From Directus to Craft CMS

We are the Directus to Craft CMS migration experts

Challenges with Directus

Key pain points

Directus looks fantastic in demos, but things get rocky once you actually try to use it at scale. Cloud plans jump to enterprise the moment your team grows past five users, and the API limits are tight enough that any traffic spike means aggressive caching or a surprise bill. It feels flexible until you realise the platform has a lot of operational overhead baked in.

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 has a habit of shipping updates that occasionally break things you weren’t planning to fix. Unless you're on an enterprise plan, you don’t get clean version control.

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.

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 control paywall

Want safe rollbacks, controlled releases, and predictable deployments? Great, Directus will tell you to upgrade first. Versioning is locked behind higher-tier plans, which is… bold.

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, forcing you to optimise more than you probably wanted to.

Benefits of Craft CMS

Key advantages

Craft CMS is one of those platforms we genuinely respect from a developer standpoint. The content modelling is best-in-class for a traditional CMS. You define sections, entry types, and fields with real precision, and the authoring experience maps cleanly to the underlying data structure. If your content team needs a CMS that actually reflects how the site is built, Craft delivers that better than most. The Twig templating layer is clean and predictable, and the admin UI is fast and intuitive once editors get past the initial learning curve.

Where Craft really shines is in the middle ground between simple marketing sites and full-blown enterprise builds. It's flexible enough to handle complex content architectures without the bloat of something like WordPress, and the built-in GraphQL API means you can use it headless if you want to pair it with a modern frontend. The plugin ecosystem is smaller but noticeably higher quality than what you'd find in WordPress, and the Composer-based workflow means your whole project can live in version control properly.

We've seen agencies build genuinely impressive work on Craft, especially for content-heavy sites where editorial workflows matter. If your team includes developers and you want a CMS that rewards careful architecture, Craft is a solid choice. It's not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus shows.

That said, we'd typically recommend a headless CMS like Sanity for most of the projects we take on. Craft is at its best when you're comfortable with PHP and want a tightly integrated traditional or hybrid setup. If you're building on Next.js or a modern JavaScript stack, you'll find more natural fits elsewhere.

Exceptional content modelling

Craft's field and section system gives you precise control over your content structure. You can model complex relationships between content types without fighting the CMS.

Clean authoring experience

The admin panel is fast, well-organized, and maps directly to how content is structured. Editors can work efficiently once they understand the layout.

Built-in GraphQL API

Craft ships with a native GraphQL API, so you can use it headless without plugins or workarounds. It's deeply integrated and well-documented.

Composer-based modern workflow

Everything is managed through Composer, so your project, plugins, and dependencies all live in version control. Deployments through CI/CD pipelines work smoothly.

Higher quality plugin ecosystem

The plugin store is smaller than WordPress but the quality bar is noticeably higher. Plugins are better maintained and less likely to break your site on update.

Granular user permissions

Built-in role and permission management is detailed and flexible. You can lock down exactly what each editor can see and do without needing third-party plugins.