head to head · open source
next.js vs elm-pages
next.js has 142,339 GitHub stars, 32,276 forks, 3,358 open issues and last shipped today. elm-pages has 692 stars, 102 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. next.js leads on adoption by 20,469% (142,339 vs 692 stars). next.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; elm-pages is written in Elm under BSD-3-Clause. next.js has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, elm-pages 15%. next.js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (blog, static-site-generator), 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
| next.js | elm-pages | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 142K | ★ 692 |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | JavaScript | Elm |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-05-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 32K | ⑂ 102 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick next.js if
- You weight community size — 142K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick elm-pages if
- You want the elm-pages feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Elm
- You evaluated both and elm-pages fits your workflow better
About next.js
Next.js is a JavaScript framework for building web applications, distributed under the MIT license and described by its maintainers as "The React Framework." It extends the latest React features so that developers can build full stack web applications, and it integrates Rust based JavaScript tooling to produce fast builds. The project lives in the React and Node ecosystem, and its topic list places it among static site generators, server rendering tools, hybrid and universal rendering approaches, and compiler oriented front end tooling. The repository is ten years old and has been pushed as recently as September …
read the full next.js overview →
About elm-pages
elm pages elm pages is a framework for building an Elm single page app that is able to seamlessly interface with data from an Elm Backend. elm pages is a hybrid framework, allowing you to define Routes that are either server rendered (for more dynamic content with user specific or request specific data) or pre rendered at build time (for generating static HTML files that are hosted through a CDN). You can mix and match server rendered and pre rendered routes in your app. elm pages also has a command for running pure Elm scripts with a single command. See the elm pages Scripts docs page. What's new in 12.2 Tui — b…
read the full elm-pages overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is next.js or elm-pages more popular?
next.js has 142,339 GitHub stars and elm-pages has 692. next.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are next.js and elm-pages free?
Both are open source. next.js is licensed under MIT and elm-pages under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between next.js and elm-pages?
next.js is written in JavaScript and elm-pages in Elm. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, next.js or elm-pages?
Choose next.js if you want the larger community (142,339 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose elm-pages if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.