Franklin vs Poole
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Franklin
Static site generator written in Julia
VS
Poole
Minimalist static website generator in a single file
| Feature | Franklin | Poole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Julia | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,063 | ★ 31 |
| First released | 2019 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll |
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 Poole if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Franklin or Poole better?
Neither is universally better. Franklin has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Franklin and Poole free and open-source?
Yes. Franklin is licensed under MIT and Poole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Franklin and Poole with Docker?
Franklin: check the project docs for container support. Poole: check the project docs for container support.