Software Alternatives & Startups

WordPress Admin Columns VS Payload CMS

Compare WordPress Admin Columns VS Payload CMS and see what are their differences

WordPress Admin Columns

Add, remove, sort and reorder WordPress admin columns for any post type — Post ID, featured image, ACF fields and more with Admin Columns Editor.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Freemium $99 / Annually (50 websites)
Payload CMS

Headless CMS and Application Framework built with Node.js, React and MongoDB

Rating
5.0 · 1 review
Pricing
Open source

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Payload CMS seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 94 times since March 2021.

social mentions
0 vs 94
WordPress Plugins popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
4 vs 194

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

WordPress Admin Columns
Payload CMS
Website wpadminify.com payloadcms.com
Pricing
Freemium $99 / Annually (50 websites) Official pricing
Open source Official pricing
Company Startup from Bangladesh · 1 - 9 employees —
Listed in

About WordPress Admin Columns and Payload CMS

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

WordPress Admin Columns
Payload CMS

No description of WordPress Admin Columns yet.

Built with React + TypeScript, Payload is a free and open-source Headless CMS. Finally, a CMS that works the way you do. No black magic, all TypeScript, and fully open-source.

Read more about Payload CMS

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

WordPress Admin Columns 5 features
Payload CMS 7 features
  • Customizable Admin Columns
    Allows users to add, remove, and rearrange columns in the WordPress admin panel for posts, pages, users, media, and custom post types, making content management more efficient.
  • No Coding Required
    Provides a user-friendly interface that lets administrators customize columns without needing to write PHP or edit theme files, making it accessible to non-developers.
  • Supports Custom Fields and Meta Data
    Enables display of custom fields, ACF fields, taxonomies, and other meta data directly in the admin list tables, improving visibility of important information at a glance.
  • Improves Workflow Efficiency
    By displaying relevant data directly in admin columns, users can sort, filter, and manage content faster without opening each individual post or page.
  • Compatible with Popular Plugins
    Often integrates well with plugins like Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), WooCommerce, and other common WordPress plugins, extending its usefulness across different site types.
  • Headless CMS
    Payload CMS is a headless content management system, allowing for flexibility in how content is delivered and displayed across different platforms.
  • Customizability
    It is highly customizable, enabling developers to tailor the backend and content management experience to specific project requirements.
  • Developer-friendly
    Built with modern technologies such as Node.js and React, Payload CMS is designed to be intuitive and efficient for developers.
  • Open-source
    Payload CMS is open-source, providing transparency and the ability to contribute to its development or modify it according to your needs.
  • Rich Media Support
    It supports a wide range of media types, making it easy to manage and deliver rich content.
  • Advanced Access Control
    Payload CMS includes advanced access control features, allowing for fine-grained permissions and security settings.
  • Extensible API
    The CMS provides a powerful and extensible API, facilitating seamless integration with other services and applications.

Possible disadvantages

  • Learning Curve
    As a powerful and highly customizable CMS, it may have a steeper learning curve for developers unfamiliar with its ecosystem.
  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Setting up Payload CMS initially can be more complex compared to some other CMS solutions that offer more out-of-the-box simplicity.
  • Smaller Community
    As a relatively newer and niche CMS, Payload CMS has a smaller community compared to more established CMS platforms, potentially limiting available resources and third-party plugins.
  • Hosting Requirements
    Being a Node.js application, it may require specific hosting environments that can support Node.js, which might not be as widespread as hosting for PHP-based systems.
  • Performance Overhead
    Complex customizations and integrations can introduce performance overhead, requiring additional optimization and scaling efforts.
  • Documentation
    Depending on the level of functionality required, the available documentation might not cover all edge cases or complex scenarios, leading to potential challenges during development.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

WordPress Admin Columns
Payload CMS

No analysis of WordPress Admin Columns yet.

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Payload CMS is a good option for many use cases.

Why this product is good

  • Payload CMS offers a modern and flexible headless architecture, which allows developers to create custom content management experiences using JavaScript and Node.js.
  • It provides a clean and intuitive admin interface that is designed to be easily customizable to fit different client needs.
  • Payload CMS includes built-in features like access control, versioning, and a robust API, which makes managing content efficient and secure.
  • The developer-centric approach means it's highly extendable and works seamlessly with modern development workflows.

Recommended for

  • Developers seeking a customizable, JavaScript-based headless CMS.
  • Projects that require a flexible content infrastructure and easy integration with other JavaScript libraries or frameworks.
  • Teams looking for a CMS that can scale with their application and development needs.
  • Organizations that need advanced content management capabilities such as complex access control and content versioning.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

WordPress Admin Columns 0 videos + Add
Payload CMS 3 videos + Add

No WordPress Admin Columns videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Payload CMS

More videos

  • - Building a Professionally Designed Website with NextJS, TypeScript, and Payload CMS - Episode 1
  • - Building a Professionally Designed Website with NextJS, TypeScript, and Payload CMS - Episode 2

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
WordPress Admin Columns
Payload CMS
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
CMS
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing WordPress Admin Columns and Payload CMS.

What makes your product unique?

WordPress Admin Columns's answer

It turns WordPress' default list tables into real management screens. Instead of Title / Author / Date, you drag in any data you actually work with — custom fields, taxonomies, post meta, user meta, ACF fields, WooCommerce data — and configure it per post type, per screen, without writing a line of code. Everything happens inside the admin you already use, so there's no separate dashboard to learn and no front-end overhead on your site.

What's the story behind your product?

WordPress Admin Columns's answer

It started from a problem I hit on every project: the WordPress admin shows almost nothing useful about your content. Checking whether posts had featured images, which products were missing SKUs, or when users last logged in meant opening records one by one — or writing the same column hooks again for each site. I built the first version to stop repeating that work, and released it publicly once it was clear the problem wasn't just mine. → Swap in your real dates, the site or client that triggered it, and install/version milestones.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

WordPress Admin Columns's answer

Most alternatives either add a fixed set of columns or require custom code through managepostscolumns hooks. This does both ends: a no-code drag-and-drop builder for site owners, and a full hooks/filters API plus PHP-registered column sets for developers who want configs in version control. It also covers every list table — posts, pages, CPTs, users, comments, media, taxonomies — rather than just posts, and pairs display with action: sorting, filtering, inline and bulk editing, and CSV export from the same screen.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

WordPress Admin Columns's answer

Anyone managing content at volume rather than publishing occasionally. In practice: agencies and freelancers running client sites, editorial teams that need at-a-glance status across hundreds of posts, WooCommerce store managers auditing stock and pricing, membership and directory site owners working with user meta, and plugin developers who'd otherwise write column code on every project.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

WordPress Admin Columns's answer

PHP (WordPress Plugin API, WPListTable, hooks and filters), JavaScript for the drag-and-drop column builder and inline editing, AJAX/REST for saving configurations, SCSS for admin styling, Composer and npm for dependency management, and PHPUnit for testing. Supports current PHP and WordPress versions, with data stored via the WordPress options API.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

WordPress Admin Columns's answer

Only list real, verifiable names here — fabricated logos on a public comparison profile is the one thing that can actually hurt you. If you don't have permission-cleared names, use categories instead:

  • Digital agencies managing multi-site client portfolios
  • WooCommerce stores with large product catalogs
  • Membership and directory sites managing large user bases

User comments

Share your experience with using WordPress Admin Columns and Payload CMS. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Log in or Post with

Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

WordPress Admin Columns no reviews yet
Payload CMS 5.0 · 1 review

We have no reviews of WordPress Admin Columns yet. Be the first one to post

  • Best Headless CMS
    SaaSHub review
    · May 2023

    Payload CMS is the most customizable & flexible CMS which exists

  • Best Node.js CMS platforms for 2022
    blog.logrocket.com · Dec 2021

    Payload comes with built-in email functionality. We can use this to handle password reset, order confirmation, and other use cases. Payload uses Nodemailer to process emails.

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

WordPress Admin Columns 0 mentions
Payload CMS 94 mentions

Tracking WordPress Admin Columns since Aug 2026.

  • A Complete Guide to Building a Payment System with Payload CMS and Lemon Squeezy
    Learn how to build a full payment system using the modern stack of Payload CMS, Next.js API Routes, and Lemon Squeezy, including a deep dive into debugging common API errors. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Run Payload Jobs on Vercel (Serverless) — Step‑by‑Step Migration
    I recently did a video tutorial on using jobs and queues in PayloadCMS and the solution I provide will not work in a Vercel deployment, runs locally and will probably also run on Railway because those are actual servers. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • How to Run Payload CMS in Docker
    Payload is an open source backend framework and it is mainly used as a content management system. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago

View more

Alternatives to WordPress Admin Columns and Payload CMS

When comparing WordPress Admin Columns and Payload CMS, you can also consider the following products.