head to head · open source
Payload vs sulu
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars, 4,384 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sulu has 1,364 stars, 372 forks, 593 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 3,245% (45,624 vs 1,364 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; sulu is written in PHP under MIT. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, sulu 27%. 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 | sulu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 372 |
| 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 sulu if
- You want the sulu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and sulu 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 sulu
Sulu is a highly extensible open source PHP content management system based on the Symfony framework. Sulu is developed to deliver robust multi lingual and multi portal websites while providing an intuitive and extensible administration interface to manage the full content lifecycle. Have a look at the official Sulu website for a comprehensive list of Sulu's features, core values and use cases. This repository contains the core framework of the Sulu content management system . The framework implements the functionality that is built into the Sulu content management system and therefore is a dependency of all…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or sulu more popular?
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars and sulu has 1,364. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and sulu free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and sulu under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and sulu?
Payload is written in TypeScript and sulu in PHP. 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 sulu?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,624 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose sulu if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.