Payload's dev-first open-source CMS bet lands in Figma's hands

Payload is an open-source headless CMS and application framework built in TypeScript and React, where developers define content in code and get a database, REST/GraphQL APIs, authentication and an admin panel out of the box.

That developers would adopt a CMS they can code and own: a TypeScript config generates database, APIs and admin UI, monetized via open core plus managed hosting.

$4.7M seed (announced Nov 2022), led by Gradient Ventures with MongoDB Ventures, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Grand Ventures and Exceptional Capital; the company was bootstrapped before that.

James Mikrut, Dan Ribbens and Elliot DeNolf started Payload in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and bootstrapped it from 2021 on a contrarian reading of the CMS market. 'To devs, content management system is usually a swear word. If an engineer gets assigned a CMS project, it's less than thrilling,' Mikrut told TechCrunch. The team went in the opposite direction of no-code tools: version 1.0 shipped in early 2022 as a code-first headless CMS and application framework.

After 1.0, Payload raised a $4.7M seed led by Google's Gradient Ventures in November 2022 (announced during its first launch week), with investors including MongoDB Ventures and Y Combinator. In 2024 the project added native Next.js support, and by September 2025 Cloudflare counted over 35,000 GitHub stars and was running Cloudflare TV's content operation on Payload. When the team went out for a Series A in 2025, Figma offered an acquisition instead: 'Payload was actively raising a Series A... Figma has officially bought Payload,' Mikrut said on Syntax.fm.

In June 2025 the entire Payload team joined Figma in an acquisition announced on Figma's blog and the Payload GitHub. Payload remains open source under Figma, is used by several Fortune 100 companies, and is the developer-side backend behind Figma's CMS plans for Figma Sites.

Developers were the ignored CMS buyer: products sold ease to non-coders while forcing engineers into rigid closed panels, so a code-first TypeScript CMS fit the person actually building.

Open source removed the trust objection: teams could read, extend and self-host the tool, letting adoption spread before the company had any enterprise sales motion.

Framing Payload as an app framework, not just a CMS, widened the market to internal tools and application backends - a bigger total addressable market than content publishing.

Open core plus managed hosting gave a free product a revenue answer, and the community itself became the strategic asset that made Figma buy the team rather than build its own backend.

When incumbents sell CMS ease to non-coders, the ignored buyer is the engineer maintaining it: build a tool developers can own, and the open-source community becomes an acquisition-grade asset.

As of 2026-08-24 Payload runs inside Figma: the June 2025 acquisition keeps the product open source, the founders still lead it, and Payload is the developer-side foundation for Figma's CMS plans around Figma Sites. Cloudflare's September 2025 post counted 35,000+ GitHub stars and documented running Cloudflare TV on Payload, and Exploding Topics' August 2026 list still ranked Payload CMS #83 with +3,100% search growth. The open question is how much stays free now that the project's future is tied to a commercial design platform.