blogc vs Bridgetown
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | blogc | Bridgetown |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 6 · At risk | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | C | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 192 | ★ 1,366 |
| First released | 2015 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll, WordPress |
What are blogc and Bridgetown?
blogc
blogc is a blog compiler written in C that builds static websites from template and source files. It is paired with blogc-make to handle building entire blogs with feeds and pagination.
- Fast static site compiler in C
- Atom feed and pagination support
- Minimal dependencies
- Template-based rendering
Bridgetown
Bridgetown is a Ruby-based static site generator and full-stack web framework that grew out of the Jekyll ecosystem. It supports component-based design, plugins, and optional dynamic rendering for blogs and websites.
- Component-based design
- Plugin ecosystem
- Front-end bundling
- Static and hybrid rendering
blogc vs Bridgetown: key differences
Blogc is written in C, while Bridgetown is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for blogc versus MIT for Bridgetown. Blogc is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Bridgetown. Blogc is the more established project (first released 2015), while Bridgetown arrived in 2020. Bridgetown has the considerably larger community, at 1,366 GitHub stars versus 192.
Why pick each one
Choose blogc if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Choose Bridgetown if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is blogc or Bridgetown better?
Neither is universally better. Bridgetown has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are blogc and Bridgetown free and open-source?
Yes. blogc is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Bridgetown under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run blogc and Bridgetown with Docker?
blogc: check the project docs for container support. Bridgetown: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, blogc or Bridgetown?
blogc has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Bridgetown. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.