head to head · open source
Strapi vs halo
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars, 9,875 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. halo has 39,787 stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Strapi leads on adoption by 84% (73,184 vs 39,787 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0. Strapi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, halo 26%. Strapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, 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
| Strapi | halo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 40K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 10K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Strapi if
- You weight community size — 73K 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 halo if
- You want the halo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and halo fits your workflow better
About Strapi
Strapi is an open source headless content management system built entirely in JavaScript and TypeScript. It provides a customizable admin dashboard and automatically generates REST and GraphQL APIs for any content structure defined through its visual Content Type Builder. Strapi lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and targets developers who need to deliver content to diverse frontends—including web, mobile, and IoT applications—without being locked into a specific presentation layer.
read the full Strapi overview →
About halo
Halo is an open source, Java based website building tool licensed under GPL 3.0 that lets individuals and teams publish and run a blog, knowledge base, corporate website, or online store from infrastructure they control.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or halo more popular?
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars and halo has 39,787. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and halo free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and halo is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and halo?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and halo in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Strapi or halo?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,184 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose halo if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.