payloadcms/payload

Payload is an open-source, TypeScript-first content management system and application framework that runs natively inside a Next.js project. The description positions it as a "full-stack Next.js framework", meaning it is not just a separate backend service you call from your front end, but something you embed directly inside your existing Next.js application folder, alongside your pages and components. The problem it solves is the traditional headless CMS trade-off: commercial services like Contentful or Sanity require a separate SaaS account, give you limited control over the data model, and charge escalating fees as you scale. Self-hosted open-source alternatives often feel dated or require a different language stack. Payload aims to give developers complete ownership, you run the database (MongoDB or PostgreSQL), you own the code, and everything is strongly typed in TypeScript. Here is how it works: you define your content types (called "collections") in code using a schema configuration file. From that schema, Payload automatically generates a REST API, a GraphQL API, and a polished admin panel, a visual back-office interface for editors to create and manage content. Because it is embedded inside Next.js, you can also query your database directly in React Server Components without going through an API at all. Built-in features include user authentication, access control (who can read or write what), document versioning and draft states, multi-language localization support, a rich text editor, and a block-based layout builder for structured page content. You would use Payload when building a website, blog, e-commerce store, or any content-driven application and you want full control over your data, a modern TypeScript codebase, and the ability to deploy on Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, or any Node.js host. The stack is TypeScript, Node.js, Next.js (App Router), and either MongoDB or PostgreSQL as the database.