head to head · open source
filament vs mesh
filament has 32,075 GitHub stars, 4,208 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mesh has 593 stars, 123 forks, 135 open issues and last shipped yesterday. filament leads on adoption by 5,309% (32,075 vs 593 stars). filament is written in PHP under MIT; mesh is written in Java under Apache-2.0. filament has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, mesh 21%. mesh was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (cms), 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
| filament | mesh | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 593 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 123 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick filament if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mesh if
- You want the mesh feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and mesh fits your workflow better
About filament
Filament is a free, MIT licensed UI framework for Laravel, built on Livewire, that gives PHP developers a cohesive set of components for building applications and admin panels quickly.
read the full filament overview →
About mesh
Gentics Mesh is an open source, Java based headless content management system that gives developers content APIs instead of a bundled front end, and it is aimed at development teams building websites, mobile apps, IoT applications, smart devices and digital signage solutions.
More in Content & Publishing
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Frequently asked questions
Is filament or mesh more popular?
filament has 32,075 GitHub stars and mesh has 593. filament has the larger community by that measure.
Are filament and mesh free?
Both are open source. filament is licensed under MIT and mesh under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between filament and mesh?
filament is written in PHP and mesh in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, filament or mesh?
Choose filament if you want the larger community (32,075 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mesh if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.