blogc vs Metalsmith
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | blogc | Metalsmith |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 6 · At risk | 68 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | C | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 192 | ★ 7,822 |
| First released | 2015 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | WordPress, Jekyll |
What are blogc and Metalsmith?
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
Metalsmith
Metalsmith is a static site generator that treats every site as a series of plugins manipulating files, making it suitable for blogs, project pages, and documentation. All functionality, including Markdown rendering and templating, is provided by plugins.
- Everything is a plugin
- Pipeline architecture
- Markdown and templating plugins
- Static output
blogc vs Metalsmith: key differences
Blogc is written in C, while Metalsmith is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for blogc versus MIT for Metalsmith. Blogc is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Metalsmith. Metalsmith has the considerably larger community, at 7,822 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 Metalsmith if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is blogc or Metalsmith better?
Neither is universally better. Metalsmith has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are blogc and Metalsmith free and open-source?
Yes. blogc is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Metalsmith under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run blogc and Metalsmith with Docker?
blogc: check the project docs for container support. Metalsmith: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, blogc or Metalsmith?
blogc has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Metalsmith. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.