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Payload CMS Pricing

freemiumopen source · MITlast verified September 6, 2026official site ↗

At a glance

Open-source TypeScript-native headless CMS (MIT) built directly on Next.js. 100% free and self-hostable with unlimited users, collections, and custom fields using PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or SQLite. Managed Payload Cloud offers a Free tier ($0/mo for 1 project with shared database), a Standard/Pro tier starting at $25–$35/mo per project with dedicated compute, automated backups, and 10GB storage, and custom Enterprise plans with dedicated multi-region clusters, SAML SSO, and enterprise SLAs.

Self-hosting cost

Payload CMS is open source under the MIT license. Self-hosting does not add a software license fee, but you still pay for infrastructure, operations, and any external model or API usage. Any hosted, managed, or API plans remain separately priced.

Free & cheaper Documentation & Knowledge

same category, free plan or open-source license

Ciliumopen sourceFree and 100% open source under the Apache-2.0 license (with dual GPL-2.0/BSD-2-Clause BPF datapath templates) as a CNCF Graduated project. Cilium has no software licensing fees for self-hosted or cloud Kubernetes deployments (including GKE Dataplane V2 and Azure CNI Powered by Cilium); organizations pay only for their compute infrastructure. For mission-critical enterprise environments, Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium (by Cisco) provides quote-based annual subscriptions (per-node/environment) with 24/7 SLA support, hardened LTS builds, Customer Testing Environments (CuTEs), enterprise BGP/EVPN, and advanced multi-cluster security and observability retention.OrbStackFree for personal and non-commercial use, educational studies, and open-source development. Commercial and business use (or individuals generating >$10,000/year) requires a paid Pro license at $8/user/month billed annually ($96/year) or $10/month monthly, covering up to 5 devices per user with priority support and a 30-day trial. Enterprise plans provide custom volume pricing, centralized billing, MDM/SSO directory integration, and 99.9% uptime SLAs.Rayopen sourceRay is a free and open-source distributed computing framework governed by the PyTorch Foundation under the Apache 2.0 license. It can be self-hosted on any cloud or on-prem cluster with zero licensing costs, while managed execution is available via cloud providers like Anyscale.Actopen sourceFree and 100% open source under the MIT license. Act has no licensing costs or subscription tiers; it runs locally via Docker and saves billable GitHub Actions runner minutes.
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FAQ

How much does Payload CMS cost?

Open-source TypeScript-native headless CMS (MIT) built directly on Next.js. 100% free and self-hostable with unlimited users, collections, and custom fields using PostgreSQL, MongoDB, or SQLite. Managed Payload Cloud offers a Free tier ($0/mo for 1 project with shared database), a Standard/Pro tier starting at $25–$35/mo per project with dedicated compute, automated backups, and 10GB storage, and custom Enterprise plans with dedicated multi-region clusters, SAML SSO, and enterprise SLAs. Paid pricing starts at $25/mo per project.

Does Payload CMS have a free plan?

Yes — Payload CMS has a free plan alongside its paid tiers.

Can you self-host Payload CMS for free?

Payload CMS is open source under the MIT license. Self-hosting does not add a software license fee, but you still pay for infrastructure, operations, and any external model or API usage. Any hosted, managed, or API plans remain separately priced.

What are free or cheaper Payload CMS alternatives?

Cilium, OrbStack, Ray are in the same category with a free plan or open-source license.

pricing is editorial catalog data (last verified September 6, 2026) — vendors change plans; confirm on the official site before you buy. Reuse this data under CC-BY 4.0 via /data.