Gatsby vs Scully
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Gatsby
React-based static site and blog generator
VS
Scully
Static site generator for Angular applications
| Feature | Gatsby | Scully |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 18 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 55,942 | ★ 2,527 |
| First released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Medium | Gatsby, WordPress |
What are Gatsby and Scully?
Gatsby
Gatsby is an open-source React-based framework for building fast static websites and blogs. It pulls content from many sources via a GraphQL data layer and produces highly optimized output.
- React-powered sites
- GraphQL data layer
- Rich plugin ecosystem
- Performance-optimized output
Scully
Scully is a static site generator designed for Angular projects that prerenders pages into static HTML for better performance and SEO. It adds blogging capabilities to Angular apps through its plugin system.
- Angular prerendering
- Static HTML output
- Blog plugin
- Improved SEO
Gatsby vs Scully: key differences
Gatsby is written in JavaScript, while Scully is built with TypeScript. Scully is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Gatsby. Gatsby is the more established project (first released 2015), while Scully arrived in 2019. Gatsby has the considerably larger community, at 55,942 GitHub stars versus 2,527.
Why pick each one
Choose Gatsby if…
- Great for React developers
- Pulls content from many sources
Watch out for
- Heavier build process
- Steeper learning curve
Choose Scully if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Gatsby or Scully better?
Neither is universally better. Gatsby has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Gatsby and Scully free and open-source?
Yes. Gatsby is licensed under MIT and Scully under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gatsby and Scully with Docker?
Gatsby: check the project docs for container support. Scully: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Gatsby or Scully?
Scully has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Gatsby. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.