head to head · open source
halo vs Publii
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Publii has 7,312 stars, 468 forks, 300 open issues and last shipped yesterday. halo leads on adoption by 444% (39,787 vs 7,312 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; Publii is written in HTML under GPL-3.0. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, Publii 6%. Publii 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 | Publii | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 7.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 468 |
| 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 Publii if
- You want the Publii feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and Publii 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 Publii
Publii is a desktop based content management system for Windows, Mac and Linux, built with Electron, that produces static websites from a graphical interface. It is licensed under GPL 3.0, carries over 7,300 stars and 469 forks on GitHub, and sits in the static site generator ecosystem alongside HTML and Handlebars based tooling. Themes and templating use Handlebars, and the shipped application targets Linux distributions including Fedora, macOS and Windows.
read the full Publii overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is halo or Publii more popular?
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars and Publii has 7,312. halo has the larger community by that measure.
Are halo and Publii free?
Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Publii under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between halo and Publii?
halo is written in Java and Publii in HTML. 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 Publii?
Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,787 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Publii if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.