head to head · open source
Strapi vs Payload
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars, 9,875 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload has 44,793 stars, 4,164 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Strapi leads on adoption by 63% (73,184 vs 44,793 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT. Strapi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Payload 9%. Strapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 7 topic tags (cms, content-management, content-management-system, graphql), 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
| Strapi | Payload | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 45K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 4.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Strapi if
- You weight community size — 73K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Payload if
- You want the Payload feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Payload fits your workflow better
About Strapi
Strapi is an open source headless content management system built entirely in JavaScript and TypeScript. It provides a customizable admin dashboard and automatically generates REST and GraphQL APIs for any content structure defined through its visual Content Type Builder. Strapi lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and targets developers who need to deliver content to diverse frontends—including web, mobile, and IoT applications—without being locked into a specific presentation layer.
read the full Strapi overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or Payload more popular?
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars and Payload has 44,793. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and Payload free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and Payload is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and Payload?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and Payload 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, Strapi or Payload?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,184 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Payload if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.