Bridgetown vs Cobalt
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Cobalt
Static site generator written in Rust
| Feature | Bridgetown | Cobalt |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 84 · Excellent | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,366 | ★ 1,538 |
| First released | 2020 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | Jekyll, Hugo |
What are Bridgetown and Cobalt?
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
Cobalt
Cobalt is a static site generator written in Rust that builds blogs and websites from Markdown and Liquid templates. It produces fast, self-contained static output and ships as a single binary.
- Single-binary tool
- Liquid templating
- Markdown content
- Fast builds
Bridgetown vs Cobalt: key differences
Bridgetown is written in Ruby, while Cobalt is built with Rust. Cobalt is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Bridgetown. Cobalt is the more established project (first released 2015), while Bridgetown arrived in 2020.
Why pick each one
Choose Bridgetown if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Cobalt if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Bridgetown or Cobalt better?
Cobalt is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Bridgetown if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Bridgetown and Cobalt free and open-source?
Yes. Bridgetown is licensed under MIT and Cobalt under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bridgetown and Cobalt with Docker?
Bridgetown: check the project docs for container support. Cobalt: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Bridgetown or Cobalt?
Cobalt has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Bridgetown. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.