Head to head
Cosmic vs Directus
Both platforms are scored with the same methodology and the same category rubric. Nothing on this page is influenced by advertising.
40/100 | 47/100Higher score | |
|---|---|---|
| Category rank | #8 | #5 |
| Confidence | Medium confidence | Medium confidence |
| External Reputation | 70 | 70 |
| AI Authority | 21 | 31 |
| Web Authority | 9 | 18 |
| Expert Assessment | 56 | 63 |
| TOP10 User Score | — | — |
| Pricing | $49/month (Builder) · free tier: Free $0/month, permanent, no credit card: 1 Project, 1 Bucket, 2 team members, 50 object types, 1,000 Objects, 300k in/300k out AI tokens, 1 Agent + 1 Workflow, 10k non-cached + 100k cached API requests, 1GB storage, community (Discord) support | $499/mo on annual commitment ($5,988/year); $599/mo rolling monthly · free tier: Core — $0/mo: 3 user seats (hard limit), 25 collections, 5 flows, AI Assistant, advanced RBAC, community support, 30-day activity log and revision history; no SSO and SSO cannot be purchased as an add-on. Separately, the Open Innovation Grant gives the full uncapped software free (self-hosted) to orgs under $5M revenue and under 50 employees, plus individuals, hobbyists and non-profits. |
| Pricing model | Subscription with credit/usage-based add-ons | Freemium subscription with seat and collection overages; free uncapped grant for qualifying small orgs |
| Best for | Small-to-mid developer-led product or marketing teams on Next.js/React that want a zero-ops hosted CMS with AI agents doing content and code work, and agencies running a handful of client sites who can absorb the $199 add-on bundle in a retainer. | Developer-led teams with an existing SQL database who want an admin UI and auto-generated APIs over data they keep — especially orgs under $5M revenue and 50 employees, who get the entire uncapped product including SSO free when self-hosting. |
| Avoid if | You need revision history, backups, webhooks or localisation included rather than as $199/mo extras; you are bootstrapped and will outgrow the $49 tier; you are an image- or video-heavy publisher; you need large uncached API volume, self-hosting or data residency; or your procurement requires compliance certifications and a defensible reference base. | You are building a competing commercial product on top of it (forbidden by the MSCL Competing Use clause), you have a strict OSI-approved-licence procurement gate, you are a small team just over the grant thresholds facing a $499/mo minimum, you need SSO on a budget, or you are a non-technical editorial team wanting turnkey publishing. |
| Markets | SMB, Agencies, Enterprise, Indie developers | SMB, Startups, Agencies, Enterprise, Non-profits, Developers |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
A higher TOP SCORE means more of the evidence favours that platform on this methodology — it is not a recommendation, and it does not account for your specific requirements. Advertisers are never declared the winner of a comparison.