head to head · open source
Strapi vs winter
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars, 10,050 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. winter has 1,523 stars, 250 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Strapi leads on adoption by 4,721% (73,425 vs 1,523 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; winter is written in PHP under MIT. Strapi has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, winter 16%. winter was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, hacktoberfest), 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 | winter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 250 |
| 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 winter if
- You want the winter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and winter 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 winter
Winter is a free, open source content management system based on the Laravel PHP framework. Developers and agencies all around the world rely upon Winter for its quick prototyping and development, safe and secure codebase and dedication to simplicity. No matter how large or small your project is, Winter provides a rich development environment, regardless of your level of experience. Installing Winter Winter can be installed in several ways for both new users and experienced developers see our Installation page for more information. Quick start with Composer For advanced users, run the following command in your…
read the full winter overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or winter more popular?
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars and winter has 1,523. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and winter free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and winter is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and winter?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and winter in PHP. 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 winter?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,425 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose winter if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.