head to head · open source
halo vs frappe
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. frappe has 10,791 stars, 5,327 forks, 2,003 open issues and last shipped yesterday. halo leads on adoption by 269% (39,787 vs 10,791 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; frappe is written in Python under MIT. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, frappe 49%. frappe 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 | frappe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 5.3K |
| 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 frappe if
- You want the frappe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and frappe 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 frappe
Frappe Framework is a full stack, low code web framework written in Python and JavaScript, licensed under MIT. It runs on the server side on Python and MariaDB, and it ships with a tightly integrated client side library that handles the browser layer of an application. The project sits in the Python and JavaScript web development ecosystem, and it has been developed for roughly fifteen years, with its first work beginning in 2005 and its repository now holding over ten thousand stars and more than five thousand forks.
read the full frappe overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is halo or frappe more popular?
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars and frappe has 10,791. halo has the larger community by that measure.
Are halo and frappe free?
Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and frappe under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between halo and frappe?
halo is written in Java and frappe in Python. 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 frappe?
Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,787 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose frappe if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.