Cobalt vs Harp
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?
| Feature | Cobalt | Harp |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,535 | ★ 4,995 |
| First released | 2015 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll |
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
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 Cobalt or Harp better?
Neither is universally better. Harp has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cobalt and Harp free and open-source?
Yes. Cobalt is licensed under MIT and Harp under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cobalt and Harp with Docker?
Cobalt: check the project docs for container support. Harp: check the project docs for container support.