Franklin vs Saaze
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Franklin | Saaze |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 0 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Julia | Blade |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,069 | ★ 52 |
| First released | 2019 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll, WordPress |
What are Franklin and Saaze?
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
Saaze
Saaze is a lightweight flat-file CMS and static site generator built with PHP. It can serve content dynamically or export a fully static site, using YAML and Markdown files for content.
- Dynamic or static site modes
- Flat-file content storage
- Blade templating engine
- Markdown and YAML content
Franklin vs Saaze: key differences
Franklin is written in Julia, while Saaze is built with Blade. Saaze is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Franklin. Franklin is the more established project (first released 2019), while Saaze arrived in 2021. Franklin has the considerably larger community, at 1,069 GitHub stars versus 52.
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 Saaze if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Blade
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Franklin or Saaze better?
Neither is universally better. Franklin has the larger community, while Saaze is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Franklin and Saaze free and open-source?
Yes. Franklin is licensed under MIT and Saaze under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Franklin and Saaze with Docker?
Franklin: check the project docs for container support. Saaze: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Franklin or Saaze?
Saaze has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Franklin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.