About Payload CMS
Payload CMS is a company based in Grand Rapids (United States) founded in 2018 by James Mikrut, Elliot DeNolf, and Dan Ribbens was acquired by Figma in June 2025. Payload CMS has raised $5.2 million across 2 funding rounds from investors including MongoDB, Figma and Gradient Ventures. Payload CMS offers products and services including Payload Framework and Payload Cloud. Payload CMS operates in a competitive market with competitors including Webflow, Yext, Contentstack, Progress and WordPress, among others.
- Headquarter Grand Rapids, United States
- Founders James Mikrut, Elliot DeNolf, Dan Ribbens
- SectorsTechnology
- Website category Computers Electronics and Technology · Programming and Developer Software
- Email••••••••
- Website payloadcms.com
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook Instagram YouTube
- Acquired by Figma (Jun 2025)
Products & Services of Payload CMS
Payload CMS offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Payload Framework and Payload Cloud.
Code-based backend for building Next.js applications and content systems.
Platform for deploying and managing entire application stacks.
Apps and channels of Payload CMS
its YouTube channel Payload has 12.7K subscribers and 30 videos.
Videos from Payload CMS
The most watched videos on Payload CMS's YouTube channel, Payload (12.7K subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on Payload.
Funding Insights of Payload CMS
Payload CMS has successfully raised a total of $5.2M across 2 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Seed round of $4.7 million completed in November 2022. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $5.2M
- Total Rounds 2
- Last Round Seed — $4.7M
- First Round $500,000
(Jun 2022)
- Investors Count 6
All 2 funding rounds of Payload CMS with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2022 | $4.7M | Seed | – | Gradient Ventures | |
| Jun 2022 | $500,000 | Seed | – | Y Combinator | – |
7 investors in total: 7 institutional.
Investors in Payload CMS
Payload CMS has secured backing from 7 investors, including venture fund and institutional investors. Prominent investors backing the company include MongoDB, Figma and Gradient Ventures.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Venture capital arm of Alphabet Inc. investing in AI | – | gradient.com | Mountain View, United States | |
Early-stage startups are accelerated via funding and educational programs. | – | ycombinator.com | Mountain View, United States | |
Early-stage investments are provided to transformative technology companies. | – | svangel.com | San Francisco, United States | |
Early-stage venture capital fund investing in seed-stage B2B SaaS companies in emerging regions | – | grandvcp.com | Grand Rapids, United States | |
Capital is provided to ambitious founders in enterprise software. | – | exceptionalcap.com | San Francisco, United States | |
A cloud-based database-as-a-service platform is provided for application development. | 2007 | mongodb.com | New York, United States | |
Collaborative platform for design prototyping and feedback is provided. | 2012 | figma.com | San Francisco, United States |
Investor details for Payload CMS
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of Payload CMS
5 people are tracked at Payload CMS (4 in leadership, 1 in team).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
James Mikrut | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Elliot DeNolf | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Dan Ribbens | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Evan Cusack | Partner Relationship Manager | Leadership |
Garrett Grohman | Account Executive | Team |
Complete people profiles for Payload CMS
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
- Full employee list
- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Timeline of Payload CMS
4 dated milestones of Payload CMS across 7 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Payload CMS is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $500K.
- Funding Latest funding round, Seed, of $4.7M.
- Exit Acquired by Figma.
Competitors of Payload CMS
Payload CMS operates in a dynamic and competitive business environment, facing competition from various established players and emerging companies in the market. The competitive landscape includes prominent companies such as Webflow, Yext, Contentstack, Progress and WordPress, among others.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| webflow.com | 2012 | San Francisco, United States | $333.51M | 505 | Cloud based website development platform | |
| yext.com | 2006 | New York, United States | $116.17M | 1,200 | Cloud-based brand management solutions provider | |
| contentstack.com | 2018 | San Francisco, United States | $178.63M | 301 | Digital experience platform offering headless CMS | |
| progress.com | 1981 | Bedford, United States | – | 450 | IDE-based software is provided for application development and management. | |
| wordpress.com | 2005 | San Francisco, United States | $28,018 | 800 | Cloud-based website development and content management platform is offered. | |
| contentful.com | 2012 | Berlin, Germany | $333.3M | 319 | Content is created, managed, and distributed via a cloud-based platform. | |
| strapi.io | 2016 | Paris, France | $46.99M | – | Cloud-based platform for API development and content management is utilized. | |
| storyblok.com | 2017 | Linz, Austria | $138M | – | Headless CMS platform is delivered via API for content management. | |
| hygraph.com | 2016 | Berlin, Germany | $43.74M | 23 | A cloud-based platform for headless CMS is provided by Hygraph. |
Detailed competitors of Payload CMS
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
- Operating metrics
- Benchmarks
- Competitive positioning
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Web traffic of Payload CMS
The website of Payload CMS (payloadcms.com) receives about 376.1K visits a month and ranks #137,385 among all websites worldwide, #3,076 in Programming and Developer Software.
- Monthly visits376.1K
▲ 6.1% vs previous month
- Unique visitors112.2K
per month
- Global rank#137,385
among all websites
- Category rank#3,076
Computers Electronics and Technology · Programming and Developer Software
- Bounce rate44%
- Pages per visit2.7
- Average visit2 min 12 sec
- DevicesDesktop 68% · Mobile 32%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Payload CMS. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| github.com | 100% | 542.6M | #65 | View details | |
| tina.io | 95% | 96.8K | #364,960 | View details | |
| vercel.com | 94% | 16.9M | #2,507 | View details | |
| stackoverflow.com | 94% | 45.7M | #1,565 | View details | |
| hygraph.com | 91% | 186.3K | #177,031 | View details | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Payload CMS
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 40 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Latest news on Payload Cms
Complete news archive for Payload CMS
Full article history, source details, and older brand coverage require an active premium plan.
- Full article archive
- Source and publication date
- Older coverage
- Brand-specific news history
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Similar companies to Payload CMS
10 companies that operate in the same segment as Payload CMS (CMS & Web Content Platforms), ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cloud based website development platform | 2012 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 336.41 M | – | – | |
AI powered digital experience and customer data management platform | 2007 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | USD 173.5 M | USD 14.84 M | 341 | |
SaaS-based product discovery and personalization for e-commerce are provided. | 2009 | Mountain View, California, United States | USD 422 M | USD 9.96 M | 151 | |
Platform for capturing and analyzing user behavior data | 2014 | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | USD 195.75 M | – | – | |
Digital experience platform offering headless CMS | 2018 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 178.63 M | USD 7.91 M | 260 | |
Cloud-based brand management solutions provider | 2006 | New York, New York, United States | USD 116.17 M | USD 446.58 M | 1,150 | |
Cloud-based website development and content management platform is offered. | 2005 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 28.02 K | USD 15.97 M | 111 | |
Cloud-based platform enables digital experience management for marketers. | 1999 | Sausalito, California, United States | USD 1.23 B | USD 3.06 M | 23 | |
Cloud-based platform for digital experience management | 2010 | Austin, Texas, United States | USD 266.51 M | – | – | |
Drag-and-drop visual editors are offered for Shopify sellers. | 2013 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 37.25 M | – | – |
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Frequently Asked Questions about Payload CMS
Payload CMS was founded in 2018 and raised its 1st funding round 4 years after it was founded.
Payload CMS is headquartered in Grand Rapids, United States. It is registered at Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States.
Payload CMS is a funded company, having raised a total of $5.2M across 2 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Seed of $500K, raised on Jun 2022.
Headless CMS and application framework. It is a CMS built with Node.js, React, and MongoDB. Its modules include Mongo database to store, retrieve, and manipulate data via REST and GraphQL APIs, access control solution, email verification, login, and password reset solutions. Monetizes through subscription-based pricing plans.
Payload CMS's top competitors include Webflow, Contentstack and Yext.
Payload CMS offers Payload Framework and Payload Cloud.
Payload CMS has 7 investors. Key investors include MongoDB, Figma, Gradient Ventures, Y Combinator, and SV Angel.
Yes. Payload CMS was acquired by Figma in June 2025.
The website of Payload CMS receives about 376 thousand visits a month and ranks #137,385 among all websites worldwide.