

4.6 (60)

Ease Of Use

3.9 (142)

Value For Money

4.9 (51)

Value For Money

3.9 (109)

Customer Service

4.5 (52)

Customer Service

4.1 (109)

## Directus alternatives

[4.4 (2,963)](https://www.capterra.com/p/76113/Wrike/reviews/)

Starting price

$10.00

Per User, Per Month

Pricing Options

Free Trial

Free Version

User Rating

89%

of reviewers

rated it above 4 stars

[4.4 (48)](https://www.capterra.com/p/88191/Agility-CMS/reviews/)

Starting price

Contact vendor for pricing

Pricing Options

Free Trial

Free Version

User Rating

92%

of reviewers

rated it above 4 stars

[4.5 (52)](https://www.capterra.com/p/168433/Kontent/reviews/)

Starting price

Contact vendor for pricing

Pricing Options

Free Trial

Free Version

User Rating

98%

of reviewers

rated it above 4 stars

Highest Rated

[Centralpoint](https://www.capterra.com/p/161470/Centralpoint/)

[4.6 (9)](https://www.capterra.com/p/161470/Centralpoint/reviews/)

Starting price

$500.00

Per User, Per Month

Pricing Options

Free Trial

Free Version

User Rating

100%

of reviewers

rated it above 4 stars

[Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/161470/Centralpoint/)

[View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/156619/Directus/alternatives/)

## Features

Features with the highest number of reviews are displayed first. Those that have no reviews appear next, sorted alphabetically.

API

5.0 (4)

50.00% of 4 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important

Application programming interface that allows for integration with other systems/databases

Content Publishing Options

4.0 (3)

33.33% of 3 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important

Facilitates online authoring and publishing of the content

Access Controls/Permissions

5.0 (2)

0.00% of 2 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important

Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems

Website Management

5.0 (2)

0.00% of 2 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important

Built-in website builder or integration with third-party site

Data Import/Export

5.0 (1)

0.00% of 1 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important

Import and export data to and from software applications

Deployment Management

3.0 (1)

0.00% of 1 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important

Manage the processes involved when making the application ready for use

Directus 50 features

Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems

Dashboard to view the status of ongoing processes, identify current incidents and track past activities

Application programming interface that allows for integration with other systems/databases

Supports audio files

Verify the identity of users/devices to enable secure access

Organize and group data or items based on various criteria

Provides a channel for team members to share media files, communicate, and work together

Configure existing workflows to meet your organization's needs

Handles digital content throughout its lifecycle, from creation and storage to distribution and archiving

Facilitates online authoring and publishing of the content

A collection of customer information such as contact details, demographics, previous interactions, etc.

Add customized logos and colors to align with company branding

Customize contracts and forms to collect specific information

Connect to big data sources

Import and export data to and from software applications

Ability to handle large datasets

Separate front and back end platforms to make coding changes without affecting user experience

Manage the processes involved when making the application ready for use

Manage digital assets

Assign categories, labels, tags, or attributes to documents for organization, search and storage

Store, manage, and track all electronic documents in a centralized location

Assemble applications and processes by dragging over and arranging pre-built components

Digital forms that are shared and accessed online

Create, save, and store files

Find & retrieve relevant data or documents

For the intention to be used by developers

For the intention to be used by marketing teams

Search for specific words or phrases within a document or database

Edit, touch up, and convert images for publishing

Identify which applications need to exchange data and enable these data connections

Tracking the status of previously identified performance measurements

Access software remotely via mobile devices

Coordinate marketing efforts across channels (email, landing pages, social media, etc.)

Manage and support multiple languages

Adjust communications based on previous interactions or personal preferences

Create, manage, or update project workflows.

Set & manage permission levels based on user roles and restrict access to only authorized individuals

A set of software tools and programs used by developers to create applications for specific platforms

Search and filter data across systems to locate required information by entering keywords or certain criteria

Securely stores data to prevent data loss or breaches

Optimize and manage the search engine optimization efforts for a website or digital content

Display aggregated data points on one page for a bird's eye view assessment

Allow users to access multiple services after entering their login credentials once

Edit text as needed

Extra layer of security that requires not only a password and username but also something specific to that user

Track revisions and updates made to files and navigate between different versions

Supports various video file formats

Use visual elements such as pre-built blocks and/or shapes to assemble a model or design

Built-in website builder or integration with third-party site

Create, design and manage workflows for repetitive tasks

Get Advice

We can help you find the software with the features you need.

Features

4.4 (60)

4.4

Based on 60 reviews

## Pricing

Value for money

4.9 (51)

Free Version

[View pricing plan details](https://www.capterra.com/p/156619/Directus/pricing/)

Community Cloud

$0.00

It includes:

-   24/7 Monitoring
-   Access Roles
-   API Bandwidth
-   API Requests
-   Asset Storage
-   Automatic Updates
-   Cloud-Extensive Features
-   Community Support
-   Content Collections
-   Content Items
-   Content Locales
-   Data Validation
-   Encryption at Rest
-   Encryption in Transit
-   File-Based Database
-   Filter-Based Permissions
-   Global CDN
-   Graphql API
-   Image and Asset API
-   Javascript SDK
-   Pause on Inactivity After 3 Days
-   REST API
-   Shared Server Hardware
-   Transaction Email
-   Unlimited Users
-   Usage Dashboard
-   Webhooks

Standard Cloud

$25.00

Flat Rate,Per Month

It includes:

-   All Features of Community Cloud
-   Backups
-   Configurable Auto-Scaling Overages
-   Custom App and API Urls
-   Multi-Tenant Database
-   Plus: No Pause on Inactivity
-   Region Selection
-   Serverless Hardware

Value for money

4.9 (51)

4.9

Based on 51 reviews

Connect with a Capterra advisor for a free 15-minute consultation

Get a personalized software list aligned to your business needs with guidance from our expert advisors. Our team has helped 1 million+ businesses like yours find options that fit their needs.

## Support, customer service and training options

Customer Service

4.5 (52)

Support

-   Email/Help Desk
-   FAQs/Forum
-   Knowledge Base
-   Phone Support
-   24/7 (Live rep)
-   Chat

Training

-   In Person
-   Live Online
-   Webinars
-   Documentation
-   Videos

Deployment

-   Web
-   Android
-   iPhone/iPad

Typical users

-   Freelancers
-   Small businesses
-   Mid size businesses
-   Enterprises

Customer Service

4.5 (52)

4.5

Based on 52 reviews

## User reviews

Overall rating

4.5

Based on 60 reviews

Filter by rating

5(34)

4(23)

3(3)

2(0)

1(0)

Mentioned topic

Sorted by most recent

BJ

Boris J.

CEO

Information Services

### "Good product with some good features but expensive for smaller projects"

4.0

Overall Rating

4.0

4.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

4.0

4.0

Customer Service

3.0

3.0

Likelihood to Recommend

5/10

October 16, 2023

Great, we went from a free to a paid plan but eventually stopped using it due to the price increase for a paid plan.

Pros

We used it on a few projects as easy to setup API for the various projects. Overall it's a good product, some issues are solved by the new versions.

Cons

Recent price changes make it very expensive for small projects.

Alternatives considered

[Strapi](https://www.capterra.com/p/170599/Strapi/)

Review source

Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

DC

Daniel C.

Software Engineer

Information Technology and Services

### "A great platform leveraged as a headless CMS"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

5.0

5.0

Customer Service

5.0

5.0

Likelihood to Recommend

8/10

October 5, 2023

Pros

After reviewing and trying a few headless CMS’, we selected Directus. We found that Directus was a comprehensive, feature rich, well supported and intuitive. The main differentiator for us was their implementation of a multi tenancy solution. I would highly recommend this platform to anyone who is looking to deliver a single CMS product across multiple organisation with discrete and granular controls and permissions.

Cons

They’ve increased (not by that much) their lowest tier pricing. For us the previous pricing was a low barrier for entry for a lot of rich features. However saying that for the new pricing you are still receiving a lot of value.

Switched from

[Contentful](https://www.capterra.com/p/134266/Contentful/)

Multi tenancy was better implemented in Directus

Review source

Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

HL

Houmame L.

Développeur

Computer Software

### "Avis directus"

4.0

Overall Rating

4.0

4.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

5.0

5.0

Customer Service

5.0

5.0

Likelihood to Recommend

8/10

January 5, 2023

Je suis très content de l'usage de Directus et suis content de sa rapidité de mise en place et de prise en main.

Pros

Directus peut s'adapter à tout les environnement de développement et permet ainsi de mettre en place très rapidement un outil de gestion de contenu.

Cons

La fonctionnalité flux n'est pas encore en place.

Switched from

[Strapi](https://www.capterra.com/p/170599/Strapi/)

C'est moins cher et équivalent

Review source

Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

Alson K.

Creative Director

Information Technology and Services

### "One of the best Headless CMSes in the market"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

5.0

5.0

Customer Service

4.0

4.0

Likelihood to Recommend

10/10

December 28, 2022

Directus has been our agency's love child for quite awhile. And it's our go-to CMS for anything bespoke. It's even more customizable than many paid competitors around that we tried.

Pros

Extremely pleased and surprised that this a open-source software. The features provided out of the box is extremely robust and reliable. I've never had an issue with it and have been onboarding a lot of clients to switch to Directus from other CMSes for the past few years.

Cons

There are pretty much no cons except that we have to set it up ourselves, but it's not too difficult once you get the hang of it.

Switched from

[Kontent.ai](https://www.capterra.com/p/168433/Kontent/)

[WordPress](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/)

It's free!

Alternatives considered

[Kontent.ai](https://www.capterra.com/p/168433/Kontent/)

[WordPress](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/)

[Strapi](https://www.capterra.com/p/170599/Strapi/)

[Contentful](https://www.capterra.com/p/134266/Contentful/)

Review source

Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

AJ

Anne J.

Front-end developper

Computer Software

### "A very good admin basic system"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

4.0

4.0

Features

4.0

4.0

Customer Service

0.0

0.0

Likelihood to Recommend

9/10

June 11, 2021

Pros

The easily AND possibilities of doing whatever we want with. With the last version, we can do everything we imagine. This was not possible with the previous version, we met problems, but the last one resolves all problems. (we add problems with multi tables connection in database, M2A, M2M, etc.)

Cons

If we create some fields, some can't be edited, we can only delete theses and do it again.

Switched from

[October CMS](https://www.capterra.com/p/230656/October/)

October is very good, more accessible for customers who wants a simple interface, but restrictive about permissions and simplier. October has his advantages with simplicity, but has the same limit. Directus is limitless, and that is his strong.

Review source

Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

AW

Alexis W.

Full-stack developer

Computer Software

### "Best Headless CMS"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

4.0

4.0

Customer Service

5.0

5.0

Likelihood to Recommend

10/10

June 1, 2021

I can start a new website, and handle it’s content management in a matter of days.

Pros

Directus allows me to do everything I want with a simple and rich UI.

Cons

For the moment there is no way to have automatic migration when you modify the database from the app, but I heard it’s coming soon.

Switched from

[October CMS](https://www.capterra.com/p/230656/October/)

Directus is way more modular and in constant evolution.

Alternatives considered

[Strapi](https://www.capterra.com/p/170599/Strapi/)

Reasons for choosing Directus

Strapi didn’t have the feature I was looking for: true ACL permissions and i18n.

Review source

Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

Jens K.

Director Product and Technology

Management Consulting

### "Best headless CMS on the market - powered by Open-Source"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

4.0

4.0

Customer Service

0.0

0.0

Likelihood to Recommend

10/10

April 19, 2021

I loved the previous versions, but especially the new V9 really excites me. I never experienced any smoother experience setting up any content management system (including the old guys like WordPress or Drupal). From a product and/or IT lead perspective, it brings you so much power for so many use cases - without a huge price tag or complexity.

Pros

It is free, if you are able to host it yourself! It is completely white-label, which makes your employees love it even more. It is perfectly customizable. In case you miss something, you can easily jump on the train and add it for your project - or all Directus users (contributing in the open-source community). If you want it fully managed, there is a cloud-version at a fair price (cheap compared to others) too.

Cons

Potential con for some people: The PHP version got more or less deprecated. There might be one version again, but focus is definitely with NodeJS. If you want to host it yourself and are not able to run Node or Docker, you might run into problems. File management could be better and more customizable (in terms of conditional rules how uploads get processed per collection and field).

Alternatives considered

[Drupal](https://www.capterra.com/p/119594/Drupal/)

[Webflow](https://www.capterra.com/p/136159/Webflow/)

[WordPress](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/)

[Butter CMS](https://www.capterra.com/p/150481/Butter-CMS/)

[Strapi](https://www.capterra.com/p/170599/Strapi/)

Reasons for choosing Directus

One though, of course, always is, if those guys are able to maintain their speed and perfection. Especially compared to better funded companies. The answer lies within the dynamic open-source approach. It enables the tool to benefit from the community to keep up with things like Contentful. At the same time, it is also some kind of guarantee for the future. While every company might get closed down in the future, open-source lives on. Picturing the worst case, you could still take over and manage it all by yourself. Other tools simply go offline and bring you headaches. This, combined with the awesome feature set (see pros) and the beautiful UI, puts it above the mentioned Contentful, but also tools like Strapi or GraphCMS. I skip the part, why headless "kills" full CMS like WordPress ;). And, of course, this kind of tool provides you with more flexibility than complete no-code-solutions like Webflow or Squarespace (but this would be an unfair comparison anyway).

Review source

Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

RR

Rahul R.

Sr. Software Developer

Information Technology and Services

### "Good to Use and Easy to deploy"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

4.0

4.0

Features

5.0

5.0

Customer Service

4.0

4.0

Likelihood to Recommend

9/10

March 26, 2021

Good easy to solve the problem if occurred

Pros

API creation and auto use of them. And easy UI to handle.

Cons

API response in long format and for the filter, we have to use a lot of parameters.

Review source

Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

Juan Carlos B.

Full Stack Developer

Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing

### "Directus... You will love it!"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

4.0

4.0

Customer Service

5.0

5.0

Likelihood to Recommend

10/10

March 25, 2021

Pros

Directus, as a Headless CMS pioneer, offers entirely free software that within a few minutes can have a full API, an easy to travel and learn app, and available with an SDK to easily develop applications. The GraphQL has been a great addition to the latest technology, and additionally, the community support is one the best I have had experienced. As I said, you will love it!

Cons

The latest version is written on NodeJS but uses a snake case compared to camelcase which is a JavaScript standard.

Switched from

[Strapi](https://www.capterra.com/p/170599/Strapi/)

Alternatives considered

[Ghost](https://www.capterra.com/p/151947/Ghost/)

Review source

Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

AU

Anonymous User

Software Engineer

Internet

### "A Great Headless CMS"

5.0

Overall Rating

5.0

5.0

Ease of Use

5.0

5.0

Features

5.0

5.0

Customer Service

5.0

5.0

Likelihood to Recommend

10/10

March 19, 2021

Pros

Easy to setup, no code configuration was a big time saver. Once I figured out what was necessary for deployment, it was a breeze. Future deployments (if we ever even need to deploy it again) will be drag-and-drop.

Cons

The docs for deploying to Elastic Beanstalk were pretty much useless. I had to figure it out by myself even though there is a whole page dedicated to saying that it's easy to deploy. Lost about a day when it would've taken half-an-hour with some good documentation.

Alternatives considered

[Drupal](https://www.capterra.com/p/119594/Drupal/)

[Statamic](https://www.capterra.com/p/183605/Statamic/)

[WordPress](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/)

[Contentful](https://www.capterra.com/p/134266/Contentful/)

Reasons for choosing Directus

Directus is free, has less bloat, and didn't require any custom development.

Review source

Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication.

[View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/156619/Directus/reviews/)

## Top-rated software of 2026

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Popular comparisons

[Contentful vs Directus](https://www.capterra.com/compare/134266-156619/Contentful-vs-Directus) 

Independent research methodology

Capterra's researchers use a mix of verified reviews, independent research and objective methodologies to bring you selection and ranking information you can trust. While we may earn a referral fee when you visit a provider through our links or speak to an advisor, this has no influence on our research or methodology.

[Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/resources/proprietary-data-research/)

How Capterra verifies reviews

Capterra carefully verified over 2.5 million+ reviews to bring you authentic software experiences from real users. Our human moderators verify that reviewers are real people and that reviews are authentic. They use leading tech to analyze text quality and to detect plagiarism and generative AI.

[Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-we-verify-reviews/)

How Capterra ensures transparency

Capterra lists all providers across its website—not just those that pay us—so that users can make informed purchase decisions. Capterra is free for users. Software providers pay us for sponsored profiles to receive web traffic and sales opportunities. Sponsored profiles include a link-out icon that takes users to the provider's website.

[Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-we-ensure-transparency/)