Overview
Payload is a code-first headless CMS that installs into a Next.js app rather than running as a separate service, which makes it a natural fit if your site is already React. It publishes an official MCP plugin in its own monorepo, exposing find, create, update, delete and file-upload tools that honour Payload's access control and can be disabled per collection — so an agent can populate content without being handed the keys to everything. Payload joined Figma in 2025 and the company has committed to keeping it open source; the managed Cloud offering is the unclear part, since its pricing page no longer resolves and the cloud login now sits behind a Figma-branded gate. Treat self-hosting as the reliable path.
Key Features
- ✓Official @payloadcms/plugin-mcp with per-collection scoping
- ✓MCP tools respect Payload's existing access control
- ✓REST, GraphQL and local APIs generated from your schema
- ✓TypeScript-native, installs inside a Next.js app
- ✓MIT licensed and free to self-host
Payload CMS Alternatives
Other Web Hosting & Infrastructure tools to consider:
