Directus
Hasura
| Feature | Directus | Hasura |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $99/mo | Free / from $99/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, agencies, content-teams, data-driven-teams | backend-developers, startups, api-developers, full-stack-teams |
| Founded | 2016 | 2017 |
| Data Studio | ✓ | ✗ |
| Rest Api | ✓ | ✓ |
| Graphql Api | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Permissions | ✓ | ✗ |
| File Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time | ✗ | ✓ |
| Authorization | ✗ | ✓ |
| Event Triggers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Remote Schemas | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Directus Pros
- Open source
- Database-first
- Beautiful admin UI
- REST + GraphQL
✗ Directus Cons
- Self-hosting required for free
- Smaller community
- Documentation gaps
✓ Hasura Pros
- Instant APIs
- Real-time subscriptions
- Great developer experience
- Performance
✗ Hasura Cons
- PostgreSQL-focused
- Complex authorization
- Pricing changes
The Verdict
Directus is built for developers and agencies, with a focus on data-studio and rest-api. Hasura targets backend developers and startups and leads with graphql-api and rest-api.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($99/mo for Directus, $99/mo for Hasura), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.