head to head · open source
halo vs wagtail
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars, 10,329 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. wagtail has 20,503 stars, 4,608 forks, 1,007 open issues and last shipped yesterday. halo leads on adoption by 94% (39,787 vs 20,503 stars). halo is written in Java under GPL-3.0; wagtail is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. halo has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, wagtail 22%. wagtail 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
| halo | wagtail | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 21K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 4.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick halo if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick wagtail if
- You want the wagtail feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and wagtail fits your workflow better
About halo
Halo is an open source, Java based website building tool licensed under GPL 3.0 that lets individuals and teams publish and run a blog, knowledge base, corporate website, or online store from infrastructure they control.
About wagtail
Wagtail is an open source content management system built on Django, for developers, designers and editors who need a fast authoring interface alongside precise control over front end design and content structure.
read the full wagtail overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is halo or wagtail more popular?
halo has 39,787 GitHub stars and wagtail has 20,503. halo has the larger community by that measure.
Are halo and wagtail free?
Both are open source. halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and wagtail under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between halo and wagtail?
halo is written in Java and wagtail in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, halo or wagtail?
Choose halo if you want the larger community (39,787 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose wagtail if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.