Franklin vs JBake
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Franklin | JBake |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 54 · Fair |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Julia | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,069 | ★ 1,159 |
| First released | 2019 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll, WordPress |
What are Franklin and JBake?
Franklin
Franklin is a simple, customizable static site generator written in Julia with built-in support for live evaluation of Julia code in pages. It is well suited to technical blogs and documentation sites.
- Julia code evaluation
- Markdown extensions
- Live preview server
- Static output
JBake
JBake is a static site and blog generator written in Java that is geared towards developers wanting to produce documentation, websites, and blogs. It supports multiple markup and template engines.
- JVM-based generation
- Multiple template engines
- Markdown and AsciiDoc support
- Static output
Franklin vs JBake: key differences
Franklin is written in Julia, while JBake is built with Java. JBake is the more established project (first released 2013), while Franklin arrived in 2019.
Why pick each one
Choose Franklin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Julia
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose JBake if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Java
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Franklin or JBake better?
Neither is universally better. JBake has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Franklin and JBake free and open-source?
Yes. Franklin is licensed under MIT and JBake under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Franklin and JBake with Docker?
Franklin: check the project docs for container support. JBake: check the project docs for container support.