Payload CMS website screenshot

Payload CMS

Open-source headless CMS and fullstack Next.js framework providing automatic REST and GraphQL APIs for managing collections, globals, media, users, and custom fields in self-hosted or cloud deployments.

Payload CMS publishes 3 APIs on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include Headless CMS, Content Management, REST API, GraphQL, and Next.js.

Payload CMS’s developer surface includes documentation, engineering blog, pricing, and 8 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
35.2/100 thin ▲ 8.2 Agent 19/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFreemium
3 APIs
Headless CMSContent ManagementREST APIGraphQLNext.jsOpen SourceSelf-HostedTypeScript

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 35.2/100 · thin
Contract Quality 10.8 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 2.2 / 20
Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13
Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 7.4 / 10
Agent readiness — 19/100 · agent aware
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 0 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/payloadcms: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 3

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Payload CMS REST API

Auto-generated RESTful API for managing collections, globals, media uploads, users, and preferences. Mounted at /api/{collection-slug} with full CRUD operations plus authenticat...

Payload CMS GraphQL API

Fully featured GraphQL API exposed at /api/graphql with auto-generated types for all collections and globals. Includes a GraphQL Playground at /api/graphql-playground and suppor...

Payload CMS Local API

Server-side Node.js API for direct database interaction without HTTP overhead. Supports all collection and global operations including authentication, ideal for React Server Com...

GraphQL 1

GraphQL schemas published by this provider.

Payload CMS GraphQL API

Payload CMS ships a fully featured GraphQL API generated automatically from your collection and global configurations. Every collection defined in your Payload config produces a...

GRAPHQL

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Payloadcms Plans Pricing

4 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Payloadcms Rate Limits

4 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Payloadcms Finops

FINOPS

Security Posture 1

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Payloadcms Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrg
GitHubOrg

Access & Security 1

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits
RateLimits

Commercial 3

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Pricing
Pricing
 Plans
Plans
 FinOps
FinOps

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Website
Website
 LinkedIn
LinkedIn
 Blog
Blog

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

X
X

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: payloadcms
name: Payload CMS
description: Open-source headless CMS and fullstack Next.js framework providing automatic REST and GraphQL APIs for managing
  collections, globals, media, users, and custom fields in self-hosted or cloud deployments.
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/payloadcms.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/payloadcms/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
tags:
- Headless CMS
- Content Management
- REST API
- GraphQL
- Next.js
- Open Source
- Self-Hosted
- TypeScript
apis:
- aid: payloadcms:rest-api
  name: Payload CMS REST API
  description: Auto-generated RESTful API for managing collections, globals, media uploads, users, and preferences. Mounted
    at /api/{collection-slug} with full CRUD operations plus authentication endpoints.
  humanURL: https://payloadcms.com/docs/rest-api/overview
  baseURL: https://{your-domain}/api
  tags:
  - REST
  - Collections
  - Globals
  - Authentication
  - Media
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://payloadcms.com/docs/rest-api/overview
- aid: payloadcms:graphql-api
  name: Payload CMS GraphQL API
  description: Fully featured GraphQL API exposed at /api/graphql with auto-generated types for all collections and globals.
    Includes a GraphQL Playground at /api/graphql-playground and supports complexity limiting to prevent abuse.
  humanURL: https://payloadcms.com/docs/graphql/overview
  baseURL: https://{your-domain}/api/graphql
  tags:
  - GraphQL
  - Collections
  - Globals
  - Authentication
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://payloadcms.com/docs/graphql/overview
  - url: graphql/payloadcms-graphql.md
    type: GraphQL
- aid: payloadcms:local-api
  name: Payload CMS Local API
  description: Server-side Node.js API for direct database interaction without HTTP overhead. Supports all collection and
    global operations including authentication, ideal for React Server Components and server-side rendering.
  humanURL: https://payloadcms.com/docs/local-api/overview
  baseURL: https://{your-domain}
  tags:
  - Node.js
  - Server-Side
  - Collections
  - Globals
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://payloadcms.com/docs/local-api/overview
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/payloadcms-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://payloadcms.com
- type: Documentation
  url: https://payloadcms.com/docs/getting-started/what-is-payload
- type: GitHubOrg
  url: https://github.com/payloadcms
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payload-cms
- type: Blog
  url: https://payloadcms.com/posts/blog
- type: Pricing
  url: https://payloadcms.com/cloud
- type: X
  url: https://x.com/payloadcms
- type: Plans
  url: plans/payloadcms-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/payloadcms-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/payloadcms-finops.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com