head to head · open source
Strapi vs wagtail
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars, 9,875 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. wagtail has 20,503 stars, 4,608 forks, 1,007 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Strapi leads on adoption by 257% (73,184 vs 20,503 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 13% as many forks as stars, wagtail 22%. 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 | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 4.6K |
| 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
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 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 Strapi or wagtail more popular?
Strapi has 73,184 GitHub stars and wagtail has 20,503. 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 (73,184 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.