head to head · open source
Payload vs suneditor
Payload has 45,365 GitHub stars, 4,313 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. suneditor has 2,021 stars, 348 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Payload leads on adoption by 2,145% (45,365 vs 2,021 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; suneditor is written in JavaScript under MIT. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, suneditor 17%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, javascript), 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 | suneditor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-19 | 2026-10-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.3K | ⑂ 348 |
| 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 suneditor if
- You want the suneditor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and suneditor 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 suneditor
A modular WYSIWYG HTML editor with zero runtime dependencies. Everything included. Enable only what you need. Live Playground · Documentation · Get Started · Frameworks Tables, images, video, audio and files — resize, align, captions, galleries and uploads built in Markdown, math and code blocks — GFM Markdown view, LaTeX math, code blocks with a language selector Slash commands and block handles — / command menu, drag handles to move blocks Mentions, find & replace, templates, PDF export, drawing — and more, as opt in plugins TypeScript — bundled type definitions for options, plugins and the public API Works…
read the full suneditor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or suneditor more popular?
Payload has 45,365 GitHub stars and suneditor has 2,021. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and suneditor free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and suneditor under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and suneditor?
Payload is written in TypeScript and suneditor in JavaScript. 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 suneditor?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,365 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose suneditor if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.