head to head · open source
halo vs next-drupal
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. next-drupal has 711 stars, 214 forks, 219 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. halo leads on adoption by 5,496% (39,787 vs 711 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; next-drupal is written in TypeScript under MIT. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, next-drupal 30%. halo 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
| halo | next-drupal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 711 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 214 |
| 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 next-drupal if
- You want the next-drupal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and next-drupal 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 next-drupal
Next.js for Drupal is a TypeScript toolkit for building a decoupled front end for a Drupal site using Next.js. It ships the NextDrupal client class, which talks to Drupal through JSON:API or GraphQL, and it carries the MIT license. The project lives in the Drupal and Next.js ecosystems at once: it publishes as a Next.js plugin ( next plugin ) and pairs with companion Drupal modules, which is why the repository also carries the drupal modules topic.
read the full next-drupal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is halo or next-drupal more popular?
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars and next-drupal has 711. halo has the larger community by that measure.
Are halo and next-drupal free?
Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and next-drupal under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between halo and next-drupal?
halo is written in Java and next-drupal 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 next-drupal?
Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,787 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose next-drupal if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.