blogc vs Franklin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | blogc | Franklin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 6 · At risk | 73 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | C | Julia |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 192 | ★ 1,069 |
| First released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll, Hugo |
What are blogc and Franklin?
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
Franklin
Franklin is a simple, customizable static site generator written in Julia with built-in support for live evaluation of Julia code in pages. It is well suited to technical blogs and documentation sites.
- Julia code evaluation
- Markdown extensions
- Live preview server
- Static output
blogc vs Franklin: key differences
Blogc is written in C, while Franklin is built with Julia. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for blogc versus MIT for Franklin. Blogc is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Franklin. Blogc is the more established project (first released 2015), while Franklin arrived in 2019. Franklin has the considerably larger community, at 1,069 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 Franklin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Julia
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is blogc or Franklin better?
Neither is universally better. Franklin has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are blogc and Franklin free and open-source?
Yes. blogc is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Franklin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run blogc and Franklin with Docker?
blogc: check the project docs for container support. Franklin: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, blogc or Franklin?
blogc has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Franklin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.