Cobalt vs Pelican
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
Pelican
Static site generator for Python and Markdown lovers
| Feature | Cobalt | Pelican |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,535 | ★ 13,331 |
| First released | 2015 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | WordPress, Blogger |
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 Pelican better?
Neither is universally better. Pelican 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 Pelican free and open-source?
Yes. Cobalt is licensed under MIT and Pelican under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cobalt and Pelican with Docker?
Cobalt: check the project docs for container support. Pelican: check the project docs for container support.