head to head · open source
Payload vs Drupal
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Drupal has 4,284 stars, 1,986 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 946% (44,793 vs 4,284 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; Drupal is written in PHP under a licence not recorded in this registry. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Drupal 46%. Drupal 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
| Payload | Drupal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| 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 Drupal if
- You want the Drupal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Drupal 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 Drupal
Drupal is an open source content management platform written in PHP, built to support websites that range from personal weblogs to large community driven websites. It lives in the Content & Publishing ecosystem, specifically in the Content Management Systems category, and has been developed by an international community on Drupal.org since 2001. The project is published under a license that ships inside the source tree at /core/LICENSE.txt , and the homepage for the distribution is at https://drupal.org/project/drupal.
read the full Drupal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or Drupal more popular?
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars and Drupal has 4,284. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and Drupal free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT, and Drupal has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Payload and Drupal?
Payload is written in TypeScript and Drupal 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, Payload or Drupal?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (44,793 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Drupal if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.