Head to head
Umbraco vs Directus
Both platforms are scored with the same methodology and the same category rubric. Nothing on this page is influenced by advertising.
38/100 | 47/100Higher score | |
|---|---|---|
| Category rank | #10 | #5 |
| Confidence | Medium confidence | Medium confidence |
| External Reputation | 71 | 70 |
| AI Authority | 2 | 31 |
| Web Authority | 16 | 18 |
| Expert Assessment | 63 | 63 |
| TOP10 User Score | — | — |
| Pricing | Heartcore Starter €60 EUR/month; Umbraco Cloud Starter €45 EUR/month · free tier: Vendor page meta description states a 14-day free trial for Heartcore (not confirmed in page body); self-hosted Umbraco CMS is widely described as free but the licence page was not verified | $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 | Freemium subscription with seat and collection overages; free uncapped grant for qualifying small orgs |
| Best for | .NET/C# teams and agencies already on Azure who need a managed headless or hybrid CMS where content editors are the primary daily users and hosting, CDN, forms and SLA on one invoice matter. | 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 | Your team is Node/Python/PHP-native with no .NET skills, you need more than three environments or sustained throughput above ~75 rps, you require a genuinely free or sub-€50 production headless tier, or procurement demands published enterprise pricing. | 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, Mid-market, Enterprise, Agencies | SMB, Startups, Agencies, Enterprise, Non-profits, Developers |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | Denmark | — |
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.