head to head · open source
Payload vs ZKEACMS
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars, 4,384 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ZKEACMS has 2,844 stars, 858 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Payload leads on adoption by 1,504% (45,624 vs 2,844 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; ZKEACMS is written in C# under GPL-3.0. Payload has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, ZKEACMS 30%. 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 | ZKEACMS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 858 |
| 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 ZKEACMS if
- You want the ZKEACMS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and ZKEACMS 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 ZKEACMS
ZKEACMS Build With .Net 9 ZKEACMS is a visual design, WYSIWYG Content Management System. Page Design Add Content To Page Get Started Demo Site Try it on our demo site: Create Page How to create a new page: Multi tenant demo Culture Change the culture code to en US to use english in appsettings.json Publish / Release Use Publish.cmd or Publish.sh to publish the project. You can also use the command line below to publish: Publish width runtime Run on Docker Development .Net 9 SDK Microsoft Sql Server 2016+ / MySql 5.6+ / SQLite 3 Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 / Visual Studio Code Responsive Design ZKEACMS is…
read the full ZKEACMS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or ZKEACMS more popular?
Payload has 45,624 GitHub stars and ZKEACMS has 2,844. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and ZKEACMS free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and ZKEACMS under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and ZKEACMS?
Payload is written in TypeScript and ZKEACMS in C#. 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 ZKEACMS?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (45,624 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ZKEACMS if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.