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Directus
Data at Your Command
5.0
(31)
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Directus Reviews & Product Details

Directus Overview
What is Directus?

DatoCMS is a cloud-based content management system designed for digital agencies, developers, and content creators. It offers a sleek and user-friendly interface, making it easy to manage, store and distribute content. Among its core features, its ability to integrate with multiple platforms and frameworks, providing a streamlined workflow for developers and content creators is its most notable feature. Additionally, DatoCMS offers robust security measures and scalable hosting, making it a reliable and secure solution for businesses.

Company Monospace Inc
Year founded 2004
Company size 11-50 employees
Headquarters New York, NY, United States
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Directus Product Details
Capabilities
API
CLI
OSS
Segment
Small Business
Mid Market
Enterprise
Deployment Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Desktop Linux, Desktop Mac, Desktop Windows, On-Premise Linux, On-Premise Windows
Support 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support
Training Documentation
Languages English
Directus Features
API-first Architecture
Analytics/Reporting
Backup & Restore
Collaboration Tools
Content Modeling
Content Previews
Content Scheduling
Content Search
Content Tagging & Categorization
Content Versioning
Content Workflows
Custom Content Types
Customizable Content Delivery
Developer-friendly SDKs
GraphQL Support
Headless Ecommerce Integration
Localization
Media Library
Multi-language Support
Multi-site Management
Performance Optimization
Personalization
RESTful API
Rich Text Editor
SEO Management
Scalability
Security & Authentication
Third-party Integrations
User Role Management
Webhooks
Directus Media
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Disclaimer
Our research is curated from diverse authoritative sources and meant to offer general advice. We don’t guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each use-case, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services. Feel free to share your feedback.
Last updated: November 02, 2024
Directus Logo
31 Directus Reviews
5.0 out of 5
Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Dec 12, 2023
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
IL
Ithan L.
Founder
Share
"More then just a CMS"
What do you like best about Directus?

( This is GPT *corrected*, but an honest review! ) Directus is a total lifesaver if you're juggling database stuff. It's like having a magic wand for creating tables super fast. But wait, there's more! It also takes care of the boring bits like making forms, cool UIs, and even validations. What's really cool? Custom views for each user. Yup, it personalizes things so everyone gets what they need. And for the tech-savvy, there's a killer API, GraphQL, and even real-time updates with sockets! In short, Directus is not just another tool; it's your go-to for making database management a breeze and a lot more fun. 🚀👍

What do you dislike about Directus?

Honestly, I'm not sure! There is nothing that I dislike, maybe I would like to have a better UI for flows? but that's about it

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Directus has been a game-changer for us by streamlining all our database needs. It allows us to easily create tables and store our data, which we can then access either through PostgreSQL queries or ready-to-use API endpoints. This saves us a ton of time since we don't have to build these APIs or UIs ourselves. It's made managing our data simpler and more efficient, letting us focus on other important aspects of our projects.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Dec 10, 2023
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Lucas S. avatar
Lucas S.
Senior Business Intelligence Analyst North East Link
Share
"Highly recommended!"
What do you like best about Directus?

It takes all the complexity out of being a front end, back end, and database developer. Point and click with a significant number of possibilities, and it takes such a tiny amount of time to deliver a POC and not much longer to release something fully featured. The inclusion of Flows has been an absolute game changer and I can't imagine living without them.

What do you dislike about Directus?

I get anxiety when there are new releases - it's not rare for a new feature or tweak to break an old one, and these regressions sometimes don't get prioritized like they should.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

We don't have a software team, so do not have any front end devs and myself as the solo member of a back end team focusing on data. I can do all the behind the scenes work using data studio and not have to worry about the front end, as the Data Studio is a pretty reasonable replacement for building your own front end.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Dec 09, 2023
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Stefan I. avatar
Stefan I.
Jamstack Developer
Share
"Top notch headless CMS"
What do you like best about Directus?

As a user of Directus for a web application, I am continually impressed by its robust and flexible features. Directus stands out as a headless CMS for its seamless data management capabilities, it provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface that makes handling complex data structures a breeze. One of the key strengths of Directus is its ability to serve as an effective data layer for web applications. It offers a powerful API that allows for efficient data retrieval and manipulation. This has significantly streamlined the development process for my web application, enabling me to focus on creating a rich user experience rather than worrying about data management. Directus also shines in its extensibility. With a wide range of modules and extensions available, it provides the flexibility to customize the CMS to fit specific project needs. The support I am receiving when using their Directus Cloud service is also impressive, getting answers in matter of minutes! In conclusion, Directus has proven to be an invaluable tool in the development of my web application. Its robust features, intuitive interface, and flexibility make it a top choice for any developer looking for an effective headless CMS solution. I look forward to continuing to use Directus in future projects and would highly recommend it to others.

What do you dislike about Directus?

I can't think of anything I do not dislike.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Directus solves the problem of managing and structuring content for my web application in a database-agnostic way. It provides a powerful API and an intuitive interface for handling complex data structures. This benefits me by streamlining the development process, allowing me to focus on creating a rich user experience rather than worrying about data management. It also offers flexibility to customize the CMS to fit specific project needs, which is invaluable for tailoring applications to unique requirements.

Mid Market (51-1000 emp.)
Dec 08, 2023
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
BR
Benjamin R.
Web Developer
Share
"Fantastic DB CMS"
What do you like best about Directus?

Directus allows for incredibly powerful usage of your database, all without touching any SQL. Nothing is proprietary, all of it is just your DB and the data. Through the API, you can easily do anything with your data that you want. There are so many opportunities to customize the dashboard and app itself, making it especially useful for allowing users to easily manipulate data (but with the permissions - only as much as you want them to). With extensions, you can make it do basically anything you can think of for a backend to do. Creating custom hooks, endpoints, interfaces, and whole visual panels. Also, their support team (shoutout Will/Jonathan/José!) is top-notch with their enterprise plans, and the Discord server is very active and willing to help. I use it for multiple projects, and spinning up each project just keeps getting easier as I know all the things Directus can do.

What do you dislike about Directus?

One potential downside is documentation. They are getting much better at documenting new features and ways of doing things, but some things you may still need to ask questions on in the Discord to get an idea of how it works. I find myself referencing source code sometimes to just get my head around how something works, since the docs either don't really cover it or the docs aren't fleshed out enough. But again, the Discord (and their support if you have that plan/Enterprise) is extremely useful for this.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

No other DB CMS we found allows for the combo power + ease-of-use that Directus does. We use it to allow user data entry, web front-end display/filtering/sorting of collection items, and automatic systems pulling from APIs. We've heavily expanded our business operations and increased revenue due to what Directus has enabled us to do.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Oct 04, 2023
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
MJ
Maik J.
Founder
Share
"Universal data platform with smart UI on top of a RDBMS"
What do you like best about Directus?

Directus is easy to use and combines a lot features: easy-to-use REST- & GraphQL-APIs for developers, a smart User-Interface for clients, data modeling tools for business analysts.

What do you dislike about Directus?

Directus could be improved at the core with a CMS-like interface (structured content editor), so you don't have to rely on 3rd-party plugins for this use case.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Directus creates a very short feedback loop between business analysts modeling data structures, developers using the automated APIs to develop applications and clients entering their data in pretty & flexible forms.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jul 09, 2023
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
ME
Magnus E.
Founder
Share
"Extremely versatile open source headless cms"
What do you like best about Directus?

Probably the best headleass CMS out there, and all the built-in components and modules makes Directus the perfect choice for whatever project you are trying to build. Besides the pure database modelling capabilities, the Directus Flows is awesome when needing more complex features. The role-based access control is superb and enables granular control of who gets access to what. And that the admin-interface is entirely build with Vue js is an added benefit for me, but abolutely no knowledge of Vue is need to get the most out of Directus.

What do you dislike about Directus?

Not much actually, considering that its so feature rich and customizable its hard to dislike anything about Directus, although the learing curve might be a tiny bit steep for beginners, but due to great documentations, tutorials and the community that is not really an obsctale at all.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Modelling the database and having granular role-based access control makes Directus achieve my application requirements.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Mar 30, 2023
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
NT
Nils T.
Founder
Share
"Save me a lot of time, every day"
What do you like best about Directus?

Iterative app design is made incredibly easy with Directus as a backend. Its ability to generate consistent and reliable database structures and APIs has allowed me to quickly prototype, test, and deploy new versions of my app without any hassle. Highly extensible by nature. This has enabled me to customize and expand my applications according to my specific requirements. The platform's open-source nature allows for seamless integration of custom extensions, ensuring that I can tailor my app to my exact needs.

What do you dislike about Directus?

Sometimes new features are pushed too quickly into release, and I have developed the habit of waiting several months before using them in production.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

The WYSIWYG database generation enables quick schema iteration, streamlining the design process. A visually appealing and functional backend is generated automatically as you build your database, enhancing admins experience and allowing non techs admins to tack full control over the data. The excellent API and SDK provided by Directus significantly reduce development time, increasing efficiency and productivity.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Oct 16, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Valentin B. avatar
Valentin B.
Founder
Share
"We use this instead of Firebase, Hasura or Supabase"
What do you like best about Directus?

It's like a self-hosted Firebase or hasura for SQL databases. It can also serve as a backend app to manage your data. A javascript sdk can be used in React, Vue, Svelte, etc. Also offers a GraphQL and REST API. Flexible permissions with roles and fully ReBAC-capable authorization. Use your existing LDAP, OpenID or OAuth2 provider or use Directus Auth, which offers 2FA and sends password reset emails etc. Configure no code endpoints with Directus Flows or write custom extensions for GUI fields, endpoints or panels in typescript, Vue (frontend) and ExpressJS. Improve developer experience and handle DB migrations with Directus.

What do you dislike about Directus?

You can do everything with Directus. While you can use anything for authN (google auth, apple, keycloak, LDAP), authZ and permissions could be improved. The feature set is sufficient for blogs or most applications. You can even use it as a backbone for your SaaS. But it's cumbersome to build applications that allow users to grant privileges and create roles themselves because you can only use relation-based access control. It's not yet possible to subscribe to data changes (the SDK polls at regular intervals) as of October 2022. However, it's promised to arrive later this year.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

We're developing apps with it at faster speeds. We can skip the whole backend part.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Aug 18, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Vivek P. avatar
Vivek P.
Ceo
Share
"Simple and Fast"
What do you like best about Directus?

Core developers keep on improving and adding features based on the community inputs.

What do you dislike about Directus?

1. Migration between different environments is more complicated. 2. Sort by relational field is a missing feature, might not be required by all.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

1. Directus helped us in creating API in few clicks. 2. Even trainees in our team can develop API with it. 3. Directus in-built admin panel helps to track the data changes effectively with revisions and activity log for each entry. 4. Directus panel is extensible in every way, with no limits.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jul 26, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
KG
Kiril G.
Ceo
Share
"We regularly use Directus and we are particularly attached to the power and flexibility of the tool."
What do you like best about Directus?

Powerful tool offering a lot of flexibility. The back office is very intuitive. It is possible to do many things with Directus. The tool can be used in open source and very customizable

What do you dislike about Directus?

Nothing displeases us in Directus. The axis of improvement can be oriented for the use that e-merchants can have with the tool. For us is the best Headless Content Managment System

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Directus allowed us to develop websites using our favorite framework: next.js. The content is dirved by API and we can make a lot of integrations with another tools

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jul 21, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
GG
Giovanni G.
Head Of It
Share
"Amazing experience with self-hosted Directus"
What do you like best about Directus?

Easy to use, reliable and endless possibilities of customization

What do you dislike about Directus?

Nothing, we have been using Directus for the last 16 months and we are having a great experience

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Directus acts as both a headless CMS and data platform, so it solves 2 problems at the same time: exposing and retaining our data

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jun 30, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
BL
Bas L.
Cto
Share
"Great product, great support"
What do you like best about Directus?

Flexibility and great user experience and ease of creating relational databases

What do you dislike about Directus?

It is too easy to create unefficient models. Flexibility comes with that downside...

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Easily creating data models and content management

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Jun 22, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Ravinder S. avatar
Ravinder S.
Senior Full Stack Developer R&D
Share
"Amazing piece of kit"
What do you like best about Directus?

API that gives REST and GraphQL. Built-in Frontend that works as Admin UI as well as Product App. Very Highly Extensible. 90% configuration and only 10% code. Increases velocity and lets the team focus on business logic. Bring your own brand customization.

What do you dislike about Directus?

Documentation is appalling but open source helps reverse engineer that. Things like multi-project, multi-database, WebSockets, GraphQL subscriptions are missing. Some minor lack of configuration on the front end platform

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Mainly it gives us a ready-built CRUD API with an admin UI. The additional benefit is the front end that can be extended and configured. These two things increases velocity of new products that I built.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Jun 04, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Jeroen L. avatar
Jeroen L.
Senior Frontend Developer & Dev Ops Engineer
Share
"Simple and innovative backend solution for various types of projects"
What do you like best about Directus?

It all started with the ease of "just quickly set up a project" for small projects or internal data. In a short time, we discovered that so much more was possible! We can actually replace a lot of our Laravel/Nova projects without writing additional extensions. If we do need to write custom logic then that is also super easy to do! Since the last update, Directus has workflow support which has opened up a whole new world for us and we now have to write even less custom logic

What do you dislike about Directus?

There's nothing I don't really like about Directus. If something could improve this even further it would be support for multiple roles per user and maybe a sort of ou-of-the-box tenancy support but that would be very custom to our use cases.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

We have a lot of small Laravel installations with Nova, which is not that innovative for our customers. Also, all that data needed custom-written API endpoints. Directus allows us to model data quickly and have instant API endpoints that we can use in our applications. Simple projects and simple APIs written with Laravel/nova still need a lot of maintenance with every update, while in Directus we use the application without any custom code and it can be updated by simply running 'npm update'

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
May 26, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Anton S. avatar
Anton S.
Software Engineer
Share
"Superb product"
What do you like best about Directus?

Directus is a flexible, easy-to-use product that has everything to fuel projects of any type and complexity.

What do you dislike about Directus?

Some features are missing. But the road map is rich and we look forward for future developments.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Content management, roles and permission. A platform to manage all our needs in one place.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Jan 04, 2022
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Nikola T. avatar
Nikola T.
Software Developer
Share
"Hidden gem and next big cms, already beating Strapi and others"
What do you like best about Directus?

Directus is by far (imho) the most advanced, both developer and non-developer friendly cms. Do not be fooled by the likely fact that you haven't heard of it; it is a must-try!

What do you dislike about Directus?

Currently, it lacks typings for typescript and some developer documentation. I'm assuming it will be updated by the time you are reading this.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

We are migrating all of the back-office and revision systems to directus. We are talking 100s of database tables and gigabytes of data.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Oct 07, 2021
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
QH
Qarib H.
Head Of Development
Share
"Performant, Scalable Headless CMS"
What do you like best about Directus?

The team behind Directus updates the software at a very fast pace, they are quick to respond to bugs or queries as well. Version 9 of the CMS was a game-changer when it came to performance. CMS itself is very extendable. Currently the best CMS in the open-source stack.

What do you dislike about Directus?

Nothing, in particular, lacks a few key features which I think would be added somewhere in the future; e.g. - Module to bring in data from a product makes it difficult to switch to Directus for any existing project - Integrations support via plugins/addons. Marketplace to support integrations. - Improved internalization support for the products created within the CMS - One central installation on a server to manage multiple apps

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Currently using it as the main Headless CMS for the projects we create

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Sep 13, 2021
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
Martin B. avatar
Martin B.
Software Engineer
Share
"Our new favorite headless CMS"
What do you like best about Directus?

The ability to easily define complex relations while at the same time making it simple for users to input data at scale without having to touch the database or restart the application. It just works on the fly. It‘s also important to mention that the core team makes every effort to encourage their community to share ideas or criticism and continue to adapt the application based on community feedback. It's truly an open-source project. Pair it with a nice, responsive and good-looking UI and you‘ll have a really nice product with tons of features without overstraining the user.

What do you dislike about Directus?

We started using Directus on the first RCs for v9, which has been a rocky ride, but that was to be expected. However, since this project is open-source it enabled us to work on fixes ourselves and contribute them back afterward. Other issues (we just reported) were addressed quickly. Another thing that was a bit of a pain point for us is the migration of the schema between multiple stages. We ended up building our own tooling for that.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

We implemented Directus as a backend for over one thousand agency websites. We have two internal teams who input most of the data and plan to implement a self-service. In this context, Directus powerful permission model really helped us. Overall, a significant benefit of Directus compared to our old solution is that it is much easier to build good relations between our data. This allows our users to input the data much more efficiently.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Aug 26, 2021
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
AC
Alejandro C.
Cto
Share
"A perfect combination of design, functionality and customization"
What do you like best about Directus?

The first thing that strikes the attention is the care of its aesthetics, for some time now many web applications seem to be cut with the same pattern, designed with the same fashionable framework, directus has personality, a very intuitive style of its own. The next most surprising thing is the amount of data types, visual elements and options that allow you to create almost any data model and administration interface with a few clicks for any user with very basic notions, in addition, it has a system that allows you to create any type of extension for more advanced users with very specific needs. The user management and especially the permissions is one of the best I've seen, it covers any common use case, super flexible and granular. The API design is impeccable, they have thought of everything. It never ceases to amaze me, you can tell that the team is very close to the needs of its users, they add new features very quickly, they listen to all proposals, the experience is very noticeable. For my work, it has been the best I have found in years, it allows me to simplify more than 60% of the creation of any web application without compromising anything and to focus on creating interfaces, ultimately reduce time and costs without losing quality. 100% recommended, all other alternatives I've tried fall very short.

What do you dislike about Directus?

Overall I am very happy, but, sometimes I need more documentation, although, it is reasonable as they keep adding new features.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Directus is a customizable CMS and much more, you could say what is a No-Code or Low-Code tool, or a data schema modeling tool or an API builder. In my case, I use it as a CMS and API.

Small Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Aug 18, 2021
 Source
Overall Rating:
5.0
BD
Bart D.
Ceo
Share
"Perfect for your backend needs"
What do you like best about Directus?

Directus is an excellent choice for creating backend systems. You can extend the base of Directus to whatever your project needs. For example, you can create custom interfaces logic and much more. On top of that, Directus takes care of your SQL queries, which means you can make a project way faster. Also, the API supports JSON REST and GraphQL. The backend schema`s for the Rest and GrapQL API is updated in real-time. After adding/changing a field, it will be there, ready to be used as CRUD!

What do you dislike about Directus?

The only downside I have experienced with Directus is that it is not 100% stable yet. This is because Directus V9 is still a release candidate.

What problems is Directus solving and how is that benefiting you?

I have made webshops/websites and other custom software in combination with Directus.