DocPad vs Scully
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | DocPad | Scully |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 23 · At risk | 18 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | CoffeeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,046 | ★ 2,527 |
| First released | 2012 | 2019 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Jekyll | Gatsby, WordPress |
What are DocPad and Scully?
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
Scully
Scully is a static site generator designed for Angular projects that prerenders pages into static HTML for better performance and SEO. It adds blogging capabilities to Angular apps through its plugin system.
- Angular prerendering
- Static HTML output
- Blog plugin
- Improved SEO
DocPad vs Scully: key differences
DocPad is written in CoffeeScript, while Scully is built with TypeScript. DocPad is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Scully. DocPad is the more established project (first released 2012), while Scully arrived in 2019.
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 Scully if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is DocPad or Scully 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 Scully free and open-source?
Yes. DocPad is licensed under MIT and Scully under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run DocPad and Scully with Docker?
DocPad: check the project docs for container support. Scully: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, DocPad or Scully?
DocPad has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Scully. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.