Payload CMS vs WorkOS

Payload CMS

WorkOS

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.

WorkOS · 13 features

• Audit Logs — Standardized audit log pipeline with streaming to SIEMs (Splunk, Datadog, Sumo L…
• AuthKit — Complete drop-in user management UI + hosted auth flows. Built on top of WorkOS.
• Directory Sync — SCIM-based user provisioning/deprovisioning from Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspac…
• FGA (WorkOS) — Fine-grained authorization based on Google Zanzibar / OpenFGA.
• Magic Auth — Passwordless email codes + links. Good alternative to password auth for B2B.
• Multi-Factor Auth — TOTP + SMS MFA enrollment and verification APIs.
• Organizations — Multi-tenant B2B primitive. Attach SSO/Directory/Audit to specific customer orgs…
• Passkeys — WebAuthn passkeys as a first-class factor.
• Radar — Fraud protection: device fingerprinting + risk scoring at signup and login.
• Single Sign-On — Plug-and-play SAML 2.0 + OIDC SSO with 30+ identity providers pre-mapped.
• User Management — REST API + webhooks for user CRUD, email verification, sessions, MFA, metadata.
• Vault — Secret storage for tokens + per-tenant credentials.
• Widgets — Embeddable admin portals (SSO setup, directory mapping) that your customers self…