Cobalt vs Halo
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?
Cobalt
Static site generator written in Rust
VS
Halo
Powerful and easy-to-use open-source website builder
| Feature | Cobalt | Halo |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,535 | ★ 39,485 |
| First released | 2015 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | WordPress, Medium |
Why pick each one
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 Cobalt or Halo better?
Neither is universally better. Halo has the larger community, while Cobalt is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cobalt and Halo free and open-source?
Yes. Cobalt is licensed under MIT and Halo under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cobalt and Halo with Docker?
Cobalt: check the project docs for container support. Halo: yes.