head to head · open source
halo vs fastschema
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastschema has 573 stars, 55 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. halo leads on adoption by 6,844% (39,787 vs 573 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; fastschema is written in Go under MIT. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, fastschema 10%. halo 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
| halo | fastschema | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 573 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 55 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick halo if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fastschema if
- You want the fastschema feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and fastschema fits your workflow better
About halo
Halo is an open source, Java based website building tool licensed under GPL 3.0 that lets individuals and teams publish and run a blog, knowledge base, corporate website, or online store from infrastructure they control.
About fastschema
FastSchema is an MIT licensed, Go based Backend as a Service and web framework that turns a declared schema into database tables and RESTful CRUD APIs, built for developers and no code teams creating headless CMS platforms and dynamic web applications.
read the full fastschema overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is halo or fastschema more popular?
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars and fastschema has 573. halo has the larger community by that measure.
Are halo and fastschema free?
Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and fastschema under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between halo and fastschema?
halo is written in Java and fastschema in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, halo or fastschema?
Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,787 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose fastschema if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.