head to head · open source
hugo vs Payload
hugo has 89,854 GitHub stars, 8,381 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload has 44,793 stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hugo leads on adoption by 101% (89,854 vs 44,793 stars). hugo is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT. hugo has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Payload 9%. Payload 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
| hugo | Payload | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 45K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.4K | ⑂ 4.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick hugo if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Payload if
- You want the Payload feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Payload fits your workflow better
About hugo
Hugo is a static site generator written in Go that renders a complete site in seconds, often less, and it is aimed at developers, technical writers, and content teams who build blogs, documentation sites, portfolios, landing pages, and corporate sites as static files.
About Payload
Payload is an open source, MIT licensed headless CMS and fullstack framework, written in TypeScript and built to run natively inside a Next.js /app folder, aimed at developers who want a TypeScript backend and admin panel without signing up for another SaaS.
read the full Payload overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hugo or Payload more popular?
hugo has 89,854 GitHub stars and Payload has 44,793. hugo has the larger community by that measure.
Are hugo and Payload free?
Both are open source. hugo is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Payload under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hugo and Payload?
hugo is written in Go and Payload 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, hugo or Payload?
Choose hugo if you want the larger community (89,854 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Payload if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.