DocPad vs Pencil
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | DocPad | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 23 · At risk | 62 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | CoffeeScript | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,046 | ★ 5 |
| First released | 2012 | 2017 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Jekyll | Jekyll |
What are DocPad and Pencil?
DocPad
DocPad is a content management and static site generation system that renders documents through a flexible plugin pipeline. It supports many templating and markup languages and can produce blogs and full websites.
- Plugin pipeline
- Many markup languages
- Live regeneration
- Static output
Pencil
Pencil is a static site generator library and tool written in Haskell that compiles Markdown and templates into a static website. It gives developers a programmatic way to define site structure and content transformations.
- Haskell library API
- Markdown rendering
- Template inheritance
- Static output
DocPad vs Pencil: key differences
DocPad is written in CoffeeScript, while Pencil is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — MIT for DocPad versus BSD-3-Clause for Pencil. Pencil is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for DocPad. DocPad is the more established project (first released 2012), while Pencil arrived in 2017. DocPad has the considerably larger community, at 3,046 GitHub stars versus 5.
Why pick each one
Choose DocPad if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in CoffeeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Pencil if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is DocPad or Pencil better?
DocPad is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Pencil if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are DocPad and Pencil free and open-source?
Yes. DocPad is licensed under MIT and Pencil under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run DocPad and Pencil with Docker?
DocPad: check the project docs for container support. Pencil: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, DocPad or Pencil?
Pencil has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for DocPad. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.