head to head · open source
Strapi vs wagtail
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars, 10,050 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. wagtail has 20,599 stars, 4,676 forks, 1,007 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Strapi leads on adoption by 256% (73,425 vs 20,599 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; wagtail is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. Strapi has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, wagtail 23%. 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, 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 | wagtail | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 21K |
| License | Custom / other | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 4.7K |
| 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 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 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 wagtail
Wagtail is an open source content management system built on Django, with a strong community and commercial support. It's focused on user experience, and offers precise control for designers and developers. 🔥 Features A fast, attractive interface for authors Complete control over front end design and structure Scales to millions of pages and thousands of editors Fast out of the box, cache friendly when you need it Content API for 'headless' sites with decoupled front end Runs on a Raspberry Pi or a multi datacenter cloud platform StreamField encourages flexible content without compromising structure Powerful…
read the full wagtail overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or wagtail more popular?
Strapi has 73,425 GitHub stars and wagtail has 20,599. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and wagtail free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and wagtail is licensed under BSD-3-Clause. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and wagtail?
Strapi is written in TypeScript 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, Strapi or wagtail?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,425 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose wagtail if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.