head to head · open source
Strapi vs nesta
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars, 10,050 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nesta has 899 stars, 121 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Strapi leads on adoption by 8,067% (73,425 vs 899 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; nesta is written in Ruby under MIT. Strapi has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, nesta 13%. Strapi 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
| Strapi | nesta | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 899 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 121 |
| 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 nesta if
- You want the nesta feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and nesta fits your workflow better
About Strapi
Open source headless CMS, self hosted or Cloud you're in control. The leading open source headless CMS, 100% JavaScript/TypeScript, flexible and fully customizable. Docs · Strapi Cloud · Roadmap · Discord · Discussions Strapi is an open source, self hosted headless CMS that lets developers build content APIs fast while giving content creators a friendly editing interface. Define your content models and Strapi generates a full API, ready to consume from any frontend, mobile app, or IoT device. Design content structures visually with the Content Type Builder , no code required Auto generated REST & GraphQL APIs…
read the full Strapi overview →
About nesta
File Based CMS and Static Site Generator Nesta is a lightweight CMS for building content sites and blogs, written in Ruby using the [Sinatra] web framework. Write your content in [Markdown] or [Textile], in your text editor (drop into HTML or Haml if you need more control) Files are stored in text files on your hard drive (there is no database) Publish changes by putting these files online (Git recommended, not required) Deploy either as a static site (SSG) or by rendering HTML on the server (SSR) [Sinatra]: "Sinatra" [Markdown]: [Textile]: Installation Begin by [installing Ruby], then the Nesta gem: $ gem…
read the full nesta overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or nesta more popular?
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars and nesta has 899. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and nesta free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and nesta is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and nesta?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and nesta in Ruby. 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 nesta?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,425 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose nesta if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.