head to head · open source
Payload vs mix.core
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars, 4,384 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mix.core has 888 stars, 223 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. Payload leads on adoption by 5,038% (45,624 vs 888 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; mix.core is written in C# under MIT. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, mix.core 25%. 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-system), 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 | mix.core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 888 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-01-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 223 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Payload if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mix.core if
- You want the mix.core feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and mix.core 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 mix.core
Mixcore CMS Fully Open Source UI Tools to create multi purpose Enterprise Web Apps, Mobile Apps & Application Services Branchs master : Mixcore v1.0.x LTS develop : Mixcore v2.0.0 alpha.x UI Screenshots Admin Portal Mixcore CMS Back office is built on top of the much awaited Bootstrap 5. This makes starting a new project very simple. It also provides benefits if you are already working on a Bootstrap 5 project. (New Portal in Angular / Svelte will be coming soon) Special features (Out of the box) [x] Databases MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite [x] Reliability Member roles and permissions. [x] High Security…
read the full mix.core overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or mix.core more popular?
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars and mix.core has 888. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and mix.core free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and mix.core under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and mix.core?
Payload is written in TypeScript and mix.core in C#. 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 mix.core?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,624 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mix.core if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.