Pick Outline if
teams of 1–10 who will start Cloud at $10/month (trial) while they file a first collection, or download Community at $0 when they will run the wiki themselves and accept “limited features, no support.”.
Read the Outline pageOutline vs Payload
Our take
Pick Outline if teams of 1–10 who will start Cloud at $10/month (trial) while they file a first collection, or download Community at $0 when they will run the wiki themselves and accept “limited features, no support.”. Pick Payload if next.js teams who will stay on the MIT self-host at $0 while they open a first Collections admin, then keep self-hosting (or wait for whatever Figma ships next) because Payload Cloud
Payload
**open-source headless CMS you run in Next
Best for
Outline Docs you start at $10 Cloud or $0 Community
Payload Content you start at $0 on your host
Free plan
Outline $0 · limited features. No support. Download
Payload $0 · mIT. You run Next.js + a database + media storage. Confirmed by the repo license and the Cloud FAQ (“Payload remains a self-hosted solution”)
Lowest paid
Outline Business $4/mo yearly
Payload Not published by the vendor
Runs where
Outline
Payload Local or hosted
Watch out
Outline Community is $0 and limited
Payload Cloud will not create a new project for you today
Last checked
Outline 2026-10-22 · getoutline.com/pricing
Payload 2026-10-23 · payloadcms.com/cloud-pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Payload if
next.js teams who will stay on the MIT self-host at $0 while they open a first Collections admin, then keep self-hosting (or wait for whatever Figma ships next) because Payload Cloud will not create a new project for a non-Enterprise team today.
Read the Payload page