Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Directus VS Refine

Compare Directus VS Refine and see what are their differences

Directus logo Directus

Free and Open-Source Headless CMS

Refine logo Refine

A React Framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards & B2B apps with unmatched flexibilty.
  • Directus Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-16
  • Refine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-11-18

Refine is a meta React framework that enables the rapid development of a wide range of web applications. From internal tools, admin panels, B2B apps and dashboards, it serves as a comprehensive solution for building any type of CRUD applications.

It's internal hooks and components simplifies the development process and eliminates the repetitive tasks by providing industry-standard solutions for crucial aspects of a project, including authentication, access control, routing, networking, state management, and i18n.

Refine is headless by design and offers unlimited styling and customization possibilities, empowering developers to create tailored and fully functional applications that meet specific project requirements.

Refine

Website
refine.dev
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
Web Browser React Native Remix Electron NextJS ReactJS
Release Date
2021 September

Directus features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Refine features and specs

  • Backend Agnostic: Yes
  • Decoupled UI: Yes
  • Native Typescript Core: Yes
  • Powerful Default UI: Yes
  • Routing: Yes
  • Authentication: Yes
  • Rest API Integration: Yes
  • GraphQL API Integration: Yes
  • Developer tools: Yes
  • SSR Support: Yes

Directus videos

Using Directus

More videos:

  • Review - Directus Review
  • Review - Directus - What's a Headless CMS?

Refine videos

No Refine videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

+ Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Directus and Refine)
CMS
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
36 36%
64% 64
Blogging
100 100%
0% 0
Open Source
0 0%
100% 100

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Directus and Refine.

What makes your product unique?

Refine's answer:

Refine's unparalleled flexibility with data providers makes it a unique choice. Whether you're integrating with REST, GraphQL, or any other data source, Refine streamlines the process.

Another defining feature is its built-in UI integrations. This means you can create polished and responsive user interfaces with ease. Plus, with a thriving community and extensive developer support, you're never alone when using Refine.

Refine simplifies data management and CRUD operations, allowing you to focus on building your application's core functionality. Its robust security features and authentication support ensure your data is protected.

What truly sets Refine apart is its headless architecture. This design philosophy empowers you to customize every aspect of your application, giving you complete control over its look and feel.

Real-time capabilities are another standout feature. This means you can easily incorporate live updates and collaboration features into your apps.

With comprehensive documentation and tutorials, getting started and mastering Refine is a straightforward process. The active open-source community ensures regular updates and improvements.

Refine is suitable for projects of enterprise-level solutions. Its scalability makes it a versatile choice for developers and organizations alike.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Refine's answer:

It provides a headless architecture, giving developers complete freedom to customize the frontend using any UI library or framework, which is not always the case with other solutions.

Secondly, Refine's data provider support is extensive, with a wide range of options, making it easier to integrate with various backends. Additionally, it has a rapidly growing community and extensive documentation, ensuring excellent support and resources for users. The real-time features, along with built-in UI integration for popular libraries, simplify complex tasks.

Refine is backed by an active development team that regularly releases updates and improvements. In summary, Refine offers flexibility, comprehensive support, and a strong community, making it a compelling choice in the competitive landscape of web application development frameworks.

How would you describe your primary audience?

Refine's answer:

Refine's primary audience consists of developers and teams who are focused on building Enterprise web applications, particularly those in need of admin panels, internal tools, or dashboards. Refine can be use for any type of CRUD apps.

These developers typically have a background in Typescript and React and are looking for a framework that provides flexibility, extensibility, and efficiency in building data-centric applications.

Refine is popular among enterprises and businesses that require scalable and maintainable solutions for their data management needs.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Directus and Refine

Directus Reviews

21 Headless CMS Platforms That You Should Check Out
Directus is an open data platform where you can turn SQL databases into an API. Furthermore, you can customize your content with this platform entirely since it is an extensible headless CMS platform.
Source: popupsmart.com
Best Headless CMS in 2022
Directus is a great headless CMS if you have a current SQL database. It is written with vue.js, REST is used for the public API and it is powered by Node.js. Directus is open-source so you can use it free without any limitations. The product suite includes an admin app for editors, a content API for developers, and can be self-hosted for free.
Source: flatlogic.com
Best Node.js CMS platforms for 2022
Directus is an open-source headless CMS for managing custom SQL databases. Directus also has an intuitive admin app for non-technical users to manage content.
11 Headless CMS to Consider for Modern Application
Writing comments or a note at certain times is useful. Directus comment features prove to be very functional.
Source: geekflare.com
34 Headless CMS That Should Be On Your Radar
The idea is that developers can create custom databases based on specific project needs without learning a proprietary framework or being forced to build using specific technologies. When the database is ready, Directus’ API or SDKs can be connected, resulting in a customizable interface that business users can use to manage database content for their websites and...
Source: www.cmswire.com

Refine Reviews

We have no reviews of Refine yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Directus should be more popular than Refine. It has been mentiond 118 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Directus mentions (118)

  • How to Deploy Directus as a Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) on Koyeb
    Directus is an open data platform built to serve as a headless CMS, API, or Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) for other applications. It is designed to make data accessible to people of all technical levels and to make it easy to build data-centric applications. Directus is extensible and can be integrated with many different frontend technologies to create stable, well-structured development and user experiences. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Form to DB
    I don't know, it's something I've wanted many times. Recently I discovered https://directus.io/ which comes pretty close and it's open source. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Directus — Headless CMS. A completely free and open-source platform for managing assets and database content on-prem or in the Cloud. There are no limitations or paywalls. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • A Year of Self-Hosting: 6 Open-Source Projects That Surprised Me in 2023
    The Backend to Build Anything or Everything | Directus. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Prismic.io is increasing our price by *1900%* over Christmas
    I using Directus CMS on several projects with pretty complicated flows, api extensions etc. probably there will be some work if you move. I liked Directus is because it's standard SQL I can always move my DB and documents to another solution. I don't use their hosted solution but they have an unlimited offering for $100 / month. Source: 6 months ago
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Refine mentions (37)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Directus and Refine, you can also consider the following products

Strapi - Strapi is the most advanced Node.

PocketBlocks - In PocketBlocks, all you need to do is drag and drop pre-built or self-customized components onto the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) canvas to make an app, PocketBlocks helps you build an app quickly and focus on the business logic.

WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

ToolJet - Open-source alternative for Retool

Ghost - Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

Blitz.js - Rails-like framework for React apps, built on Next.js