head to head · open source
halo vs squidex
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. squidex has 2,509 stars, 522 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. halo leads on adoption by 1,486% (39,787 vs 2,509 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; squidex is written in C# under MIT. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, squidex 21%. halo 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 | squidex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 522 |
| 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 squidex if
- You want the squidex feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and squidex 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 squidex
Squidex is an open source headless CMS and content management hub built in C on ASP.NET Core under the MIT licence, for development teams that model content in a backend service and build their own website, native app, or downstream server on top of its API.
read the full squidex overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is halo or squidex more popular?
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars and squidex has 2,509. halo has the larger community by that measure.
Are halo and squidex free?
Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and squidex under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between halo and squidex?
halo is written in Java and squidex in C#. 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 squidex?
Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,787 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose squidex if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.