Moteur and Payload
Payload lives inside your Next.js app. Moteur lives beside your site.
Payload is a TypeScript framework: the CMS is code in your app, and the content sits in your database. Moteur is a hosted service on an open-source engine, and the content is files in Git. Checked on Payload’s pages.
Side by side1
Eighteen points that matter for a client site. Payload wins some of them. Each Payload fact links to the page it comes from.
| Moteur | Payload | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the content lives | Plain JSON files in the project’s own Git repository | Your own database (MongoDB, Postgres or SQLite)1 |
| In Git | Yes: each project is its own repository, a commit per save | No: the config is code in Git, the content is in the database1 |
| Who runs it | Moteur Cloud. Or host the open-source engine yourself, without the Studio | Host it yourself. New Payload Cloud projects are paused2 |
| Open source | Engine: MIT. The Studio and Moteur Cloud: not open source | MIT3 |
| Free plan | 1 person, 1,000 entries, 2,000 API requests a month | All of it, self-hosted, with no limits4 |
| First paid plan | Personal, $9 a month: 2 people, 10,000 entries | No public price: Enterprise is by quote4 |
| How it’s priced | A plan per project, with extra people, requests, credits or storage in packs | Free. Enterprise by quote5 |
| Review before publishing | Drafts and reviews on every plan. A reviewer or admin approves | Drafts and versions free. Approval workflows on Enterprise5 |
| Working together | On Moteur Cloud: see who’s in which field, leave notes on fields, and no save overwrites another’s | One editor at a time (document locking). Live co-editing: Enterprise, coming soon6 |
| Languages | Any number of languages, field by field, on every plan | Unlimited languages, field by field, free7 |
| Roles | Admin, developer, writer, reviewer, translator and billing, on every plan. No custom roles | Free, written as access rules in code8 |
| History | Every save is a Git commit, kept as long as the repository | 100 versions per document by default9 |
| Images | Transforms by URL, eight crop ratios and a focal point you set | Image sizes, cropping and a focal point, free10 |
| Forms | Built in, with a spam folder | An official Form Builder plugin11 |
| API | REST, with an OpenAPI document per site. No GraphQL | REST, GraphQL and a Node.js API12 |
| Webhooks | Signed, and retried for two hours if your server is down | None built in: you write hooks in code13 |
| AI agents (MCP) | Official and hosted: agents draft, and a person approves before anything goes live | Official plugin: reads and writes, as far as the API key allows14 |
| Writing help (AI) | Off until an admin turns it on. Credits on every plan, from 10 a month | Enterprise only5 |
Sources
- payloadcms.com/docs/database/overview
- payloadcms.com/payload-has-joined-figma
- github.com/payloadcms/payload/blob/main/LICENSE.md
- payloadcms.com/get-started
- payloadcms.com/enterprise
- payloadcms.com/docs/admin/locked-documents
- payloadcms.com/docs/configuration/localization
- payloadcms.com/docs/access-control/overview
- payloadcms.com/docs/versions/overview
- payloadcms.com/docs/upload/overview
- payloadcms.com/docs/plugins/form-builder
- payloadcms.com/docs/getting-started/what-is-payload
- payloadcms.com/docs/hooks/overview
- payloadcms.com/docs/plugins/mcp
Checked 26 October 2026. From Payload’s own pages. If something there has changed, tell us and we’ll fix it here.
What’s in the box
What you look after
Payload is free, and wonderful to build with. Then someone has to keep it running. Add what a client site needs, and watch the pile.
Payload, self-hosted
- Somewhere to run itYour Node.js server
- Somewhere to keep itMongoDB, Postgres or SQLite
- Approval before liveEnterprise
- Writing help (AI)Enterprise
- Your own code in the CMSHooks, in TypeScript
Moteur
- Somewhere to run itMoteur Cloud
- Somewhere to keep itFiles in Git
- Approval before liveEvery plan
- Writing help (AI)Credits on every plan
- Your own code in the CMSPlugins, if you host the engine
From Payload’s docs and Enterprise page. The last row is Payload’s: hooks in your own app beat plugins on our server.
Which one fits
Who’d you pick?
Seven situations from agency life. Guess, then see where we’d honestly send you. Sometimes it’s a draw.
Théo · Builder
The site and the CMS should be one codebase, typed end to end.
Who’d you pick?PayloadThat’s Payload’s best trick. Moteur sits beside your site, behind an API.
Louise · Admin
The client has a developer, a server and strong opinions about both.
Who’d you pick?PayloadPayload is MIT and free, and it lives where they say.
Sophie · Writer
Twelve client sites, and nobody wants to upgrade twelve apps.
Who’d you pick?MoteurMoteur Cloud runs them. You upgrade nothing.
Céleste · Reviewer
Every change needs approval before it goes live.
Who’d you pick?MoteurReviews are on every Moteur plan. Payload’s approval workflows are on Enterprise.
Marguerite · Writer
The writers want help translating, and the budget is small.
Who’d you pick?MoteurCredits come with every plan, from free. Payload’s AI is on Enterprise.
Claude · AI agent
The client’s CTO insists the CMS be open source.
Who’d you pick?TiePayload is MIT. Moteur’s engine is MIT too, though its Studio comes with Moteur Cloud.
Céleste · Reviewer
Two writers open the same article at 4:55 pm on a Friday.
Who’d you pick?MoteurPayload locks the document: one at a time. Moteur shows who’s in which field, and both can work.
Our honest count: Moteur 4, Payload 2, ties 1.
Moving day
Moving from Payload
No one-click importer yet. Here’s how it’s done today, with the tools that exist, and what’s coming.
Works today
Pack up Payload
Payload’s import-export plugin exports each collection as CSV or JSON from the admin panel. Or read them through its REST API.
Works today
Shape the models
Write each model as JSON and create it from the command line. Or let an agent do it through MCP. It reads a sample of the export and proposes the models. You look them over in the Studio.
moteur models create --file models/article.json moteur models create --file models/author.json
Works today
Bring the content
A short script turns the export into one import bundle: models, files and entries. The command line brings it all in, or nothing if one thing fails. Or connect one agent to both MCP servers: it reads from Payload’s and writes drafts to Moteur’s. Those drafts wait for a person, like any agent’s work.
# the export reshaped into one bundle: models, files, entries moteur imports run site.json --dry-run # check it all, keep nothing moteur imports run site.json
Works today
Review, then switch
Everything arrives as a draft. A reviewer reads, approves, and it goes live. Then point the site at the project’s channel: one REST API, with its own OpenAPI document.
Coming
An importer for Payload
We’re writing an importer that reads Payload’s JSON exports and does steps 2 and 3 in one go. This page will say when it ships. Until then, the steps above work.
Questions people ask
A reader asksCan we still start on Payload Cloud?
MoteurNot today. Payload says new Cloud projects are paused since it joined Figma. Existing ones keep running, and Payload itself stays MIT and self-hosted.
A reader asksPayload is free. Why pay for Moteur?
MoteurYou pay for hosting either way. With Payload it’s your server and your upgrades. With Moteur Cloud it’s a plan per site, from free, with the Studio included.
Try it on one site.
A free project costs nothing, and its files are yours from the first save.