Franklin vs VuePress
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Franklin | VuePress |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Julia | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,069 | ★ 2,832 |
| First released | 2019 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll, GitBook |
What are Franklin and VuePress?
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
VuePress
VuePress is a minimalistic static site generator with a Vue-powered theming system and a default theme optimized for technical documentation and blogs. Each page is rendered as static HTML and then hydrated into a single-page app.
- Vue-based theming
- Documentation default theme
- Plugin system
- Static prerendering
Franklin vs VuePress: key differences
Franklin is written in Julia, while VuePress is built with TypeScript. VuePress has the considerably larger community, at 2,832 GitHub stars versus 1,069.
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 VuePress if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Franklin or VuePress better?
VuePress is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Franklin if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Franklin and VuePress free and open-source?
Yes. Franklin is licensed under MIT and VuePress under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Franklin and VuePress with Docker?
Franklin: check the project docs for container support. VuePress: check the project docs for container support.