head to head · open source
Payload vs next-drupal
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars, 4,384 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. next-drupal has 709 stars, 215 forks, 219 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Payload leads on adoption by 6,335% (45,624 vs 709 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; next-drupal is written in TypeScript under MIT. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, next-drupal 30%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (graphql, headless, headless-cms, nextjs), 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 | next-drupal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 709 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 215 |
| 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 next-drupal if
- You want the next-drupal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and next-drupal 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 next-drupal
Next.js for Drupal Next generation front end for your Drupal site. Demo Documentation Deploy to Vercel Example A page with all "Article" nodes. Supporting organizations Development sponsored by Chapter Three Contributing If you're interested in contributing to Next.js for Drupal, please read the contributing guidelines before submitting a pull request.
read the full next-drupal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or next-drupal more popular?
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars and next-drupal has 709. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and next-drupal free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and next-drupal under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and next-drupal?
Payload is written in TypeScript and next-drupal 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 next-drupal?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,624 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose next-drupal if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.