head to head · open source
Strapi vs keystatic
Strapi has 73,188 GitHub stars, 9,877 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. keystatic has 2,397 stars, 160 forks, 184 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Strapi leads on adoption by 2,953% (73,188 vs 2,397 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; keystatic is written in TypeScript under MIT. Strapi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, keystatic 7%. Strapi 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-system, javascript), 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 | keystatic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 160 |
| 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 keystatic if
- You want the keystatic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and keystatic 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 keystatic
First class CMS experience, TypeScript API, Markdown & YAML/JSON based, no DB. Built with DNA from Keystone, connects directly to GitHub and doesn’t mess with your source code. Conceived for modern front end frameworks like Next.js, Remix and Astro, designed to fit into your workflow. Status We're working on it! Things are experimental at the moment. But if you're curious and brave, check out keystatic.com to try it out (and check out our growing collection of templates). Follow @thekeystatic on Twitter, and subscribe to our mailing list for updates. Feedback on how we're going, what you're looking for, and what …
read the full keystatic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or keystatic more popular?
Strapi has 73,188 GitHub stars and keystatic has 2,397. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and keystatic free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and keystatic is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and keystatic?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and keystatic in TypeScript. 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 keystatic?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,188 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose keystatic if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.