Cobalt vs Middleman
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
Middleman
Ruby static site generator with modern tooling
| Feature | Cobalt | Middleman |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,535 | ★ 7,113 |
| First released | 2015 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll, WordPress |
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 Middleman if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Cobalt or Middleman better?
Neither is universally better. Middleman 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 Middleman free and open-source?
Yes. Cobalt is licensed under MIT and Middleman under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cobalt and Middleman with Docker?
Cobalt: check the project docs for container support. Middleman: check the project docs for container support.