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head to head · open source

Payload vs Instatic

Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Instatic has 8,691 stars, 802 forks, 134 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Payload leads on adoption by 415% (44,793 vs 8,691 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; Instatic is written in TypeScript under MIT. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Instatic 9%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 Instatic ★ 8.7K category Content & Publishing

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Side by side

Payload Instatic
GitHub stars ★ 45K ★ 8.7K
License MIT MIT
Written in TypeScript TypeScript
Last push 2026-09-17 2026-09-13
Forks ⑂ 4.2K ⑂ 802
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 Instatic if

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

full Instatic 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 Instatic

Instatic is an MIT licensed, TypeScript built visual CMS that lets designers, developers, and small teams self host their entire website stack — editor, content engine, and publisher — on a single Bun server and publish clean static pages.

read the full Instatic 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 OrchardCore Payload vs Publii Payload vs sanity Payload vs luban-h5

Frequently asked questions

Is Payload or Instatic more popular?

Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars and Instatic has 8,691. Payload has the larger community by that measure.

Are Payload and Instatic free?

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

What is the difference between Payload and Instatic?

Payload is written in TypeScript and Instatic in TypeScript. 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 Instatic?

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