head to head · open source
next.js vs lektor
next.js has 142,343 GitHub stars, 32,220 forks, 3,358 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lektor has 3,948 stars, 319 forks, 251 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. next.js leads on adoption by 3,505% (142,343 vs 3,948 stars). next.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; lektor is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. next.js has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, lektor 8%. 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 (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 | lektor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 142K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 32K | ⑂ 319 |
| 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 lektor if
- You want the lektor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and lektor 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 lektor
Lektor is a static website generator written in Python that builds an entire project from static files into many individual HTML pages and ships with a built in admin UI and a minimal desktop app, intended for people who want content management without running a database backed CMS.
read the full lektor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is next.js or lektor more popular?
next.js has 142,343 GitHub stars and lektor has 3,948. next.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are next.js and lektor free?
Both are open source. next.js is licensed under MIT and lektor under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between next.js and lektor?
next.js is written in JavaScript and lektor in Python. 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 lektor?
Choose next.js if you want the larger community (142,343 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lektor if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.