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head to head · open source

Payload vs joomla-cms

Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. joomla-cms has 5,137 stars, 3,867 forks, 928 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 772% (44,793 vs 5,137 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; joomla-cms is written in PHP under GPL-2.0. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, joomla-cms 75%. 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, content-management), 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 joomla-cms ★ 5.1K category Content & Publishing

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Side by side

Payload joomla-cms
GitHub stars ★ 45K ★ 5.1K
License MIT GPL-2.0
Written in TypeScript PHP
Last push 2026-09-17 2026-09-17
Forks ⑂ 4.2K ⑂ 3.9K
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 joomla-cms if

  • You want the joomla-cms feature set and don't need the biggest community
  • You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
  • Your stack matches PHP
  • You evaluated both and joomla-cms fits your workflow better

full joomla-cms 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 joomla-cms

Joomla! CMS is a free, open source content management system written in PHP that lets people build websites and online applications, and this repository is the source code home of the Joomla! 5.x line for developers, integrators, and site builders.

read the full joomla-cms overview →

More in Content & Publishing

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

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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 joomla-cms more popular?

Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars and joomla-cms has 5,137. Payload has the larger community by that measure.

Are Payload and joomla-cms free?

Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and joomla-cms under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between Payload and joomla-cms?

Payload is written in TypeScript and joomla-cms 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 joomla-cms?

Choose Payload if you want the larger community (44,793 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose joomla-cms if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.