[AlessioGr]

Payload CMS for sure: https://payloadcms.com/

But be careful: once you tried it, you won't want to use anything else anymore.

Gives you both a REST API, as well as a GraphQL API automatically. Admin UI is written in React as well and is customizable, super clean & distraction-free. Everything is extendable with Typescript.

I, personally, went from WordPress => Strapi => Directus and have now settled with Payload, which I greatly prefer, as it's the only one which hasn't caused any roadblocks and lets me do whatever I want and need. It'll suit your needs and most likely any needs which will come up in the future

[hrvstr]

What is the cheapest setup to deploy Payload CMS? Only used hosted headless CMS so far (Netlify CMS, Forestry & FrontAid CMS). Do I need a VPS at Hetzner? I guess Netlify will not work because I can't have Mongo DB there?

[AlessioGr]

Mmh when you start off, the cheapest will probably be Railway + MongoDB Atlas - that would practically be free. If you're a European, then Northflank + Atlas.

With more traffic, any VPS will be the cheapest, eg Digitalocean or especially Hetzner. You don't need to have MongoDB there, as you can host it separately, e.g. on MongoDB Atlas which has a free tier. And of course there's Payload Cloud which is quite a good deal - especially if you compare it to the crazy prices of other CMS' cloud offerings. Obviously won't be as cheap as managing a VPS by yourself though, but it has other benefits.

Never actually tried Netlify myself so I can't comment on that