head to head · open source
gatsby vs publify
gatsby has 55,921 GitHub stars, 10,089 forks, 450 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. publify has 1,855 stars, 3,617 forks, 86 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. gatsby leads on adoption by 2,915% (55,921 vs 1,855 stars). gatsby is written in JavaScript under MIT; publify is written in Less under MIT. gatsby has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, publify 195%. publify 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
| gatsby | publify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Less |
| Last push | 2026-10-20 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 3.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gatsby if
- You weight community size — 56K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick publify if
- You want the publify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Less
- You evaluated both and publify fits your workflow better
About gatsby
Gatsby The future of web development is here. Gatsby is a free and open source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps. It combines the control and scalability of dynamically rendered sites with the speed of static site generation, creating a whole new web of possibilities. Quickstart · Tutorial · Plugins · Starters · Showcase · Contribute Support: Discussions Gatsby helps professional developers efficiently create maintainable, highly performant, content rich websites. Load Data From Anywhere. Gatsby pulls in data from any data source, whether it’s Markdown files, a…
read the full gatsby overview →
About publify
Publify The Ruby on Rails publishing software formerly known as Typo What's Publify? Publify is a simple but full featured web publishing software. It's built around a blogging engine and a small message system connected to Twitter. Publify follows the principles of the IndieWeb, which are self hosting your Web site, and Publish On your Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere. Publify has been around since 2004 and is the oldest Ruby on Rails open source project alive. Features A classic multi user blogging engine Short messages with a Twitter connection Text filters (Markdown, SmartyPants, @mention to link, hashtag to…
read the full publify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gatsby or publify more popular?
gatsby has 55,921 GitHub stars and publify has 1,855. gatsby has the larger community by that measure.
Are gatsby and publify free?
Both are open source. gatsby is licensed under MIT and publify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gatsby and publify?
gatsby is written in JavaScript and publify in Less. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gatsby or publify?
Choose gatsby if you want the larger community (55,921 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose publify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.