head to head · open source
Directus vs Alokai
Directus has 38,799 GitHub stars, 4,991 forks, 402 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Alokai has 10,961 stars, 2,060 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. Directus leads on adoption by 254% (38,799 vs 10,961 stars). Directus is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Alokai is written in various languages under a licence not recorded in this registry. Directus has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Alokai 19%. Directus was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Directus | Alokai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 11K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | — |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Directus if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Alokai if
- You want the Alokai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You evaluated both and Alokai fits your workflow better
About Directus
The Collaborative Backend for Builders & AI Connect any SQL database and get instant REST and GraphQL APIs, a visual management Studio, and a native MCP server for AI agents. 45M+ downloads · 500K+ projects deployed [!NOTE] Free for most organizations. Under $5M annual revenue and 50 employees? Directus is completely free. Apply for an Open Innovation Grant license and get a key in minutes. Learn more about our license. 🐇 Introduction Directus wraps any SQL database with a REST and GraphQL API layer and a visual Studio. Engineers control schema and access. Non technical teammates and AI agents work directly…
read the full Directus overview →
About Alokai
An ecosystem of developer tools that accelerate and simplify building eCommerce Storefronts Fully customizable, backend agnostic with 3500+ Live Stores! Documentation Alokai is your guide to the composable commerce world that simplifies building, deploying, and monitoring ecommerce frontends. Works with any backend . Alokai is compatible with any backend that has an API. In addition its already integrated with many of them! See the list of available integrations. Working eCommerce Storefront Alokai delivers fully working eCommerce storefront integrated with your favourite stack Fully customizable . Build your…
read the full Alokai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Directus or Alokai more popular?
Directus has 38,799 GitHub stars and Alokai has 10,961. Directus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Directus and Alokai free?
Neither Directus nor Alokai declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Directus and Alokai?
Directus is written in TypeScript and Alokai in various languages. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Directus or Alokai?
Choose Directus if you want the larger community (38,799 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Alokai if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.