Keystone vs Publify
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Keystone
Headless CMS framework with a powerful GraphQL API
VS
Publify
Simple but full featured web publishing software
| Feature | Keystone | Publify |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Less |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,938 | ★ 1,858 |
| First released | 2013 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Contentful, Strapi | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Publify if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in Less
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Keystone or Publify better?
Neither is universally better. Keystone has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Keystone and Publify free and open-source?
Yes. Keystone is licensed under MIT and Publify under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keystone and Publify with Docker?
Keystone: yes. Publify: check the project docs for container support.