head to head · open source
Payload vs qor
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars, 4,384 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. qor has 5,346 stars, 683 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 753% (45,624 vs 5,346 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; qor is written in Go under MIT. Payload has attracted 10% 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.
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Side by side
| Payload | qor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 683 |
| 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 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
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 qor
QOR English Chat Room: 中文聊天室： For security issues, please send us an email to security@getqor.com and give us time to respond BEFORE posting as an issue or reporting on public forums. What is QOR? QOR is a set of libraries written in Go that abstracts common features needed for business applications, CMSs, and E commerce systems. This 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. QOR 1.0 is the first version to be open sourced and distributed under the MIT license. What QOR is not QOR is not a "boxed turnkey…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or qor more popular?
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars and qor has 5,346. 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 (45,624 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose qor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.