Payload CMS: The Next.js Backend Now Part of Figma

Payload is an open-source (MIT-licensed), Next.js-native headless CMS that also works as a framework for building application backends. Its official tagline is "The backend to build the modern web," and its GitHub star count sits at 44.0k as shown on the official site. In June 2025, Payload was acquired by design-tool giant Figma, and it now develops as part of the "Figma family."

Payload's official site lists four core use cases:

- Headless CMS: delivering content via API, the classic CMS use case
- Headless commerce: a commerce backend with product and inventory management
- Enterprise app builder: the foundation for web apps with membership and internal-business features
- Digital asset management (DAM): centralized management of images, video, and other media assets

What defines Payload is its dual identity: code-first for developers, content-first for marketers. Developers define data schemas, access control, authentication, and multi-language localization in code, while editors and marketers work in a no-code admin panel. Multi-tenancy and white-labeling are built in, making Payload less a content-delivery tool than an admin backend for an entire application. Enterprise tiers add SSO, AI auto-embedding, publishing workflows, a visual editor, and static A/B testing. Adopters the official site cites include Microsoft (which used Payload to build an AI showcase site, documented in an official case study), ASICS, Blue Origin, Hello Bello, and Tekton.

In June 2025, Figma announced that "Payload is now part of Figma." Figma is the dominant design tool, so its acquisition of a code-side backend CMS reads as a move that crosses the usual line between design and engineering. The official announcement states explicitly that the MIT license and open-source codebase remain unchanged, and Payload itself continues to be free to use after the acquisition.

At the same time, Payload Cloud — Payload's own hosting service — stopped accepting new sign-ups after the acquisition, so using Payload going forward assumes self-hosting on Vercel or your own servers. The acquisition's influence also shows up in Payload 4.0, which entered beta in April 2026: a full redesign of the admin panel around Figma's design system, using semantic tokens to make styling easier and to strengthen how the admin panel can be extended. The 3.x stable line continues to ship in parallel, with a release as recent as June 9, 2026.

Getting started with Payload takes a single command: npx create-payload-app. It scaffolds a project, and from there you add collections (data models), access control, and authentication in code. Because Payload Cloud no longer accepts new sign-ups, real-world deployments now need to plan around Next.js-friendly hosting such as Vercel, or a self-managed server via Docker.

*Vendor specifics can change, so check the latest official documentation before deciding.*

Long-running WordPress sites often carry a maintenance burden from plugins and an unpatched core left untouched. A code-integrated CMS like Payload can be one migration candidate, since it does not depend on plugin or theme vulnerabilities in the same way. That said, unlike WordPress, which could be run on PHP knowledge alone, Payload assumes a Next.js/React development team, and that is the key fork in the road for any migration decision.

It is also worth noting that alongside Payload's "code-first, human-defined" approach, a different current is emerging: AI-native CMSs such as EmDash, where AI agents operate on content directly. The two philosophies differ — Payload remains a human-centered CMS, where developers design the structure in code and content editors work through an admin panel.

Payload's defining trait is that, by being Next.js-native, it can cover both a CMS and an application backend from a single codebase. Its open-source standing has held since the 2025 Figma acquisition, and Payload 4.0, in beta since April 2026, is carrying that forward with an admin panel redesigned around Figma's design system. For agencies feeling the maintenance weight of WordPress, Payload is worth keeping on the list of migration candidates, provided the team can staff a Next.js development workflow.