Bridgetown vs Harp
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Bridgetown | Harp |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 84 · Excellent | 66 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,366 | ★ 4,995 |
| First released | 2020 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | Jekyll |
What are Bridgetown and Harp?
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
Harp
Harp is a static web server and site generator that serves Jade, Markdown, EJS, CoffeeScript, Sass, LESS, and Stylus as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without any configuration. It can compile a project to a deployable static site.
- Zero-config preprocessing
- Built-in web server
- Compiles to static site
- Multiple template languages
Bridgetown vs Harp: key differences
Bridgetown is written in Ruby, while Harp is built with JavaScript. Harp is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Bridgetown. Harp is the more established project (first released 2013), while Bridgetown arrived in 2020. Harp has the considerably larger community, at 4,995 GitHub stars versus 1,366.
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 Harp if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (5k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Bridgetown or Harp better?
Harp 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 Harp free and open-source?
Yes. Bridgetown is licensed under MIT and Harp under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bridgetown and Harp with Docker?
Bridgetown: check the project docs for container support. Harp: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Bridgetown or Harp?
Harp has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Bridgetown. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.