Bridgetown vs Pencil
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Bridgetown
Progressive Ruby site generator and web framework
VS
Pencil
Static site generator library built in Haskell
| Feature | Bridgetown | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Ruby | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,358 | ★ 5 |
| First released | 2020 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | Jekyll |
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 Pencil if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Bridgetown or Pencil better?
Bridgetown is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Pencil if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Bridgetown and Pencil free and open-source?
Yes. Bridgetown is licensed under MIT and Pencil under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bridgetown and Pencil with Docker?
Bridgetown: check the project docs for container support. Pencil: check the project docs for container support.