Directus Pricing (2026)
Directus runs a hybrid flat-rate model — the base tiers are flat, but expansion costs layer on top through per-seat ($50/seat/mo) and per-collection ($100/25-pack) add-ons. You're essentially paying for data infrastructure access, with cloud hosting as a separate $99/mo toggle rather than baked into the tier price.
- Core
- $0/mo
- Team
- $599/mo
- Enterprise
- Contact Sales
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Core
- 3 user seats
- 25 Collections
- 5 Flows
- AI Assistant
- Advanced RBAC
- Community Support
- Cloud Hosted
Team
- 10 SSO seats
- 50 Collections
- 20 Flows
- Granular RBAC
- Basic Support
- Cloud Hosted
Enterprise
- Custom SSO seats
- Custom Collections
- Unlimited Flows
- SSO (SAML / OIDC)
- Custom LLM
- Offline Mode
- AI Translations
- Telemetry Opt-out
- Basic Support
- Premium Support
- Cloud Hosted
AI Pricing Analysis
Pricing Model
Directus runs a hybrid flat-rate model — the base tiers are flat, but expansion costs layer on top through per-seat ($50/seat/mo) and per-collection ($100/25-pack) add-ons. You're essentially paying for data infrastructure access, with cloud hosting as a separate $99/mo toggle rather than baked into the tier price.
Tier Strategy
Core is a genuine free tier for solo devs and small projects self-hosting on their own infrastructure — no trial clock ticking. The jump to Team at $499-599/mo is steep and targets growing engineering teams that need collaboration features or want managed cloud; the upgrade trigger is hitting seat or collection limits, or needing Directus Cloud without cobbling together your own hosting.
Competitive Positioning
They're positioning as the open-source-friendly alternative to Contentful or Sanity — free to start, but the Team tier at $599/mo monthly is actually mid-to-premium for a headless CMS, sitting above many competitors' growth tiers. The Open Innovation Grant is a smart move to lock in early-stage startups before they scale into paying customers.
Growth Lever
Collections and seats are the expansion engine — once a team outgrows the Team plan's included limits, they're paying $100 per 25 additional collections and $50 per extra seat, which adds up fast on active projects. Cloud hosting as a paid add-on is also a quiet revenue driver, since many teams will eventually trade self-hosting complexity for the $99/mo convenience.
Directus Pricing FAQ
- How much does Directus cost?
- Paid plans start at $599/mo. There's also an Enterprise tier with custom pricing. You can get started on the free plan before committing.
- Is there a free plan?
- Yes. The "Core" plan is free forever, not just a trial. You get 3 user seats, 25 collections, 5 flows — plus 4 more features. It's enough to evaluate the product before upgrading.
- Can I try it before paying?
- There's no trial per se, but the free plan lets you use the product indefinitely with some limits.
- How does the pricing work?
- Directus runs a hybrid flat-rate model — the base tiers are flat, but expansion costs layer on top through per-seat ($50/seat/mo) and per-collection ($100/25-pack) add-ons. You're essentially paying for data infrastructure access, with cloud hosting as a separate $99/mo toggle rather than baked into the tier price.
- Is there a discount for annual billing?
- Yes — you save up to 17% if you pay annually instead of month-to-month.
- Which plan makes sense for me?
- Core is a genuine free tier for solo devs and small projects self-hosting on their own infrastructure — no trial clock ticking. The jump to Team at $499-599/mo is steep and targets growing engineering teams that need collaboration features or want managed cloud; the upgrade trigger is hitting seat or collection limits, or needing Directus Cloud without cobbling together your own hosting.
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Comparing Directus to something specific? Try Directus vs Algolia, Directus vs AnyDesk, or Directus vs Apollo GraphQL.
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