head to head · open source
next.js vs htmly
next.js has 143,474 GitHub stars, 33,621 forks, 3,358 open issues and last shipped yesterday. htmly has 1,368 stars, 307 forks, 54 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. next.js leads on adoption by 10,388% (143,474 vs 1,368 stars). next.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; htmly is written in PHP under GPL-2.0. next.js has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, htmly 22%. next.js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (blog), 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 | htmly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 143K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-01-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 34K | ⑂ 307 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick next.js if
- You weight community size — 143K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick htmly if
- You want the htmly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and htmly fits your workflow better
About next.js
Next.js Getting Started Used by some of the world's largest companies, Next.js enables you to create full stack web applications by extending the latest React features, and integrating powerful Rust based JavaScript tooling for the fastest builds. Visit our Learn Next.js course to get started with Next.js. Visit the Next.js Showcase to see more sites built with Next.js. Documentation Visit to view the full documentation. Community The Next.js community can be found on GitHub Discussions where you can ask questions, voice ideas, and share your projects with other people. To chat with other community members, you…
read the full next.js overview →
About htmly
HTMLy is an open source databaseless blogging platform prioritizes simplicity and speed written in PHP. It uses a unique algorithm to find or list any content based on date, type, category, tag, or author, and it's performance remain fast even if we have ten thousand of posts and hundreds of tags. Requirements HTMLy requires PHP 7.2 or greater, PHP Mbstring, PHP XML, PHP INTL, PHP GD, and PHP ZIP package for backup feature. Installations Install HTMLy using the source code: 1. Download the latest version from the Github repo 2. Upload and extract the zip file to your web server. You can upload it in the root…
read the full htmly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is next.js or htmly more popular?
next.js has 143,474 GitHub stars and htmly has 1,368. next.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are next.js and htmly free?
Both are open source. next.js is licensed under MIT and htmly under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between next.js and htmly?
next.js is written in JavaScript and htmly in PHP. 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 htmly?
Choose next.js if you want the larger community (143,474 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose htmly if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.