head to head · open source
Payload vs decap-cms
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. decap-cms has 19,386 stars, 3,129 forks, 593 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 131% (44,793 vs 19,386 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; decap-cms is written in JavaScript under MIT. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, decap-cms 16%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (cms, content-management-system, headless-cms, jamstack), 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
| Payload | decap-cms | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Payload if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick decap-cms if
- You want the decap-cms feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and decap-cms fits your workflow better
About Payload
Payload is an open source, MIT licensed headless CMS and fullstack framework, written in TypeScript and built to run natively inside a Next.js /app folder, aimed at developers who want a TypeScript backend and admin panel without signing up for another SaaS.
read the full Payload overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or decap-cms more popular?
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars and decap-cms has 19,386. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and decap-cms free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and decap-cms under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and decap-cms?
Payload is written in TypeScript and decap-cms in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Payload or decap-cms?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (44,793 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose decap-cms if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.