blogc vs DocPad
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | blogc | DocPad |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 6 · At risk | 23 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | C | CoffeeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 192 | ★ 3,046 |
| First released | 2015 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | WordPress, Jekyll |
What are blogc and DocPad?
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
DocPad
DocPad is a content management and static site generation system that renders documents through a flexible plugin pipeline. It supports many templating and markup languages and can produce blogs and full websites.
- Plugin pipeline
- Many markup languages
- Live regeneration
- Static output
blogc vs DocPad: key differences
Blogc is written in C, while DocPad is built with CoffeeScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for blogc versus MIT for DocPad. Blogc is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for DocPad. DocPad is the more established project (first released 2012), while blogc arrived in 2015. DocPad has the considerably larger community, at 3,046 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 DocPad if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in CoffeeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is blogc or DocPad better?
Neither is universally better. DocPad has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are blogc and DocPad free and open-source?
Yes. blogc is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and DocPad under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run blogc and DocPad with Docker?
blogc: check the project docs for container support. DocPad: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, blogc or DocPad?
blogc has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for DocPad. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.