Payload CMS vs Convex

Payload CMS

Convex

Payload CMS · 18 features

• Access Control — Function-based per-collection/field access rules.
• Admin UI — React admin — fully customizable components + views.
• Authentication — Built-in JWT + HTTP-only cookies + API keys.
• Blocks — Flexible page-builder pattern via block field.
• Collections — Schema-defined content types with fields, hooks, access control.
• Drafts & Versions — Version every change. Autosave, drafts, scheduled publish.
• Field Types — Rich field library: text, textarea, richText (Lexical), upload, relation, blocks…
• Form Builder Plugin — Dynamic forms with submissions storage.
• Globals — Single-instance documents (site settings, header, footer).
• GraphQL API (auto) — Full schema auto-generated.
• Hooks — Lifecycle hooks: beforeChange/Read/Delete, afterChange, etc.
• i18n — Multi-locale field values + admin UI translations.
• Live Preview — Side-by-side editor + iframe preview of Next.js site.
• Local API (zero latency) — Direct in-process data access. Ideal for Next.js server components.
• Multi-Tenancy Plugin — Multi-tenant content isolation via plugin.
• @payloadcms/plugin-seo — Built-in SEO meta fields.
• Plugins — Official + community plugins (SEO, Stripe, Form Builder, multi-tenant, etc.).
• REST API (auto) — Auto-generated REST endpoints for every collection.

Convex · 18 features

• Actions — Non-deterministic functions for external I/O (fetch, AI APIs, email). Cannot rea…
• Authentication — Convex Auth (built-in) or BYO provider (Clerk, Auth0, Kinde, WorkOS). ID tokens …
• Convex Agents — AI agent framework with durable memory, threads, tool use. Works with OpenAI / A…
• Convex Auth — First-party auth library: passwords, magic links, OAuth, phone — stored in your …
• Convex Components — Reusable backend modules (rate limiter, workflow, aggregate, action-retrier, etc…
• Cron Jobs — Recurring schedules defined in convex/crons.ts. UTC, cron-style patterns.
• Durable Workflows — Long-running multi-step workflows with retries and at-least-once guarantees.
• Exception Reporting — Auto-capture errors to Sentry, Axiom, Datadog.
• File Storage — Upload/download via storage API. Returns storage IDs referenced in documents.
• Full-Text Search — BM25 search index on table fields. withSearchIndex query helper.
• HTTP Actions — Expose public HTTP endpoints for webhooks, OAuth callbacks, third-party integrat…
• Log Streams — Stream function logs to Axiom, Datadog, Sentry. Pro+.
• Mutations — Transactional write functions. All reads + writes in one mutation are ACID; conf…
• Preview Deployments — Every Git branch gets its own isolated deployment. Integrates with Vercel/Netlif…
• Queries — Deterministic read-only TS functions. Automatically cached and re-run when under…
• Real-Time Subscriptions — useQuery auto-subscribes; server invalidates when data a query read changes. No …
• Scheduler — schedule.after / schedule.at — enqueue functions to run later. Durable, survives…
• Vector Search — Native vector index on tables. withIndex + filter fields. Up to 4096 dims.