--- title: "Directus Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra" description: "With the help of Capterra, learn about Directus Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Dashboard products and more." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/156619/Directus/" page_type: "product" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-10-19" --- # Directus Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on October 19, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[FAQs](#faqs)[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 Includes Free Version 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://www.g2.com/products/directus/claim_requests/new?auto=true) ## 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. [4.5 (52)](https://www.capterra.com/p/168433/Kontent/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 4.4 (52) Value For Money 4.9 (51) Value For Money 4.3 (46) Customer Service 4.5 (52) Customer Service 4.7 (47) ## Directus alternatives [4.4 (158)](https://www.capterra.com/p/142300/Adobe-Experience-Manager/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 90% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.4 (3,046)](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 Highest Rated [Contentful](https://www.capterra.com/p/134266/Contentful/) [4.5 (64)](https://www.capterra.com/p/134266/Contentful/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 92% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/134266/Contentful/) [View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/156619/Directus/alternatives/) ## FAQs about Directus Overview ### What problems does Directus solve? Directus solves the need to build and manage custom, multilingual content systems without hand-coding every backend API or forcing teams into a fixed CMS. Agencies, solo developers, and product teams use its configurable data models, permissions, self-hosting, and extensions to support client portals, mobile apps, multi-tenant products, and integrations with existing services. Answer based on 36 reviews Overview ### Which roles and teams benefit most from Directus? Directus is most used by software developers, engineers, architects, and web teams building custom applications, APIs, and content-driven sites. Front-end developers and UX designers manage structured content for digital experiences, while IT teams oversee data access and integrations. CEOs and technology leaders use it to support product delivery and technical partnerships. Answer based on 60 reviews Overview ### What company size and specific industries is Directus built for? Directus is designed for developers and development agencies serving small to enterprise clients that build custom applications for web, native, wearable, kiosk, or IoT projects. It fits data-driven software work across technology, digital agency, and connected-device sectors where flexible application architecture is needed. Features and Usability ### What are the key features of Directus? Directus includes core data management, digital asset management, authentication, and multi-language content support. Its differentiating capabilities center on a headless REST and GraphQL API, fine-grained role-based permissions, and customizable data models. Reviewers also frequently discuss its intuitive admin interface, integrations, extensions, and version control for managing content and database relationships. Answer based on 25 reviews Overview ### Is Directus good for managing client and content projects? Directus helps teams launch custom content and API projects quickly by providing configurable data models, permissions, multilingual tools, and extensibility. Agencies and solo developers use it to reduce backend work for client sites and applications, though newcomers may need time with relational database concepts, custom modules, documentation, and certain field requirements. Answer based on 23 reviews Pricing ### How much does it cost and what fees or limitations are included? Directus starts at $25 per month for the Standard Cloud plan and offers a free version. Standard Cloud includes all Community Cloud features, backups, configurable auto-scaling overages, custom app and API URLs, multi-tenant database, no pause on inactivity, region selection, and serverless hardware. Answer based on 7 reviews Getting Started and Support ### How good is Directus community support? Directus provides an active open-source community where developers can get practical help through Slack and Discord. Agencies and self-hosting teams value friendly guidance, regular improvements, and useful documentation, although responses to highly specific questions can take time and beginner support may not cover every advanced customization scenario. Answer based on 25 reviews Getting Started and Support ### What training and onboarding options does Directus offer? Directus provides in person training, live online sessions, webinars, documentation, and videos. In person and live online formats support guided instruction, webinars cover group learning sessions, documentation serves as written reference material, and videos offer visual walkthroughs for self-paced review. Getting Started and Support ### What customer support options does Directus offer, and how do users rate the experience? Directus offers email/help desk, FAQ/forum, knowledge base, phone support, 24/7 live representative support, and chat. Users often describe its community as active, friendly, and helpful, with frequent fixes and useful answers. However, some report delays or no response for highly specific questions, particularly in community chat. Answer based on 15 reviews ## Features AI summary Based on 5,238 Dashboard reviews Capterra reviewers highlight these as the features buyers care about most when choosing dashboard software: - **Workflow Management** (**58%** of reviewers rated this feature as critical) - **Reporting/Analytics** (**51%**) - **Dashboard Creation** (**49%**) Directus supports **Workflow Management**, but it does not include **Dashboard Creation** or **Reporting/Analytics**. Instead, it offers other features that reviewers also rate highly, including **Access Controls/Permissions** (**48%**) and **Data Import/Export** (**44%**). These capabilities help teams manage who can view or edit data and move information between systems more easily, providing businesses with better oversight and more controlled data handling. Workflow Management 4.0 (1) 0.00% of 1 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Create, design and manage workflows for repetitive tasks 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 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 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 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 Directus 51 features ### All Features - Access Controls/Permissions: Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems - Activity Dashboard: Dashboard to view the status of ongoing processes, identify current incidents and track past activities - API: Application programming interface that allows for integration with other systems/databases - Asset Management: Analyzes performance of assets to prepare financial forecasts, perform cash flow analysis, determine value of property, and prepare for acquisition or disposition. - Audio File Management: Supports audio files - Authentication: Verify the identity of users/devices to enable secure access - Categorization/Grouping: Organize and group data or items based on various criteria - Collaboration Tools: Provides a channel for team members to share AI models, media files, communicate, and work together - Configurable Workflow: Configure existing workflows to meet your organization's needs - Content Management: Handles digital content throughout its lifecycle, from creation and storage to distribution and archiving - Content Publishing Options: Facilitates online authoring and publishing of the content - Customer Database: A collection of customer information such as contact details, demographics, previous interactions, etc. - Customizable Branding: Add customized logos and colors to align with company branding - Customizable Forms: Customize contracts and forms to collect specific information - Data Connectors: Connect to big data sources - Data Import/Export: Import and export data to and from software applications - Data Management: Ability to handle large datasets - De-Coupled Front & Back Ends: Separate front and back end platforms to make coding changes without affecting user experience - Deployment Management: Manage the processes involved when making the application ready for use - Digital Asset Management: Manage digital assets - Document Classification: Assign categories, labels, tags, or attributes to documents for organization, search and storage - Document Management: Store, manage, and track all electronic documents in a centralized location - Drag & Drop: Assemble applications and processes by dragging over and arranging pre-built components - Electronic Forms: Digital forms that are shared and accessed online - File Management: Create, save, and store files - Filtering: Find & retrieve relevant data or documents - For Developers: For the intention to be used by developers - For Marketers: For the intention to be used by marketing teams - Full Text Search: Search for specific words or phrases within a document or database - Image Editing: Edit, touch up, and convert images for publishing - Integrations Management: Identify which applications need to exchange data and enable these data connections - KPI Monitoring: Tracking the status of previously identified performance measurements - Mobile Access: Access software remotely via mobile devices - Multi-Channel Marketing: Coordinate marketing efforts across channels (email, landing pages, social media, etc.) - Multi-Language: Manage and support multiple languages - Personalization: Adjust communications based on previous interactions or personal preferences - Project Workflow: Create, manage, or update project workflows. - Role-Based Permissions: Set & manage permission levels based on user roles and restrict access to only authorized individuals - SDKs: A set of software tools and programs used by developers to create applications for specific platforms - Search/Filter: Search and filter data across systems to locate required information by entering keywords or certain criteria - Secure Data Storage: Securely stores data to prevent data loss or breaches - SEO Management: Optimize and manage the search engine optimization efforts for a website or digital content - Single Page View: Display aggregated data points on one page for a bird's eye view assessment - Single Sign On: Allow users to access multiple services after entering their login credentials once - Text Editing: Edit text as needed - Two-Factor Authentication: Extra layer of security that requires not only a password and username but also something specific to that user - Version Control: Track revisions and updates made to files and navigate between different versions - Video Support: Supports various video file formats - Visual Modeling: Use visual elements such as pre-built blocks and/or shapes to assemble a model or design - Website Management: Built-in website builder or integration with third-party site - Workflow Management: 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: - Region Selection - Backups - Configurable Auto-Scaling Overages - Custom App and API Urls - Multi-Tenant Database - Plus: No Pause on Inactivity - All Features of Community Cloud - Serverless Hardware Enterprise Contact Vendor for Pricing It includes: - Advanced Caching - All Features of Standard Cloud - Custom Auto-Scaling Overages - Custom Extensions - Custom Rate Limiting - Dedicated Hardware - LDAP Support. - Plus: Single-Tenant Database - Premium Support and SLA - Remote Database Access - Single Sign-on - Uptime SLA - Version Locking 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 Counts reflect reviews available in this feed. 5(34) 4(23) 3(3) 2(0) 1(0) Mentioned topic Recent reviews first, then most helpful RE Reviewer Director Product and Technology Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "Best headless CMS on the market - powered by Open-Source" 5.0 April 20, 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). 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. RE Reviewer Software Engineer Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "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 11, 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. 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. RE Reviewer Front-end developer Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Fantastic concept, medium user experience" 3.0 Overall Rating 3.0 3.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 February 7, 2020 Until now the experience is good: I like the idea and it works for the project that we started with Directus. We still need to resolve some issues, like how to properly manage pages and SEO data or how to overcome the lack of the repeater field, but it's working well. The experience with the support was fantastic. \[SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN\] was kind and friendly, in spite of my incompetence. I appreciate the enthusiasm and the open source spirit. Sometimes I experienced some limits for the reasons mentioned early, but I'm happy. Pros I love the concept behind Directus: the idea to freely create a database in an easy way, organizing the content as you need or as you imagined it. I come from Kirby CM and Craft CMS and doing websites in which the custom design is the key, it's important to us to shape our content as we want. It's easy to install, the Slack support is friendly and helpful. In the search for the perfect headless CMS solution, it was my choice, also because it's open source and at the moment the pricing of others options is over budget for our clients. We were ok paying a fee for a license, but not a perpetual subscription. Moreover, a key point in the decision to adopt it is the self-hosted solution: we wanted to avoid every possible lock-in. Finally, the stack: working in a communication agency, we are not software engineers: PHP + Vue.js it's a perfect combination. React and node.js onthe server was a switch too big to take another leap. Cons Above all, the bugs: being open source and free it's normal, but it is frustrating in the measure we decided to use it for clients works. Second: the lack of documentation for the interfaces or for the detailed use of the JS SDK. Moreover, sometimes I felt overwhelmed by the technical details of the interface. I don't have competence in relational databases and to me too much things doesn't have a meaning. But I'm mainly a front-end developer that try to be "independent", so I think that it's normal. Finally: the lack of a good repeater. At the moment it's impossible to use a file field in it, or to repeat a group of field. For us it's almost a strict requirement for clients projects. 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. VR Verified Reviewer frontend developer Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Great headless CMS" 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 8/10 February 7, 2020 Pros You can manage your collections and content through good looking administration, you create (even complex) relationships between the collections, there is a support to manage localized content. Your content is served through REST or GraphQL API that is simple learn. Good support of roles and permissions who can consume the content through API. There is a good extensions support for both APP and API. Easy deployement with Docker. Cons Performance of API calls for more complex data (relation) can be a bit sluggish, but it can be solved by setting up cache. There are bugs that take a long time to solve. GraphQL API has still lacking features compared to REST API. 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. RE Reviewer Software Engineer Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Excellent headless CMS " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 February 13, 2020 I have a very difficult multi-platform usecase involving languages from R/Python, reproducible data slicing, on the fly dataset creation all the way to front-end react, pregenerated app (gatsby) in a single build command. Directus is my sole source of truth, what I use to back this whole thing. This allows me to use the same translations and metadata for everything no matter if I am in R or Javascript consuming graphql, either on production client code or in static pregeneration stage in gatsby. There are other headless apis that can do this, but I cannot self host them and I need to be able to very quickly generate large datasets on the database as I research and tear them down in the same base as the CMS for the app. That is, I need this to run on my computer first. This is where directus knocked it out of the park for me. Also, docker setup is touch and go. Nothing needed. It is just great. Pros This is Free and Open Source Software at its best. Directus has a great, well tended community, excellent developers, many options and lots of friendly answers to real questions. I have not found any other headless API I can self host in amazon or wherever I want. This makes for a local development cycle, short time to market, very easy to prototybe setup for example for react/gatsby apps. Cons The app where you manage the database still needs a bit more documentation. It does not lack features, but some features lack propper documentation. I hope to help on this in the future! 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. RE Reviewer Head of Delivery Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "Best headless open source CMS" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 February 7, 2020 We're creating a completely custom web in which you can reuse components. Pros It's community support, open-source, and features. Nothing to envy from really expensive proprietary CMS. Cons Breaking changes in updates, lack of Many to Any support on App, failures updating large datasets with relationships, lack of a tool to perform migrations between environments and long URLs to consume. All of which are getting addressed at the moment :) 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. RE Reviewer Senior Software Engineer Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Great product that is still young" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 February 7, 2020 We had departments using many different CMS's. They ranged from extremely expensive to open source projects. While Directus is not perfect, it has proven to be better than all the others. We have actively tried to improve the product, and we find that the others in the community do the same. Also, and this is a HUGE value, the response to questions and issues within the Directus-Slack channel is amazing! Actually, the communication and support from this organization is impeccable. Friendly, helpful, understanding. Just out of a sense of loyalty to such good people, I will want to stay with them. Pros The interface is very friendly, and as the product matures, the installation is becoming better. Cons This is not an enterprise-level application, yet. It has a number of tiny gotchas that one has to learn about. One can still do most anything they desire. 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. RE Reviewer Developper Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Directus, your friend and your first backend services (headless cms)" 4.0 February 7, 2020 We build our api with the minimum technical ressources. Since I'm the only dev, it allow me to stay focus on the main product. A must have for starting projects. Pros Directus will allow you to create instant database with all security layers you may need for an api (auth, ...) Cons The data ownership by users is quite a pain (e.g : You want to create an item through a webhook and attribute it to a specific user) and user registration through api require some custom code to follow your expectation. 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. RE Reviewer CEO Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "One of the greats" 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 February 23, 2021 Pros I'll start with the flexibility, you can create and edit every table in real-time and in an easy-to-use GUI. Best part is this can be clamped onto any SQL database and it will just start working then you can setup the table existing into the software. Cons Well I mean it's not quite and intuitive as something like WordPress but point people in the correct direction and they soon get the hang of it 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. RE Reviewer Developer Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Awesome piece of software" 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 February 23, 2021 I've had to learn express and knex to implement custom endpoints and I really enjoy doing things this way. I also started using it's javascript sdk client and it's simply awesome! Pros It's really easy to setup and encourages to learn new technologies Cons It's not really done yet, I mean Directus is switching from PHP to Nodejs and this is a long proccess that is still happening and the documentation is not complete yet. 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. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/156619/Directus/reviews/) ## Top-rated software of 2026 ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. Popular comparisons [Contentful vs Directus](https://www.capterra.com/compare/134266-156619/Contentful-vs-Directus)