DocPad vs Poole
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | DocPad | Poole |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 23 · At risk | 0 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | CoffeeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,046 | ★ 31 |
| First released | 2012 | 2009 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Jekyll | Jekyll |
What are DocPad and Poole?
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
Poole
Poole is a markup-agnostic, single-file static website generator written in Python that keeps the build process deliberately tiny. It is suited for small personal sites and blogs where minimalism is preferred.
- Single-file generator
- Markup-agnostic
- Embedded Python in pages
- Tiny footprint
DocPad vs Poole: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Poole's repository is archived and no longer developed, while DocPad is actively maintained. DocPad is written in CoffeeScript, while Poole is built with Python. Poole is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for DocPad. Poole is the more established project (first released 2009), while DocPad arrived in 2012. DocPad has the considerably larger community, at 3,046 GitHub stars versus 31.
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 Poole if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is DocPad or Poole better?
Neither is universally better. DocPad has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are DocPad and Poole free and open-source?
Yes. DocPad is licensed under MIT and Poole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run DocPad and Poole with Docker?
DocPad: check the project docs for container support. Poole: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, DocPad or Poole?
Poole 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.