head to head · open source
Strapi vs velite
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars, 10,050 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. velite has 826 stars, 43 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Strapi leads on adoption by 8,789% (73,425 vs 826 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; velite is written in TypeScript under MIT. Strapi has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, velite 5%. Strapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | velite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 826 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 43 |
| 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 velite if
- You want the velite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and velite 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 velite
Turns Markdown / MDX, YAML, JSON, or other files into app's data layer with type safe schema. What is Velite? Velite is a tool for building type safe data layer, turns Markdown / MDX, YAML, JSON, or other files into app's data layer with Zod schema. Naming Origin "Velite" comes from the English word "elite". "Velite" itself is the code name for Napoleon's elite army. Key Features Easy to use : Move your contents into content folder, define collections schema, run velite , then use the output data in your application. Type safe : Contents schema validation by Zod, and generate type inference for TypeScript…
read the full velite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or velite more popular?
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars and velite has 826. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and velite free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and velite is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and velite?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and velite 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 velite?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,425 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose velite if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.