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head to head · open source

Payload vs fastschema

Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastschema has 573 stars, 55 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Payload leads on adoption by 7,717% (44,793 vs 573 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; fastschema is written in Go under MIT. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, fastschema 10%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, 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.

Payload ★ 45K fastschema ★ 573 category Content & Publishing

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Side by side

Payload fastschema
GitHub stars ★ 45K ★ 573
License MIT MIT
Written in TypeScript Go
Last push 2026-09-17 2026-07-11
Forks ⑂ 4.2K ⑂ 55
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

full Payload profile →

pick fastschema if

  • You want the fastschema feature set and don't need the biggest community
  • You prefer the MIT license terms
  • Your stack matches Go
  • You evaluated both and fastschema fits your workflow better

full fastschema profile →

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 fastschema

FastSchema is an MIT licensed, Go based Backend as a Service and web framework that turns a declared schema into database tables and RESTful CRUD APIs, built for developers and no code teams creating headless CMS platforms and dynamic web applications.

read the full fastschema overview →

More in Content & Publishing

next.js ★ 142K storybook ★ 91K hugo ★ 90K Understand-Anything ★ 83K Strapi ★ 73K nuxt ★ 61K

Related comparisons

hugo vs payload strapi vs payload hugo vs strapi hugo vs halo hugo vs filament strapi vs halo hugo vs wagtail hugo vs decap-cms next-js vs nuxt next-js vs gatsby next-js vs ghost next-js vs jekyll next-js vs hexo next-js vs nextra next-js vs kit next-js vs vike storybook vs understand-anything storybook vs devdocs storybook vs docsify understand-anything vs devdocs storybook vs wiki storybook vs mkdocs-material understand-anything vs docsify understand-anything vs wiki

More Content Management Systems (CMS) projects

Compare either of these against the rest of the Content Management Systems (CMS) field.

Payload vs hugo Payload vs Strapi Payload vs halo Payload vs filament Payload vs wagtail Payload vs decap-cms Payload vs TinaCMS Payload vs frappe Payload vs Instatic Payload vs OrchardCore Payload vs Publii Payload vs sanity

Frequently asked questions

Is Payload or fastschema more popular?

Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars and fastschema has 573. Payload has the larger community by that measure.

Are Payload and fastschema free?

Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and fastschema under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between Payload and fastschema?

Payload is written in TypeScript and fastschema 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 fastschema?

Choose Payload if you want the larger community (44,793 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose fastschema if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.