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head to head · open source

halo vs mediacms

halo has 39,787 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mediacms has 5,113 stars, 957 forks, 146 open issues and last shipped yesterday. halo leads on adoption by 678% (39,787 vs 5,113 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; mediacms is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, mediacms 19%. mediacms 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.

halo ★ 40K mediacms ★ 5.1K category Content & Publishing

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Side by side

halo mediacms
GitHub stars ★ 40K ★ 5.1K
License GPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0
Written in Java JavaScript
Last push 2026-09-17 2026-09-17
Forks ⑂ 10K ⑂ 957
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

full halo profile →

pick mediacms if

  • You want the mediacms feature set and don't need the biggest community
  • You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
  • Your stack matches JavaScript
  • You evaluated both and mediacms fits your workflow better

full mediacms profile →

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.

read the full halo overview →

About mediacms

MediaCMS is a modern, fully featured open source video and media CMS, written in Python/Django and React with a REST API, for anyone who wants to build and run a self hosted small to medium video and media portal.

read the full mediacms overview →

More in Content & Publishing

next.js ★ 142K storybook ★ 91K hugo ★ 90K Understand-Anything ★ 83K Strapi ★ 73K nuxt ★ 61K

Related comparisons

hugo vs halo strapi vs halo hugo vs strapi hugo vs payload hugo vs filament strapi vs payload hugo vs wagtail hugo vs decap-cms next-js vs nuxt next-js vs gatsby next-js vs ghost next-js vs jekyll next-js vs hexo next-js vs nextra next-js vs kit next-js vs vike storybook vs understand-anything storybook vs devdocs storybook vs docsify understand-anything vs devdocs storybook vs wiki storybook vs mkdocs-material understand-anything vs docsify understand-anything vs wiki

More Content Management Systems (CMS) projects

Compare either of these against the rest of the Content Management Systems (CMS) field.

halo vs hugo halo vs Strapi halo vs Payload halo vs filament halo vs wagtail halo vs decap-cms halo vs TinaCMS halo vs frappe halo vs Instatic halo vs OrchardCore halo vs Publii halo vs sanity

Frequently asked questions

Is halo or mediacms more popular?

halo has 39,787 GitHub stars and mediacms has 5,113. halo has the larger community by that measure.

Are halo and mediacms free?

Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and mediacms under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between halo and mediacms?

halo is written in Java and mediacms in JavaScript. 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 mediacms?

Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,787 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose mediacms if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.