blogc vs Publican
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | blogc | Publican |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 6 · At risk | 58 · Fair |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | C | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 192 | ★ 20 |
| First released | 2015 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll, Hugo |
What are blogc and Publican?
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
Publican
Publican is a fast, dependency-light static site generator for blogs and content sites built with modern JavaScript. It renders Markdown content with flexible templating and incremental builds for quick publishing.
- Markdown content
- Flexible templating
- Incremental builds
- Minimal dependencies
blogc vs Publican: key differences
Blogc is written in C, while Publican is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for blogc versus MIT for Publican. Blogc is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Publican. Blogc is the more established project (first released 2015), while Publican arrived in 2024. Blogc has the considerably larger community, at 192 GitHub stars versus 20.
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 Publican if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Young project
- Small theme selection
Frequently asked questions
Is blogc or Publican better?
Neither is universally better. blogc has the larger community, while Publican is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are blogc and Publican free and open-source?
Yes. blogc is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Publican under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run blogc and Publican with Docker?
blogc: check the project docs for container support. Publican: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, blogc or Publican?
blogc has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Publican. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.