head to head · open source
halo vs keystatic
halo has 39,797 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped today. keystatic has 2,397 stars, 160 forks, 184 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. halo leads on adoption by 1,560% (39,797 vs 2,397 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; keystatic is written in TypeScript under MIT. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, keystatic 7%. halo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, content-management-system), 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 | keystatic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 160 |
| 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 keystatic if
- You want the keystatic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and keystatic 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 keystatic
First class CMS experience, TypeScript API, Markdown & YAML/JSON based, no DB. Built with DNA from Keystone, connects directly to GitHub and doesn’t mess with your source code. Conceived for modern front end frameworks like Next.js, Remix and Astro, designed to fit into your workflow. Status We're working on it! Things are experimental at the moment. But if you're curious and brave, check out keystatic.com to try it out (and check out our growing collection of templates). Follow @thekeystatic on Twitter, and subscribe to our mailing list for updates. Feedback on how we're going, what you're looking for, and what …
read the full keystatic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is halo or keystatic more popular?
halo has 39,797 GitHub stars and keystatic has 2,397. halo has the larger community by that measure.
Are halo and keystatic free?
Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and keystatic under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between halo and keystatic?
halo is written in Java and keystatic in TypeScript. 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 keystatic?
Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,797 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose keystatic if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.