Strapi vs Directus: which is number one?
Tags: strapivsdirectus, headlesscms, directuscms, strapi
Published: 2023-10-23 11:53:40

Strapi and Directus are both tools for managing website content without design. You might wonder which one is better for you. So, who comes out on top in the battle of Strapi vs. Directus? This write-up is for you, and we’ve laid out the advantages and disadvantages of each to help you make an informed decision. Strapi vs. Directus: Let’s break it down.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/uelhb6xl40g0hy8nar2o.png)

**Disclaimer**
This article is not sponsored. Our team has extensive experience working on both platforms, having developed over 100+ projects using both Strapi and Directus CMS. We are committed to providing an honest and unbiased opinion.

**Overview**
Strapi and Directus are both headless content management systems (CMS). If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, you can learn more about it in this video. Both platforms offer API capabilities (both REST and GraphQL), an administrative web application for content management, and a variety of additional features

**GitHub Metrics and Funding Updates as of October 16, 2023**

- Strapi’s GitHub repository has garnered 56.6k stars and 7.1k forks.
- Directus’ GitHub repository has accumulated 23.4k stars and 3.2k forks.

_In terms of funding_

- Strapi has secured $45 million in funding.
- Directus has received $8 million in funding.

**Pricing and Specifications Comparison**
Both Strapi and Directus CMS are free and open source, unless you choose to use their respective cloud hosting services. Additionally, it’s essential to consider the platform requirements for each CMS, which are crucial for a meaningful comparison:
_Strapi Requirements_

CPU: 2+ cores , Memory: 4GB+, Disk: 32GB+

_Directus Requirements_

CPU: 1+ cores, Memory: 1GB+ ,Disk: 2GB+

**Database Comparison**
Directus extends its support to a diverse range of six database clients, encompassing Postgres, MySQL, OracleDB, MsSQL, Sqlite3, and CockroachDB. In comparison, Strapi offers compatibility with a more limited selection, including just four database clients: Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, and SQLite.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hlox9g12xxjmgmhs1jsn.png)

**Directus CMS & Strapi CMS Use Cases**

Directus excels as a data platform, and an illustrative case study featured on the Directus website highlights its prowess. Enamic, a South African company, harnessed Directus to construct an efficient logistics solution. Thanks to Directus, Enamic streamlined data management and introduced a range of user-friendly features. These include lightning-fast global client record searches and retrievals, refined search result filtering based on criteria like name or project code, seamless image uploads directly from mobile devices, and an impressive functionality for sending project quotes as Word Documents.

On the other hand, Strapi serves as an excellent headless CMS, as exemplified by Delivery Hero, an online food delivery service based in Berlin with global partners. To empower local teams to autonomously manage the partner training center, a mobile-first progressive web app (PWA), Delivery Hero turned to Strapi. Strapi ensured a consistent user experience within the PWA and maintained visual coherence in displaying content.”

**Project structure**

Strapi’s architectural design relies heavily on local files, encompassing collections models, life-cycle hooks, and various other components, all meticulously defined within configuration files.

In contrast, Directus stores the majority of its components in the database, except for custom plugins such as hooks, app modifications, and endpoints. Here is an overview of what your Directus project’s initial setup entails

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/oat4f7dxgm3077oypzdw.jpeg)

Which one is best? It depends on what you like. Personally, We like Directus more because any changes take effect right away, without waiting for the app to restart, unlike Strapi

**Admin UI Overview**
Strapi’s admin app uses React, while Directus employs Vue. To put it simply, Directus excels in this aspect, offering better customization, speed, and overall coherence
                     Strapi admin pannel
![Strapi Admin pannel](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/d7uk431jl0lry2ztv0g3.png)
                  directus cms admin pannel
![Directus Pannel](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/5tspl2iweobkxw62w06z.png)

**Benefits of Directus Compared to Strapi**

Database Integration: Directus can seamlessly adapt to your existing database, enabling you to manage tables that were not originally created with the tool (excluding relational fields, as far as we know). In contrast, Strapi requires you to initiate your project with it to gain control over your database. While not a significant drawback, this is a noteworthy feature of Directus.

Robust Role & Permission System: Directus boasts a robust and powerful role and permission system.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3rw1voo66rfqf0e0bcp8.png)

Directus presents a user-friendly and robust permissions management interface within its admin app. Notably, Directus offers the flexibility to create an unlimited number of roles, whereas Strapi’s free version imposes an inexplicable limit of 3 roles. The rationale behind this restriction remains unclear and seems unnecessary.

While Strapi does provide a permissions management interface for roles, Directus takes it to the next level by allowing extensive customization of access conditions and per-field access.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/des89fq7bbnzqemoawfo.png)
**Directus’ Geospatial Advantage: PostGIS Support**
Directus embraces geographic object support via PostGIS, an extension for PostgreSQL that enhances SQL with the ability to handle geographic object queries. This feature is highly significant in PostgreSQL but curiously absent in Strapi. The reason for this omission remains unclear. However, Directus not only offers support for it but also implements it with grace. Don’t hesitate to explore its functionality

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9tz4st33nsld3z9whvnn.png)

**Directus’ user interface offers enhanced customization capabilities.**

With Directus, you have the flexibility to tailor your admin dashboard to a greater extent compared to Strapi, making it particularly user-friendly for non-technical users. Here are some of the standout features:

- Field Name Aliases: You can assign an alias to any field within your collections. For instance, if you have a relationship field named “product_inventory,” you can instantly rename it to “Inventory Status” for improved clarity.
- Conditional Display: Field presentations can be dynamically styled based on specific conditions. For example, you can configure it to display a red dot when a product is out of stock and a green dot when it’s in stock.
- Collections Grouping: Collections can be organized into categories of your choosing. For instance, you can create a collapsible “Sales” group to conveniently group all sales-related collections together.
- Collection Page Layout Adjustment: Customize the layout of your collection pages as per your preferences. You have the freedom to select from various views (table, cards, map, calendar), and you can show or hide fields as needed, including deep relational fields. This is a significant advantage.
- In summary, Directus empowers users with an even higher level of customization in their admin dashboard, making it an excellent choice for a wide range of users, including those who may not possess extensive technical expertise.

**Directus Flows**
In our view, one of the most outstanding features of Directus at present is its Flows functionality. Flows enable you to execute operations triggered by various events directly from your dashboard, all without the need for coding. This process is facilitated by an aesthetically pleasing user interface constructed with interconnected blocks.

[Flows](https://youtu.be/Rlof69dpZSo?si=3Pn_IH86_54R4AE9)

**Why isn’t Directus as widely recognized?**
If you search for terms like “CMS for developers,” “Next CMS,” or “best headless CMS,” you’ll likely find Strapi appearing on the first page ahead of Directus. The contrast in popularity is quite evident.”

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ss7bqcjyvg1zh42rqsly.png)

Strapi undeniably surpasses Directus in terms of popularity.

**But why is that the case?**

To be honest, we’re not entirely certain. Even though Directus has been in existence for longer than Strapi, having its roots in the PHP version prior to v9, Strapi seems to have taken the lead in a big way. This success can perhaps be attributed to their marketing department. We, too, found ourselves swayed when we had to choose between the two tools.

Strapi was presented as the future, an improved alternative to WordPress. Their website had a modern, appealing design compared to Directus’, and we distinctly remember a demo project where you could construct an entire frontend using Strapi with Next.js. It got us genuinely excited. However, after using it, we realized that the code under the hood was flawed and buggy.

In our perspective, Directus embodies good code with relatively limited marketing, while Strapi excels in marketing but may fall short in terms of code quality.

**Conclusion**
If you find yourself torn between the two options, our recommendation is to choose Directus. It not only offers all the features found in Strapi but implements them better and provides even more. We haven’t even touched upon Directus’ JS SDK, media library management, extensions DX, or Insights, but we strongly encourage you to explore them firsthand.

Avoid getting swayed by Strapi’s formidable marketing tactics.

If you’re interested in exploring what Directus CMS can offer, we invite you to begin your journey by following us on [LinkedIn](Conclusion
If you find yourself torn between the two options, our recommendation is to choose Directus. It not only offers all the features found in Strapi but implements them better and provides even more. We haven’t even touched upon Directus’ JS SDK, media library management, extensions DX, or Insights, but we strongly encourage you to explore them firsthand.

Avoid getting swayed by Strapi’s formidable marketing tactics.

If you’re interested in exploring what Directus CMS can offer, we invite you to begin your journey by following us on [linkedin](https://in.linkedin.com/company/weframetechcom).For any inquiries or assistance related to Directus CMS, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our dedicated team via Linkedin.

If you’re in search of an agency specializing in headless commerce and jamstack solutions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We understand your unique requirements and can suggest the best tech stack to meet your needs).For any inquiries or assistance related to Directus CMS, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our dedicated team via [Linkedin](https://in.linkedin.com/company/weframetechcom).

If you’re in search of an agency specializing in headless commerce and jamstack solutions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We understand your unique requirements and can suggest the best tech stack to meet your needs