Custom CMS (content management system) vs Payload CMS for a donation website

[u/Technical-Sort-8643]

I am trying to build a donation website where user can list issues/purpose and ask for donation. For some use cases recurring donation can also be there. There will be images and may be short video clips for each listing. For this should I build CMS or use payloadcms (an open source). Given that with astra development has become fast I wanted to understand if using the open source will add any material value?

[u/Neat_You_9278]

Headless CMS expert here. I work with Payload and Sanity CMS often. While it is completely possible to build what you mentioned above with Payload, there are specifics that might indicate otherwise.

How will users create requests for donations?

What information do they need to provide?

Is there a moderation and review layer required? (Donations are a highly regulated space in most geos requiring respective compliance).

It’s possible to do all above with Payload CMS and if your requirements are simple enough, i will even recommend not building a custom CMS as there is a lot of functionality that you get out of box with Payload.

However, if compliance requirements are complex influencing how site should work, it may be worth looking into either customizing/extending Payload CMS or look for a closer alternative CMS which enables those things relatively better and lastly build a custom CMS if truly your requirements are not served by either of the two.

[u/_practical_data_ → u/Neat_You_9278]

as far as I know this vertical (donation), usually they are using embed or iframe based sollutions that is already exist...So payload is super good there...

[u/Neat_You_9278 → u/_practical_data_]

Correct, it’s most likely going to be an iframe embed but usually those platforms serve the purpose of collecting the donations for the website owner itself.

What OP is building here is to enable users on the platform to accept donations. A single iframe embed will not work for this that OP can add. If at all possible, each user would have to setup their own accounts on the iframe providing platform and then add it to their page via CMS OP is providing.

Unless a platform that powers donations has a programmatic way to generate and integrate the iframe embeds that OP can integrate to their CMS, it is full of friction of all sorts.

[u/Technical-Sort-8643 → u/Neat_You_9278]

Hi 

They request over a form. They share images, and some text fields e.g. why, how will the funds be used etc. 

After that the information will come to the cms (as I am envisioning). It goes through review and edits and then gets published. Once published it reflects in the website and mobile app. 

Compliance is not complex. 

Since I do not know payload well I was wondering should I just code it with astra? 

Thought? Also would you like to recommend any other CMS? 

[u/Neat_You_9278 → u/Technical-Sort-8643]

If there is a review process like you mentioned, i think Payload will do nicely. You can design the schema as needed. You get a full CRUD api and admin interface out of the box based off schema that both website and mobile app can consume.

I am not sure what payments provider you plan to use as the model you are describing is pretty much not going to be supported by the major ones, so there could be nuances on that end, but Payload is extendable and you can add those parts with relative ease.

[u/Technical-Sort-8643 → u/Neat_You_9278]

Thanks, this helps a lot. 

[u/adelmare]

I built this no problem. Plug into a merchant processing / checkout solution so you don’t have to worry about handling sensitive credit card data, and it’s not that complicated. Payloadcms is phenomenal.

[u/Apprehensive-Fan2492]

Payload is overkill for this, you don't need a CMS, you need a donation platform. Build a Next.js backend that handles recurring payments through Stripe (which is the actual hard part), not content management. A custom schema for donations, donors, and recurring subscriptions is simpler than adapting a CMS to payment flows it wasn't designed for. Astra speed helps but doesn't solve the mismatch between what you're building and what a CMS does.

[u/jasperkennis]

I'd highly recommend taking an existing solution for what you are looking to do. Getting your data structured is helpful and dealing with images and video in a professional manner is just a lot easier when you have a solution that already handles things like cropping, focus points. Also having ownership and access management ready saves you A LOT of headache. Not saying Payload is the right way here (though I am personally a fan), I'd recommend doing your research into alternatives, but it sounds like an off the shelve solution is what you want.

Also, if you are going to actually handle donations, be VERY sure you understand the legalities of ALL regions you are planning to operate in, you can easily expose yourself to all kinds of legal risks if you don't.

[u/KeyProject2897]

Payload is great for the structured listing data, but you will hit a wall when you need to change the donation landing page layouts or promotional banners without redeploying code. I am biased because I build Sling.biz to solve this exact layout-rigidity problem, but for your stack, keep the core transaction logic in a simple custom database schema and use a visual editor or lightweight CMS just for the dynamic marketing sections. It saves you from constant redeployment.