Case Study
View Case StudyTray.ai
Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
From Directus to Adobe Experience Manager
We are the Directus to Adobe Experience Manager migration experts
Last verified:
Challenges with Directus
Key pain points
Directus looks fantastic in demos, but things get rocky once you actually try to use it at scale. The Professional cloud plan is $99/month and caps you at 5 users, 75,000 database entries, and 250,000 API requests — grow past any of those limits and you're straight into custom Enterprise territory. The v12 move to the Monospace Sustainable Core License (MSCL) has also rattled the community; smaller orgs get a free Innovation Grant, but larger teams are navigating a licensing landscape that changed significantly from what they signed up for.
On the dev side, updates can introduce breaking changes, the documentation doesn't always keep pace, and the extension ecosystem is pretty thin. Localization is technically supported but fiddly and easy to misconfigure, and large datasets make the UI noticeably sluggish. And if you want anything deeply custom, you're suddenly living in Vue.js land, which is not where most teams want to spend their weekends.
Breaking update changes
Directus explicitly does not follow semver — any release may include breaking changes. The v10 to v11 upgrade hit schema changes and dropped fields, and the v11 UI scale change (px to rem) broke extensions hardcoding pixel values. Plan your upgrade windows carefully.
Limited extension ecosystem
The plugin ecosystem is still pretty bare. Anything even mildly niche ends up becoming a "let's just custom build it" moment, which defeats the purpose of picking a CMS with extensions. The marketplace launched in beta in early 2024 and is still maturing.
Complex localization setup
Yes, it supports multilingual content, but setting it up feels like assembling IKEA furniture blindfolded. It works, but expect extra config, extra steps, and extra patience.
Version history still tier-gated
Global draft versions now ship automatically with every versioned item — no manual setup required as of March 2026 — which is a genuine improvement. Full version history, rollbacks, and controlled releases are still locked behind higher-tier plans, though, so if predictable publishing workflows are a must, check your tier carefully before committing.
Vue.js knowledge requirement
Custom interfaces and deeper tweaks need Vue.js, so if your team only speaks React, prepare for a small identity crisis (or a hiring plan).
Large dataset performance issues
Heavy tables and deeply relational data can slow down queries and the UI — community reports show 25K-row datasets where raw SQL runs in milliseconds but the Directus API takes 20+ seconds, largely due to internal query overhead and no auto-indexes on foreign keys.
Benefits of Adobe Experience Manager
Key advantages
AEM is the kind of platform you only choose if you’re a Fortune 500 company or enjoy voluntarily suffering. I hate anything Adobe builds. It’s bloated, overpriced, and aggressively designed to lock you into their ecosystem. But fine, here are the positives: the Adobe integration is unmatched. If your entire organisation already lives inside Creative Cloud, Analytics, and Target, AEM becomes this giant DXP monolith that handles assets, personalization, segmentation, and multi-channel delivery without breaking a sweat. The DAM is legitimately powerful, and it scales like a tank.
If you’re not operating at scale, you’ll spend absurd money for problems a clean Sanity + modern composable stack solves better and cheaper. If you are considering AEM or escaping it, get in touch. We’ll help you choose something that won’t haunt your ops team for the next decade.
Integration with Adobe tools
AEM connects with Creative Cloud, Analytics, and Target, letting teams move assets, data, and personalisation logic across tools without friction
Robust digital asset management
The DAM is genuinely powerful. It has AI tagging, smart cropping, versioning, and bulk optimisation for massive media libraries.
Consistent multi-channel delivery
AEM can push content to web, mobile apps, email, and more from one central source. Ideal for enterprises that need consistent messaging across every customer touchpoint.
Flexible architecture
Supports both classic and headless approaches, letting teams mix legacy setups with modern frontends. It’s adaptable enough for companies with complicated stacks.
Scalable enterprise-level operations
AEM is designed to handle huge traffic, global teams, and heavy workflows. It scales reliably when backed by proper infrastructure and Adobe’s cloud.
Intuitive user interface
For an enterprise platform, the UI is relatively approachable, helping large content teams manage complex workflows without needing to touch code.
Common questions
Directus to Adobe Experience Manager migration FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about Directus to Adobe Experience Manager migration
How do we migrate content out of Directus?
Directus sits directly on your SQL database, which is both a blessing and a curse during migration. The blessing is that your content is in standard PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite tables, so extraction is as simple as SQL queries. The curse is that Directus stores relational data and file references in its own conventions, so you need to untangle junction tables and re-map asset URLs. We write custom migration scripts for each project. A typical Directus migration with 50 to 100 content types takes 3 to 5 weeks.
Why do teams move away from Directus?
The two biggest triggers we see right now are licensing uncertainty and pricing sticker shock. Directus moved to the Monospace Sustainable Core License (MSCL) with v12 in May 2026, replacing the old BSL. Organisations under $5M revenue and 50 employees get a free Innovation Grant, but even above those thresholds the MSCL still permits free use of the Core tier — so larger orgs aren't categorically forced onto paid plans, though many opt into the cloud or a commercial self-hosted license for the production features sitting outside Core, and the community is noticeably split, with some teams forking old versions or migrating off entirely. On the cloud side, the old unlimited tier is gone; the Professional plan is $99/month and caps you at 5 users, 75K database entries, and 250K API requests. Growth past those limits means a jump straight to custom Enterprise pricing. On the development side, any custom interface work still requires Vue.js, which creates friction for React-focused teams. Breaking changes between updates also erode trust over time. Teams that started with Directus for its open-source appeal often outgrow it when they need predictable pricing and cleaner editorial workflows.
Can we keep our existing database when migrating from Directus?
You can keep your database infrastructure, but you'll likely restructure the schema. Directus creates its own system tables (directus_users, directus_permissions, directus_files, etc.) alongside your content tables. During migration, we extract the content tables, transform the data to fit your new CMS's content model, and leave the Directus system tables behind. If you're moving to a headless CMS like Sanity, the data moves from SQL rows to structured JSON documents, which typically results in a cleaner content model.
How much does Adobe Experience Manager cost?
AEM is one of the most expensive CMS platforms on the market. Adobe doesn't publish list prices, but AEM Sites licensing typically starts around $60,000 per year on its own, and full AEM as a Cloud Service deployments usually land in the $200,000 to $300,000+ range annually. Implementation adds $500,000 to $1M, and Adobe support contracts add another 15-25% of licensing on top. We've seen companies paying more for their AEM contract than their entire engineering team's salaries. If that ratio sounds familiar, it's time to rethink the stack.
How long does it take to migrate off Adobe Experience Manager?
Plan for 4-8 months minimum for a full migration, depending on how customised your AEM instance is. The biggest bottleneck is usually content extraction. AEM's JCR (Java Content Repository) stores everything in a proprietary node structure that requires custom tooling to export cleanly. If you've built custom OSGi bundles, Sling models, or heavy DAM workflows, those all need to be rebuilt or replaced. Our approach is to run a parallel build, standing up the new stack while the old one stays live, then cutting over once everything is validated. That way editorial teams never lose a day of productivity.
Is AEM worth it for companies not using the full Adobe suite?
Honestly, no. AEM's biggest advantage is its tight integration with Creative Cloud, Analytics, Target, and the rest of the Adobe ecosystem. If you're not using at least three or four of those tools, you're paying a premium for a CMS that's slower to develop on, harder to maintain, and more expensive to staff than modern alternatives. We've worked with companies who adopted AEM because a consultant recommended it, only to discover they were using 15% of its capabilities. A well-architected headless CMS with a Next.js frontend would have cost them a fraction of the price and shipped faster.
What do you need to watch out for when leaving AEM?
Three things catch teams off guard. First, asset migration. AEM's DAM often holds thousands of assets with custom metadata, renditions, and smart crops that don't transfer automatically. Second, URL structures. AEM's dispatcher and Sling resource resolution create URL patterns that need careful redirect mapping to preserve SEO value. Third, Adobe contracts. Many AEM agreements include multi-year lock-ins with steep early termination fees. Check your contract terms before you start planning the migration timeline. We always audit all three of these before scoping any AEM migration project.
Get in touch
Fill out the form below and we'll get back to you
