head to head · open source
Payload vs textpattern
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars, 4,384 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. textpattern has 883 stars, 110 forks, 86 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 5,067% (45,624 vs 883 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; textpattern is written in PHP under GPL-2.0. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, textpattern 12%. Payload was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (cms, content-management, content-management-system), 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 | textpattern | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 883 |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 110 |
| 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 textpattern if
- You want the textpattern feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and textpattern 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 textpattern
Textpattern CMS A flexible, elegant, fast and easy to use content management system written in PHP. Textpattern is free and open source software. System requirements Download Textpattern Install Textpattern Upgrade Textpattern Help and Support Development Contributing Thank you Legal System requirements Textpattern is installed to a web server with PHP and MySQL. Ensure the server meets or exceeds the system requirements before you continue. Download Textpattern The current production release is version 4.9.1. It can be downloaded from the Textpattern website or GitHub in .zip, .tar.gz, and .tar.xz varieties. If…
read the full textpattern overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or textpattern more popular?
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars and textpattern has 883. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and textpattern free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and textpattern under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and textpattern?
Payload is written in TypeScript and textpattern 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 textpattern?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,624 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose textpattern if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.