head to head · open source
react-snap vs publify
react-snap has 5,123 GitHub stars, 394 forks, 192 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. publify has 1,855 stars, 3,617 forks, 86 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. react-snap leads on adoption by 176% (5,123 vs 1,855 stars). react-snap is written in JavaScript under MIT; publify is written in Less under MIT. react-snap has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, publify 195%. publify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| react-snap | publify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.1K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Less |
| Last push | 2026-02-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 394 | ⑂ 3.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick react-snap if
- You weight community size — 5.1K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick publify if
- You want the publify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Less
- You evaluated both and publify fits your workflow better
About react-snap
react snap Pre renders a web app into static HTML. Uses Headless Chrome to crawl all available links starting from the root. Heavily inspired by prep and react snapshot, but written from scratch. Uses best practices to get the best loading performance. 😍 Features Enables SEO (Google, DuckDuckGo...) and SMO (Twitter, Facebook...) for SPAs. Works out of the box with create react app no code changes required. Uses a real browser behind the scenes, so there are no issues with unsupported HTML5 features, like WebGL or Blobs. Does a lot of load performance optimization . Here are details, if you are curious. Does not…
read the full react-snap overview →
About publify
Publify The Ruby on Rails publishing software formerly known as Typo What's Publify? Publify is a simple but full featured web publishing software. It's built around a blogging engine and a small message system connected to Twitter. Publify follows the principles of the IndieWeb, which are self hosting your Web site, and Publish On your Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere. Publify has been around since 2004 and is the oldest Ruby on Rails open source project alive. Features A classic multi user blogging engine Short messages with a Twitter connection Text filters (Markdown, SmartyPants, @mention to link, hashtag to…
read the full publify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is react-snap or publify more popular?
react-snap has 5,123 GitHub stars and publify has 1,855. react-snap has the larger community by that measure.
Are react-snap and publify free?
Both are open source. react-snap is licensed under MIT and publify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react-snap and publify?
react-snap is written in JavaScript and publify in Less. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, react-snap or publify?
Choose react-snap if you want the larger community (5,123 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose publify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.