GravityKit
GravityKit folds every GravityView extension into one Pro plugin.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Payload CMS vs Quay
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Payload CMS and Quay — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Payload CMS vs Quay: at a glance
What is Payload CMS?
Payload's v4 beta.9 keeps every past image crop and raises the Node floor again.
Payload has tagged nine v4 betas since October 10. Beta.9 reads saved crops and focal points from the new _transforms store, serves historical upload variants when a version is restored, adds labels and device details to sessions, and exports standalone CSS tokens from the UI package. It also bumps the minimum Node version to 24.22.3, the second Node floor raise in the cycle.
What is Quay?
Quay patches three supported lines on one afternoon, mostly CVE bumps.
Quay's enterprise lines ship paired monthly security releases. On November 13 three lines moved within minutes: 3.14.10, 3.12.24 and 3.10.28, each bumping PyJWT, cryptography, pillow, oauthlib and other pinned libraries for CVEs, plus a fix for an onboarding issue. The mirror-registry installer tagged v3.0.0 on November 9 with only dependency bumps noted.
Payload CMS vs Quay: editorial side-by-side
Payload CMS
5.0INFRA · APIS
Payload's v4 beta.9 keeps every past image crop and raises the Node floor again.
◆ Current state
Payload has tagged nine v4 betas since October 10. Beta.9 reads saved crops and focal points from the new _transforms store, serves historical upload variants when a version is restored, adds labels and device details to sessions, and exports standalone CSS tokens from the UI package. It also bumps the minimum Node version to 24.22.3, the second Node floor raise in the cycle.
◆ Where it's heading
Three betas in a row have reworked file uploads around one stored original plus replayable transforms, and two have tightened sign-in and sessions. The v4 cycle is now finishing those two systems rather than adding new surfaces, which is the usual shape of a beta nearing a release candidate.
◆ Prediction
Expect more betas that close out the transforms and session work, with a release candidate once the fix lists shrink; the entries do not show a date.
Quay
5.0INFRA · APIS
Quay patches three supported lines on one afternoon, mostly CVE bumps.
◆ Current state
Quay's enterprise lines ship paired monthly security releases. On November 13 three lines moved within minutes: 3.14.10, 3.12.24 and 3.10.28, each bumping PyJWT, cryptography, pillow, oauthlib and other pinned libraries for CVEs, plus a fix for an onboarding issue. The mirror-registry installer tagged v3.0.0 on November 9 with only dependency bumps noted.
◆ Where it's heading
Quay's public changelog is now maintenance only: CVE pins backported to every supported line and build files aligned for Red Hat's ART pipeline. No user-facing features have shipped on these lines in recent months.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next set of paired CVE releases around mid-December; nothing in the entries points to a feature release.
Alternatives to Payload CMS and Quay
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Payload CMS or Quay.
Nautobot
Nautobot 3.3 alpha 2 adds test helpers and a cable location filter after 3.2.9's token-leak fix.
Clair
Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.
Shuffle
Shuffle tags builds almost daily, but the notes are empty.
KrakenD
KrakenD's community edition is shipping only dependency bumps.
Velociraptor
Velociraptor's recent releases are mostly about patching CVEs.
See all Payload CMS alternatives → · See all Quay alternatives →
Recent activity from Payload CMS and Quay
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 17h agoPayload CMSv4 beta.9: version-aware image transforms, richer session details
- 19h agoQuayQuay 3.10.28 backports November CVE fixes to LTS
- 19h agoQuayQuay 3.12.24 patches PyJWT, pillow and other CVEs
- 20h agoQuayQuay 3.14.10 rolls up CVE fixes and RHEL 8 builds
- 3d agoPayload CMSv4 beta.8: OAuth login for MCP, request-time image transforms
- 4d agoQuaymirror-registry 3.0.0 tagged with only a dependency bump noted
- 9d agoPayload CMSv4 beta.7: refresh tokens and a batch of security fixes
- 15d agoPayload CMSv4 beta.6: Lexical 0.53, restores always return as drafts
- 17d agoPayload CMSv4 beta.5: signed upload receipts, stricter password reset
- 22d agoPayload CMSv4 beta.4: Node 24.22.1 minimum and accessibility audit fixes
- 1mo agoQuayQuay 3.12.23 patches four CVEs and adds ART build file
- 1mo agoQuayQuay 3.10.27 backports October CVE fixes to LTS
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Payload CMS and Quay?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Payload CMS and Quay are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Payload CMS better than Quay?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Payload CMS and Quay are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Payload CMS?
Top Payload CMS alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Payload CMS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/payload for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Quay?
Top Quay alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Quay alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/quay for the full list with editorial commentary on each.