head to head · open source
decap-cms vs Instatic
decap-cms has 19,386 GitHub stars, 3,129 forks, 593 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Instatic has 8,691 stars, 802 forks, 134 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. decap-cms leads on adoption by 123% (19,386 vs 8,691 stars). decap-cms is written in JavaScript under MIT; Instatic is written in TypeScript under MIT. decap-cms has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Instatic 9%. decap-cms was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, static), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| decap-cms | Instatic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 802 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick decap-cms if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Instatic if
- You want the Instatic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Instatic fits your workflow better
About decap-cms
Decap CMS is a Git based content management system for static site generators, distributed as an npm package and released under the MIT License. It is a single page application that a site owner pulls into the /admin part of an existing site, where it presents a clean interface for editing content stored in a Git repository. The project lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and is built with React, and it is the software formerly known as Netlify CMS, renamed in February 2023. It carries the jamstack , headless cms , git based cms , and static site generator topics, and its documentation lives at decapcms.org.…
read the full decap-cms overview →
About Instatic
Instatic is an MIT licensed, TypeScript built visual CMS that lets designers, developers, and small teams self host their entire website stack — editor, content engine, and publisher — on a single Bun server and publish clean static pages.
read the full Instatic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is decap-cms or Instatic more popular?
decap-cms has 19,386 GitHub stars and Instatic has 8,691. decap-cms has the larger community by that measure.
Are decap-cms and Instatic free?
Both are open source. decap-cms is licensed under MIT and Instatic under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between decap-cms and Instatic?
decap-cms is written in JavaScript and Instatic in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, decap-cms or Instatic?
Choose decap-cms if you want the larger community (19,386 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Instatic if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.