head to head · open source
next.js vs publify
next.js has 142,343 GitHub stars, 32,220 forks, 3,358 open issues and last shipped yesterday. publify has 1,853 stars, 3,627 forks, 86 open issues and last shipped yesterday. next.js leads on adoption by 7,582% (142,343 vs 1,853 stars). next.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; publify is written in Less under MIT. next.js has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, publify 196%. next.js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | publify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 142K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Less |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 32K | ⑂ 3.6K |
| 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 publify if
- You want the publify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Less
- You evaluated both and publify 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 publify
Publify is a self hosted web publishing platform built on Ruby on Rails. It is the project formerly known as Typo, and it provides a blogging engine plus a small message system connected to Twitter.
read the full publify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is next.js or publify more popular?
next.js has 142,343 GitHub stars and publify has 1,853. next.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are next.js and publify free?
Both are open source. next.js is licensed under MIT and publify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between next.js and publify?
next.js is written in JavaScript and publify in Less. 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 publify?
Choose next.js if you want the larger community (142,343 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose publify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.