Cobalt vs Zola
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 | Zola |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,535 | ★ 17,308 |
| First released | 2015 | 2017 |
| 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 Zola better?
Neither is universally better. Zola 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 Zola free and open-source?
Yes. Cobalt is licensed under MIT and Zola under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cobalt and Zola with Docker?
Cobalt: check the project docs for container support. Zola: check the project docs for container support.