head to head · open source
Payload vs qor
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. qor has 5,343 stars, 686 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. Payload leads on adoption by 738% (44,793 vs 5,343 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; qor is written in Go under MIT. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, qor 13%. 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Payload | qor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 686 |
| 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 qor if
- You want the qor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and qor fits your workflow better
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 qor
QOR is a set of libraries written in Go that abstracts the common features needed for business applications, content management systems, and e commerce systems. It lives in the Go ecosystem and is published under the MIT license. The project is a complete rewrite in Go of the original QOR, which was a proprietary framework written in Ruby on Rails and used internally at The Plant, and version 1.0 is the first release to be open sourced.
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Content Management Systems (CMS) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Content Management Systems (CMS) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or qor more popular?
Payload has 44,793 GitHub stars and qor has 5,343. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and qor free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and qor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and qor?
Payload is written in TypeScript and qor in Go. 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 qor?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (44,793 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose qor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.