head to head · open source
Rowy vs ProcessWire
Rowy has 6,841 GitHub stars, 557 forks, 80 open issues and last shipped 1.8 years ago. ProcessWire has 1,152 stars, 207 forks, 93 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Rowy leads on adoption by 494% (6,841 vs 1,152 stars). Rowy is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; ProcessWire is written in PHP under a custom or non-standard licence. Rowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, ProcessWire 18%. ProcessWire 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
| Rowy | ProcessWire | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.8K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2024-11-23 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 557 | ⑂ 207 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Rowy if
- You weight community size — 6.8K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ProcessWire if
- You want the ProcessWire feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and ProcessWire fits your workflow better
About Rowy
Rowy is an open source low code backend platform that runs in the browser. It provides a spreadsheet like interface for managing data stored in Firestore, and it embeds a code editor for writing cloud functions in JavaScript or TypeScript. The project lives in the Firebase and Google Cloud Platform ecosystem, and it is written in TypeScript. It is commonly described as an Airtable style front end for a Firestore database, with automation built in.
About ProcessWire
ProcessWire is an open source PHP content management system and framework (CMS/CMF) with a strong API, aimed at web developers, designers, and the clients who maintain the sites they build.
read the full ProcessWire overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Rowy or ProcessWire more popular?
Rowy has 6,841 GitHub stars and ProcessWire has 1,152. Rowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Rowy and ProcessWire free?
Neither Rowy nor ProcessWire declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Rowy and ProcessWire?
Rowy is written in TypeScript and ProcessWire 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, Rowy or ProcessWire?
Choose Rowy if you want the larger community (6,841 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ProcessWire if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.