Open-source headless CMS
Siteshare vs Payload
Payload is an open-source, MIT-licensed CMS that runs inside your Next.js app: you define collections and fields in code, editors work in an admin panel, and content lives in your own database. Siteshare adds no backend: your client changes the site you built by talking to it, and the content stays in your code.
| Question | Siteshare | Payload |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An editor at the client's own site, /edit, on the site you built | An open-source CMS and full-stack framework inside your Next.js app |
| How someone edits | Chat, select or draw on the real site; double-click to type | An admin panel with forms, and live preview of the front end |
| Setup in your code | None: a GitHub App on the repository | A Payload config with collections and fields, a database, and the admin in your app |
| Where content lives | Your repository | Your database: MongoDB, Postgres or SQLite |
| Who runs it | We run the editor; your host serves the site | You, wherever you run Node; Enterprise from Payload |
| Price | Free for 1 site, then $9 a site a month, down to $4 as you grow (5 sites $36, 20 sites $126); clients and builders unlimited | Free and open source; Enterprise on request |
A backend, or an editor
Payload is a serious piece of your stack: a typed content model, an admin panel, access control and an API, inside your own app and database. That is the right call when the content is data that the app works with.
A marketing site you built with AI usually isn’t that. Its texts and images live in the pages themselves. Siteshare lets your client change them there, in a draft on the real site, and publishes one commit on main after a build check, without adding a backend to run and keep up to date.
When Payload is the better choice
- Your site is an app with structured data, relations, users and access rules, such as a member portal or a catalogue.
- Code uses the content, not just pages that show it.
- You want an open-source backend you host and own completely.
Questions
Payload is free. Why pay for Siteshare?
Payload is free to run, and it asks for a database, collections in code and pages that read from it. For a site whose texts sit in its own components, Siteshare needs none of that: you connect the repository and invite your client.
Can I use both?
Yes. Keep structured data such as products or members in Payload, and let your client change the pages around it with Siteshare.
Hand it over. Get your evenings back.
Free for one site, forever. No card needed.