head to head · open source
Payload vs Ghost-CLI
Payload has 45,435 GitHub stars, 4,328 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ghost-CLI has 500 stars, 239 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 8,987% (45,435 vs 500 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; Ghost-CLI is written in JavaScript under MIT. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Ghost-CLI 48%. Ghost-CLI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (cms, headless-cms, jamstack, javascript), 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 | Ghost-CLI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 500 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.3K | ⑂ 239 |
| 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 Ghost-CLI if
- You want the Ghost-CLI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Ghost-CLI 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 Ghost-CLI
Ghost CLI Basic Setup npm install g ghost cli@latest ghost install (for a production linux setup, including Nginx, SSL, and Systemd) ghost install local (for a local setup, useful for theme development/testing) NOTE: This CLI is not designed to work with any Ghost versions /Ghost CLI path/to/your/workspace 3. cd path/to/your/workspace 4. pnpm install To run the CLI for testing: pnpm link ghost (can run anywhere on the system) Running tests Publishing a new version Releases are cut from the Release workflow. Run it from main and pick a bump type: auto (default) — minor if there are ✨ commits since the last…
read the full Ghost-CLI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or Ghost-CLI more popular?
Payload has 45,435 GitHub stars and Ghost-CLI has 500. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and Ghost-CLI free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and Ghost-CLI under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and Ghost-CLI?
Payload is written in TypeScript and Ghost-CLI in JavaScript. 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 Ghost-CLI?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,435 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Ghost-CLI if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.