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Stet vs Directus
Directus is not really a competitor so much as a different category: it points at an existing SQL database and gives you an API and an admin over it. That is a genuinely good answer when the data already exists and the database is the source of truth. It is a heavier answer when what you want is somewhere to write a blog.
Side by side.
The same seven questions, asked of both. Checked against published documentation in July 2026.
| Question | Stet | D Directus |
|---|---|---|
| Who models the content | Stet Marketing, in the UI. Collections, maps and fields with no deploy. | Directus Both. Directus maps onto a SQL database, and fields are managed in the UI. |
| Types in your app | Stet A typed client generated from the live model by a Vite plugin. | Directus An SDK with generated types that you wire into your application yourself. |
| When the model changes | Stet A removed field becomes a deprecation in the types. The build stays green. | Directus No deprecation path for the applications reading the API. |
| Analytics | Stet Included. First-party and cookieless, through your own infrastructure. | Directus Insights dashboards over your own data, rather than web analytics. |
| AI | Stet Included. Drafting, suggestions and delegated tasks, approving every write. | Directus An AI assistant, included from the free tier. |
| Hosting and licence | Stet Hosted cloud or self-hosted. Open source. | Directus Self-hosted or cloud. Source-available under the Monospace Sustainable Core Licence since v12, free below $5M revenue and 50 staff, becoming GPL after four years. |
| How pricing works | Stet $10 per user per month. Free to self-host. | Directus Free Core tier capped at three users, then $499 per month for ten seats and $50 per extra seat. |
What Directus does better.
Bring your own database, keep your existing schema, and get a REST and GraphQL API plus a capable admin over it without a migration.
The fields from that collection, arriving in the editor as typed properties on the generated client.
Set up the clientWhen to pick Directus instead.
Pick Directus if you already have the database and want an API and admin over it. Stet owns its own storage and is built for editorial content, not for fronting an existing schema.
Other comparisons.
The same seven questions, asked of everything else teams weigh Stet against.
- W
Stet vs WordPress
The incumbent. Everyone can use it; nothing is typed.
- S
Stet vs Sanity
Structured content with the schema in your repository.
- C
Stet vs Contentful
The enterprise headless CMS, priced accordingly.
- P
Stet vs Payload
A code-first CMS that lives inside your Next.js app.
- S
Stet vs Storyblok
A visual editor over your own rendered pages.
- W
Stet vs Webflow
Design, host and edit in one place, if you build it there.
- S
Stet vs Strapi
Open source, UI modelling, deploys to change the schema.
- P
Stet vs Prismic
Page building from slices, priced per repository.
