head to head · open source
Payload vs agency-os
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars, 4,384 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. agency-os has 989 stars, 182 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Payload leads on adoption by 4,513% (45,624 vs 989 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; agency-os is written in Vue under MIT. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, agency-os 18%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (headless-cms), 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
| Payload | agency-os | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 989 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-03-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 182 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Payload if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agency-os if
- You want the agency-os feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and agency-os fits your workflow better
About Payload
Explore the Docs · Community Help · Roadmap · View G2 Reviews [!IMPORTANT] Star this repo or keep an eye on it to follow along. Payload is the first ever Next.js native CMS that can install directly in your existing /app folder. It's the start of a new era for headless CMS. Benefits over a regular CMS It's both an app framework & headless CMS Deploy anywhere, including serverless on Vercel for free Combine your front+backend in the same /app folder if you want Don't sign up for yet another SaaS Payload is open source Query your database in React Server Components Both admin and backend are 100% extensible No…
read the full Payload overview →
About agency-os
AgencyOS AgencyOS is everything you need to get your agency off the ground, or improve tooling for your existing company. Nuxt 3 Website / Application + Directus Backend. Brought to you by partnership magic ✨ between Directus and NuxtLabs . Introduction · ⭐ Features · 🚧 Installation and Development · 🚢 Deployment · 🧰 Tech Stack · 🛟 Community Help · ❤️ Contributing Introduction One of the easiest parts of running a successful digital agency is doing the actual work . I mean who doesn’t love to put their head down to collaborate, design, and build amazing stuff for clients? The hard bits are everything else…
read the full agency-os overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or agency-os more popular?
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars and agency-os has 989. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and agency-os free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and agency-os under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and agency-os?
Payload is written in TypeScript and agency-os in Vue. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Payload or agency-os?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,624 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose agency-os if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.