FlatPress vs Pelican
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | FlatPress | Pelican |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 80 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 215 | ★ 13,339 |
| First released | 2005 | 2010 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Blogger | WordPress, Blogger |
What are FlatPress and Pelican?
FlatPress
FlatPress is an open-source blogging engine that requires no database, storing all content in flat files. It is designed to be simple, fast, and easy to deploy on minimal hosting.
- No database required
- Flat-file storage
- Plugin and theme support
- Lightweight
Pelican
Pelican is an open-source static site generator written in Python that builds blogs from Markdown or reStructuredText. It supports themes, plugins, and import from other blogging platforms.
- Markdown and reStructuredText
- Theme and plugin support
- Import from WordPress and others
- Atom and RSS feeds
FlatPress vs Pelican: key differences
FlatPress is written in PHP, while Pelican is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for FlatPress versus AGPL-3.0 for Pelican. FlatPress is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Pelican. FlatPress is the more established project (first released 2005), while Pelican arrived in 2010. Pelican has the considerably larger community, at 13,339 GitHub stars versus 215.
Why pick each one
Choose FlatPress if…
- Trivial to install and back up
- Runs on minimal hosting
Watch out for
- Small community
- Basic feature set
Choose Pelican if…
- Great for Python users
- Mature and stable
Watch out for
- No admin UI
- Python environment needed
Frequently asked questions
Is FlatPress or Pelican better?
Neither is universally better. Pelican has the larger community, while FlatPress is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are FlatPress and Pelican free and open-source?
Yes. FlatPress is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Pelican under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FlatPress and Pelican with Docker?
FlatPress: check the project docs for container support. Pelican: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, FlatPress or Pelican?
FlatPress has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Pelican. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.