Can your organization run Directus free, and when do you need a paid plan?
Organizations with under 5 million US dollars in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees can run Directus with fully permissive free access and no feature limits under the Open Innovation Grant, according to Directus pricing. If you pass either threshold, you can still self-host the free Core plan, but only within 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows. Check both grant thresholds against your current audited revenue and headcount before you commit, and confirm with Directus how it counts employees, including contractors. The license raises a separate question. Directus is licensed under the Monospace Sustainable Core License 1.0, which permits any use except a Competing Use against Monospace's paid offerings. An internal tool or a client site built on Directus is a different case from a product that resells Directus as a service, so have counsel test your business model against the definition of Competing Use.
Move to the Team plan when your needs exceed Core. The Team plan lists 499 US dollars per month billed annually or 599 dollars billed monthly, with 10 SSO seats, 50 collections expandable to 100, 20 flows, granular RBAC and basic support. Extra seats cost 50 dollars per seat per month. Common triggers include a fourth user who needs access, a sixth collection, a sixth flow, or staff who must sign in through your identity provider with SSO. The subscription does not cover everything. If you self-host, you still run the server, the SQL database connected through DB_CLIENT, backups and upgrades. Ask Directus which of those costs are included, whether the seat and collection limits apply to staging instances, and how seats are counted when contractors or service accounts need access.
Choose Enterprise when Team limits no longer fit, such as larger seat counts, more collections or flows, or governance requirements the Team plan does not address. The pricing details available to this page do not include Enterprise terms, so request a written quote that lists seats, SSO scope, support terms and any self-hosting license conditions before you budget. The decision path is straightforward. Stay free if you meet the grant thresholds. Self-host Core if three seats, 25 collections and 5 flows cover your current needs. Move to Team when SSO, seats or collections push past those caps. Move to Enterprise only after a written quote shows it closes the gap. Confirm the grant thresholds, plan limits and prices on directus.com before you decide, because each can change.
What the free Core plan includes and where the Team plan adds limits
This table sets the self-hosted Core plan against the Team plan and the Open Innovation Grant, with limits stated as published on Directus's pricing page. Read each row as a question to answer for your own user count and data model, because the limits that matter depend on how many people edit content and how many collections your schema needs.
| Capability | Core (self-hosted, 0 US dollars per month) | Team (499 US dollars per month billed annually, 599 billed monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| User seats | 3 user seats | 10 SSO seats included; extra seats at 50 US dollars per seat per month |
| Collections | 25 collections | 50 collections, expandable to 100 |
| Flows | 5 flows | 20 flows |
| Role-based access control | Confirm with Directus which role and permission features Core includes | Granular RBAC |
| Support | Confirm the support channels available to Core users | Basic support |
| Open Innovation Grant | Organizations under 5 million US dollars in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees qualify for fully permissive free access with no feature limits, per Directus pricing. Confirm eligibility and how it is verified. | Not applicable if your organization qualifies for the grant, so compare it before buying Team |
| Enterprise capabilities | Not covered in the supplied facts. Ask Directus which enterprise features, support levels and license terms apply. | Not covered in the supplied facts. Ask Directus whether Enterprise adds capabilities beyond Team. |
What the Monospace Sustainable Core License allows you to do
The Monospace Sustainable Core License 1.0 (MSCL-1.0-GPL) permits any use of Directus except a Competing Use against Monospace's paid offerings, and each released version converts to GPL-3.0 four years after its release. For most organizations that run Directus to power their own applications, internal tools and customer-facing sites, the license does not require a paid plan. Your question is therefore less about whether you may run Directus and more about whether your planned use could be read as a Competing Use. Read the full text on the Directus license page and the repository's license file before you commit to an architecture, and keep a dated copy of the version you adopted so you can show which terms applied at the time.
Running Directus to operate your own business is a different activity from offering Directus itself as a hosted product to other parties. A bank that deploys Directus against its own SQL database to manage internal product catalogs, or a publisher that uses it as the back end for its own website, is using the software for its own purposes. A service provider that resells Directus-as-a-service, or sells a product that substitutes for Monospace's paid offerings, is in territory the license is designed to restrict. The license does not define Competing Use in terms your compliance team will recognize, so the boundary has to be settled by counsel, not by an engineering lead. Ask counsel to map your planned uses, including any managed service you intend to provide to subsidiaries, clients or partners, against the definition.
The license has also changed twice in a short period, and that history matters when you plan a multi-year deployment. Directus moved from BSL-1.1 to a different terms set in April 2023, then replaced that license with the Monospace Sustainable Core License in 2026. Each change affects how a version you deploy today will be treated when you upgrade later, so record which license text applied to the release you installed and review the terms before each major upgrade. The four-year conversion to GPL-3.0 gives a fixed point for planning, but the interim terms are what govern your use until then. Confirm with Directus which version your build uses and whether any conversion dates apply to it.
How licensing, support and updates differ by edition
Directus sells the same core software under several terms, and the terms decide who pays, what features you get and who ships fixes. The cards below separate the free paths, the paid Team tier and Enterprise, then cover release cadence and patch ownership for self-hosted installs.
Core plan, self-hosted
The self-hosted Core plan costs nothing per month but is capped at 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows. The code is under the Monospace Sustainable Core License, which permits any use except a Competing Use against Monospace's paid offerings. Check whether your planned internal platform could be read as a competing product, and check whether the seat and collection caps fit your roadmap before you build on it.
Open Innovation Grant eligibility
Organizations under 5 million US dollars in annual revenue and with fewer than 50 employees qualify for fully permissive free access with no feature limits. This is the only free path without the Core caps. Confirm your revenue and headcount against the grant criteria on the pricing page, and confirm with Directus how eligibility is verified and reviewed over time, since growth can end it.
Team plan with SSO seats
The Team plan is paid at 499 US dollars per month billed annually or 599 dollars billed monthly. It includes 10 SSO seats, 50 collections expandable to 100, 20 flows, granular RBAC and basic support. Extra seats cost 50 dollars per seat per month. Price the seat count you need for the next year, not today's headcount, and ask what basic support covers in response times.
Enterprise terms
Enterprise is not priced on the public pricing page, so its inclusions are unverified here. Ask Directus in writing which support tiers, SLAs, security reviews, upgrade assistance and deployment options are included, and whether they apply to self-hosted installs in your own cloud or an air-gapped network. Do not assume features from the Team plan carry over.
Release cadence and versions
Directus shipped 12.4.0 on September 22, 2026 and 12.5.0 on October 7, 2026, roughly two weeks apart. Frequent minor releases mean your upgrade tests need a repeatable schedule. Decide which version you pin, how long you stay on it, and who tests each release against your database and custom extensions before it reaches production.
Patches on self-hosted installs
On a self-hosted install, the license does not make Directus responsible for patching your servers, database, container images or reverse proxy. Your team, or the implementation partner you hire, applies security updates and runs restores. Confirm who receives vulnerability notices, what response windows apply on each plan, and who signs off on emergency fixes in your change process.
Which edition fits your organization's size and needs
An organization with under 5 million US dollars in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees qualifies for the Open Innovation Grant, which Directus pricing describes as fully permissive free access with no feature limits. Both conditions must hold, so missing either one removes the grant and returns you to the plan limits.
- Both tests must pass: revenue below 5 million US dollars and fewer than 50 employees. Confirm how Directus counts employees, including contractors and affiliates, and which financial year applies.
- No feature ceiling: the grant removes the seat, collection and flow limits that apply to the Core plan.
- Core as fallback: if you fail a threshold, the self-hosted Core plan at 0 US dollars per month allows 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows.
- License still applies: the grant does not change the Monospace Sustainable Core License terms, so confirm that your use is not a Competing Use against Monospace's paid offerings.
Get eligibility and the terms that apply to your legal entity confirmed in writing before you build production workflows on Directus.
If your organization exceeds either threshold but only a few people edit content and schemas, the self-hosted Core plan may still fit as long as you stay within 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows. When the count grows past those limits, the Team plan is the next published step, and its cost recurs every month.
- Core ceiling: 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows, all at 0 US dollars per month for self-hosting.
- Team entry point: 499 US dollars per month billed annually or 599 dollars billed monthly, with 10 SSO seats, 50 collections expandable to 100, 20 flows, granular RBAC and basic support.
- Illustrative cost: a team of 12 users on the annual Team plan would need 2 extra seats at 50 dollars each per month, adding 100 dollars to the 499 dollar base, for 599 dollars per month.
- Costs outside the subscription: you pay for your own hosting, SQL database, storage, backups, TLS and upgrades, and those costs are not included in the Directus price.
Count seats, collections and flows against the Core limits for the next twelve months, not only for today, and confirm whether the extra-seat price includes SSO access.
Seat count and SSO drive the Team plan's economics. The plan includes 10 SSO seats, and each additional seat costs 50 US dollars per month. Organizations with many occasional editors, contractors or identity requirements should model headcount changes before they pick a plan, because seat cost grows in a straight line.
- SSO seat cap: Team includes 10 SSO seats. Confirm how the cap works when a user is added beyond that number and whether extra seats carry SSO.
- Seat growth: extra seats at 50 US dollars per seat per month scale with every added user, so model peak headcount rather than the current roster.
- Collections and flows: Team allows 50 collections, expandable to 100, and 20 flows. Ask Directus what expansion costs before you depend on it.
- Enterprise path: if you need SSO across a large population or controls beyond granular RBAC, request Enterprise pricing and feature terms in writing, since you cannot size that tier from the Team figures.
- Identity provider fit: confirm which SSO protocols and identity providers your environment uses are supported under the plan you choose.
Before comparing plans, record the peak number of named users, including contractors and service accounts, and ask Directus to quote against that number.
Regulated organizations need evidence that access, changes and data handling are controlled. The Team plan lists granular RBAC and basic support, and Enterprise is where you would look for controls beyond those, but each feature you depend on must be confirmed in writing. DeployOpen can prepare systems, controls and evidence for an assessment, but it does not issue audit reports or certifications. Independent auditors and certification bodies do that work.
- Verify features before buying: confirm audit logging, approval workflows, retention settings and SSO enforcement in the Enterprise edition, since the published Team tier lists only granular RBAC and basic support.
- Support scope: check response expectations and escalation paths in the Enterprise terms, not only the basic support included with Team.
- Legal review of the license: the Monospace Sustainable Core License restricts Competing Use, so counsel should review whether your organization or its affiliates could fall within that restriction.
- Self-hosted responsibilities: you run the database, backups, access reviews and upgrades, and the subscription does not transfer those duties.
- Assessment evidence: an edition or grant does not produce an attestation by itself. Map each control to the evidence your assessor will request.
Ask Directus for a written statement of Enterprise features, support terms and license interpretation for your use before the assessment timeline is set.
What the free edition is missing for typical enterprise needs
The first check for a regulated or large organization is whether the free Core plan fits its headcount and identity model, and the published limits make that quick to run. The Directus pricing page lists Core at 0 US dollars per month with 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows. A content team of four editors, a finance group and an operations group can pass the seat ceiling before the first content model is finished. Single sign-on is the sharper gap: the Team plan lists 10 SSO seats, with extra seats at 50 dollars per seat per month, so size that count against the directory population that will sign in, not only the editing team. The Team plan listing also names granular RBAC and basic support. Confirm in writing whether Core includes SSO and granular RBAC, and what response expectations apply to each tier, before you assume either way.
A zero license fee does not remove the work of running Directus. Your team still provisions the host, whether a container platform in your cloud account or a virtual machine in your data center, and it still runs the SQL database Directus connects to through the DB_CLIENT setting. Backups and restore tests, patching of the operating system and database, TLS certificate renewal, secrets rotation and uptime monitoring with alerting all stay with you. Those tasks are staff time or a paid engagement, and they recur every month for as long as the system runs. A managed option such as Directus Cloud carries its own published price, so compare the two options on total run cost over a year, not on the license line alone.
Turn these gaps into a short decision checklist for the owner. Count the named users who will hold a Directus login, including administrators and integration accounts, and confirm whether service accounts count toward seats. Estimate collections and flows at the end of the first planned year of content and automation, since those limits are the ones teams hit quietly. If you think you qualify for the Open Innovation Grant, which the pricing page describes for organizations with under 5 million US dollars in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees, get the terms in writing and confirm whether they still apply as headcount or revenue grows. Where you bring in an implementation partner, ask that the ongoing run tasks appear as line items in the written scope beside the license decision.
What each edition costs and what you still pay for yourself
This table separates the published Directus subscription fees from the costs that stay with you under every edition, including the database, hosting, storage, upgrades and staff time. Read the recurring rows first, because they apply even when the subscription is zero. Enterprise and implementation pricing are not published, so the final row lists what to request in writing.
| Cost component | Who is paid | One-time or recurring | What drives it up or down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core plan subscription (self-hosted) | Directus, at 0 US dollars per month per Directus pricing | Recurring, currently zero | Capped at 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows, so growth can force a move to a paid plan |
| Team plan subscription | Directus, at 499 US dollars per month billed annually or 599 dollars billed monthly per Directus pricing | Recurring | Includes 10 SSO seats, 50 collections expandable to 100 and 20 flows; billing cycle changes the monthly rate |
| Extra Team seats | Directus, at 50 US dollars per seat per month per Directus pricing | Recurring, scales with headcount | Number of editors and admins who need access beyond the included seats |
| SQL database | Your database vendor or your DBA team, or a managed database service you pay for | Recurring infrastructure, plus one-time setup | Engine choice (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, SQLite or CockroachDB), licensing for commercial engines, backups and high availability |
| Hosting and storage | Your cloud account or data center, and any file storage you provision | Recurring | Container hosting, uploads volume, backup retention and environments such as staging |
| Upgrades and testing | Your platform team, or DeployOpen under a fixed-scope engagement or retainer | Recurring effort per release, plus one-time initial hardening | Release frequency, custom extensions, number of environments and how much regression testing you run |
| Staff time | Your internal engineers and administrators | Recurring | Ownership model, on-call expectations and how many people hold Directus knowledge |
| Enterprise and implementation | Directus for Enterprise, and an implementation partner if you hire one | Not published; request a written quote | Requested support level, SSO and compliance requirements, and the written scope of work |
Moving from the Core plan to Team, and back
This sequence takes a team from the free self-hosted Core plan to the paid Team plan, or back, while keeping schema and permission changes tested and reversible. Each step ends with a check you can record, so the move does not depend on memory or goodwill.
Confirm Open Innovation Grant eligibility first
Before comparing plans, check whether your organization meets the Open Innovation Grant threshold, which Directus lists as under 5 million US dollars in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees. Your finance and HR leads should confirm both figures against current records, since the grant is the only route in the published pricing to fully permissive free access with no feature limits. Record the decision and the evidence in your licensing file. The step is done when a named owner has signed off on eligible or not eligible, with the date and the source of the numbers.
Count seats, collections and flows against Core
If the grant does not apply, inventory the current Directus footprint: active user seats, collections and flows. Compare each count with the Core limits on the pricing page, which are 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows at no cost. Include service accounts and automation users in the seat count if your Directus setup treats them as seats, and confirm that treatment with Directus before deciding. The step is done when you have a written table showing current usage against each limit and the headroom left.
Choose Team or Enterprise from documented needs
Select the target plan by matching needs to what each plan includes. The Team plan lists 10 SSO seats, 50 collections expandable to 100, 20 flows, granular RBAC and basic support, with extra seats priced per seat. Enterprise is the path if you need capabilities beyond those limits, so request its scope in writing from Directus. Ask the vendor to confirm current prices, billing terms and what happens to the license if usage later drops. The step is done when the chosen plan and its written quote are attached to the change request.
Set up billing and the license record
Have the budget owner set up the subscription with Directus, choosing between annual and monthly billing as offered on the pricing page. Record who holds the account, who approves seat additions and where invoices go, since these decide who is paid for what and who must act when usage changes. Update your internal license register to show the plan, the seat count and the renewal owner. The step is done when the account is active and the register matches the invoice.
Migrate or extend SSO and RBAC mappings
Map your identity provider groups to Directus roles, and confirm that each group receives only the permissions it needs under granular RBAC. Count SSO users against the 10 SSO seats included in Team so you know when extra seats will be needed. Document every role, the collections it can touch and any role that can alter schema. The step is done when a test login from each group reaches only its approved collections, and the mapping is saved in version control or your change record.
Change schema and permissions in a test environment
Because Directus wraps an existing SQL database, collection and permission changes affect live data directly, so make them first in a copy of your database and a non-production Directus instance. Run the planned collection, flow and RBAC changes there, check API responses and Studio views, and record the exact steps. Prepare a rollback plan that restores the previous permission set and database snapshot, and rehearse it once. The step is done when the rehearsal passes and the rollback has been tested with a recorded result.
Apply changes to production and verify
Schedule the production change in a window agreed by your operations and security owners. Apply the tested configuration, then verify that role access, flows and API outputs match the rehearsal record. Confirm that data remains in your SQL server, since Directus connects to the database you already run and does not move it into a separate store. The step is done when the verification checklist is signed and any differences are logged with an owner.
Reverse the path when limits or grant status change
If usage drops below the Core limits, or your organization qualifies for the Open Innovation Grant, plan the move back in the same way. Recount seats, collections and flows, confirm eligibility in writing, and cancel or downgrade the subscription through Directus with the renewal date recorded. Test any permission removal in the non-production copy first, since removing roles can break flows and integrations. The step is done when the license register, billing record and access reviews all reflect the new plan.
Questions buyers ask before paying for Directus
Can a nonprofit or small company self-host Directus for free?
Possibly, if it meets both conditions of the Open Innovation Grant. Directus's pricing page says organizations with under 5 million US dollars in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees qualify for fully permissive free access with no feature limits. The page does not explain how nonprofit status is treated, so confirm with Directus in writing whether your organization qualifies before you rely on it. If you miss either threshold, the self-hosted Core plan is still free at 0 US dollars per month, but it is limited to 3 user seats, 25 collections and 5 flows. Ask Directus which entity counts for revenue and headcount when your organization belongs to a group.
What does the Directus Team plan cost per month and per extra seat?
The Team plan is listed at 499 US dollars per month billed annually or 599 US dollars per month billed monthly, according to Directus's pricing page. It includes 10 SSO seats, 50 collections expandable to 100, 20 flows, granular RBAC and basic support. Extra seats cost 50 US dollars per seat per month, so seat count is the main driver of recurring spend beyond the base fee. Count the people who need a login, not the people who only read published content. Collection and flow counts also matter if you exceed the base allowances. Confirm with Directus whether expanding collections to 100 changes the fee, and request a written quote that lists taxes, currency and billing terms.
Does the Monospace license let an internal team run Directus commercially?
For most internal use, the Monospace Sustainable Core License 1.0 permits it, because the license allows any use except a Competing Use against Monospace's paid offerings. Running Directus to power your own internal tools, websites or products is generally outside that restriction, but the license definition is the test. Have counsel read the license text against your planned use. The restriction is more likely to matter if you offer Directus hosting, management or a competing product to others. The license also converts each version to GPL-3.0 four years after release, so record the version you deploy and its release date to track when that conversion applies.
How much effort does a self-hosted Directus install take beyond the license?
The software is free to deploy under the license, so the effort is your team's time and any partner fees. The work you own includes:
- Hosting: running the Docker deployment in your cloud account, data center or private network
- Database: connecting Directus to an existing SQL database through the DB_CLIENT setting, with your own backups, patching and capacity planning
- Supporting services: storage, email, secrets management and TLS certificates
- Upgrades: applying new releases, such as 12.5.0, which Directus released on October 7, 2026
- Operations: monitoring, access reviews and documentation
Directus Cloud shifts some of this work to the vendor. Ask any partner for the operating tasks and hours in writing for your environment before comparing options.
How long does a move from Core to Team take, and what drives it?
The pricing page does not publish a migration duration, so confirm the timeline with Directus or your implementation partner. The plan change itself is administrative. The effort comes from what exceeds Core limits: more than 3 user seats, more than 25 collections, more than 5 flows, and SSO setup for the Team plan's 10 SSO seats. Directus connects to an existing SQL database, so the data stays in that database and the main work is configuration rather than content migration. Other drivers include reviewing the collection model, rebuilding or extending flows, designing RBAC roles, configuring your identity provider and running changes through your production change control. Ask for a written plan with each step and its owner.
Can a partner scope a Directus deployment and its upgrade path?
Yes. DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own infrastructure. Most engagements are fixed-scope, with scope, deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts. The scope can cover the deployment, the SQL database connection, identity integration, backup and upgrade procedures and documentation for compliance readiness. Licensing interpretation is outside that work, so take questions about the Monospace terms to your counsel and to Directus. Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers. DeployOpen does not publish a price list, so a quote follows from the written scope.
What should we confirm about Directus Enterprise terms before buying?
Directus does not publish Enterprise prices or limits on the pricing details this page relies on, so treat any Enterprise figure as unconfirmed until it comes from Directus in writing. Confirm the seat model, included SSO and RBAC features, support response commitments and any service levels, term length, renewal and price escalation rules, and what happens to your deployment if you stop renewing. Also ask how the Monospace license applies to Enterprise features, whether any Enterprise code is subject to different terms, and how long each release line is supported. Compare those answers with your Team plan requirements before signing.
How DeployOpen scopes and supports a Directus deployment
DeployOpen plans, implements, hardens, backs up, upgrades and documents self-hosted Directus inside your own infrastructure, whether that is your cloud accounts, your data center or an air-gapped network. Most engagements run under a fixed written scope that fixes deliverables and timelines before work starts, and ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing can be added as a retainer. DeployOpen does not publish a price list. A quote follows from the written scope, so the license question on this page directly shapes the work: if your organization qualifies for the Open Innovation Grant, the scope covers a self-hosted deployment with no paid Team or Enterprise seats to budget for, and if it does not, the scope has to account for the paid plan you would need.
DeployOpen does not issue licenses, attestations or vendor certifications, and it is not a Directus partner, reseller or certified provider unless that status is confirmed in writing. Confirm licensing directly with Directus before you commit, using the terms on the Directus pricing page and the license text, because your eligibility and any paid plan are contracts between you and the vendor. DeployOpen can then document how your chosen setup meets your internal review, but the license decision stays with your organization and Directus.
Bring four things to a scoping call so the grant check and the scope can be settled early. First, the number of user seats you expect, including editors and read-only staff, because the free Core plan caps seats and the Team plan adds SSO seats. Second, the number of collections you plan to model and the number of flows you expect to automate. Third, your annual revenue and total headcount, which are the two figures the grant threshold tests. Fourth, the SQL database you intend to use, since Directus connects to an existing database and the choice affects backups, upgrades and the work DeployOpen would scope.
