Payload is an open-source, code-first headless CMS and application framework built with TypeScript on Next.js. The backend runs inside your own Next.js app. You define content models in code and the admin panel follows, with visual editing, localisation, access control and authentication. Enterprise options include SSO, publishing workflows, multi-tenancy and white labelling. Payload is used as a headless CMS, as a base for applications, for headless e-commerce and for digital asset management, and works with Postgres or MongoDB-compatible databases.
The code is published on GitHub under the MIT license. Payload runs anywhere Next.js runs, so you can self-host it, including with an EU provider, and choose where the database sits. Payload CMS, Inc. is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan (US). In June 2025 Figma, based in San Francisco, announced that it had acquired Payload and said it intends to keep Payload open and independently usable. According to its privacy policy, information from European users is processed in the US. For European organisations, self-hosting the MIT-licensed code keeps data and operations under their own jurisdiction.