head to head · open source
Payload vs daptin
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. daptin has 1,896 stars, 122 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 2,263% (44,793 vs 1,896 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; daptin is written in Go under LGPL-3.0. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, daptin 6%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (graphql, 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 | daptin | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 122 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Payload if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick daptin if
- You want the daptin feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and daptin fits your workflow better
About Payload
Payload is an open source, MIT licensed headless CMS and fullstack framework, written in TypeScript and built to run natively inside a Next.js /app folder, aimed at developers who want a TypeScript backend and admin panel without signing up for another SaaS.
read the full Payload overview →
About daptin
Daptin is a self hosted application server built in Go. It lives in the backend as a service and headless CMS ecosystem, and it organizes behavior around schema files that describe records, fields, relationships, validation, and optional flags. Each configured table becomes a permission aware JSON:API resource at /api/{entity}, and the server attaches identity, files, automation, integrations, realtime delivery, metering, and protocol surfaces around that runtime.
read the full daptin overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or daptin more popular?
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars and daptin has 1,896. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and daptin free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and daptin under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and daptin?
Payload is written in TypeScript and daptin in Go. 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 daptin?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (44,793 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose daptin if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.