head to head · open source
Strapi vs terminusdb
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars, 9,875 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. terminusdb has 3,417 stars, 153 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Strapi leads on adoption by 2,042% (73,184 vs 3,417 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; terminusdb is written in Prolog under Apache-2.0. Strapi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, terminusdb 4%. 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, headless-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 | terminusdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Prolog |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 153 |
| 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 terminusdb if
- You want the terminusdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Prolog
- You evaluated both and terminusdb 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 terminusdb
TerminusDB is a distributed, collaborative database designed for building, sharing, versioning, and reasoning on structured data. It lives in the open source database and headless content management ecosystem as a system of record for JSON and JSON LD documents. The project connects documents into a semantic knowledge graph while keeping an immutable history.
read the full terminusdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or terminusdb more popular?
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars and terminusdb has 3,417. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and terminusdb free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and terminusdb is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and terminusdb?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and terminusdb in Prolog. 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 terminusdb?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,184 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose terminusdb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.