Halo vs Pelican
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Halo | Pelican |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 80 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 39,879 | ★ 13,339 |
| First released | 2018 | 2010 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Medium | WordPress, Blogger |
What are Halo and Pelican?
Halo
Halo is a modern open-source blogging and website platform written in Java. It offers a clean admin interface, a plugin and theme marketplace, and an extensible architecture.
- Modern admin interface
- Plugin and theme marketplace
- REST API
- Markdown editor
Pelican
Pelican is an open-source static site generator written in Python that builds blogs from Markdown or reStructuredText. It supports themes, plugins, and import from other blogging platforms.
- Markdown and reStructuredText
- Theme and plugin support
- Import from WordPress and others
- Atom and RSS feeds
Halo vs Pelican: key differences
Halo is written in Java, while Pelican is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Halo versus AGPL-3.0 for Pelican. Pelican is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Halo. Pelican is the more established project (first released 2010), while Halo arrived in 2018. Halo has the considerably larger community, at 39,879 GitHub stars versus 13,339. Halo lists first-class Docker deployment; Pelican does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Halo if…
- Polished modern UI
- Active development
Watch out for
- Higher memory needs from Java
- Docs strongest in Chinese
Choose Pelican if…
- Great for Python users
- Mature and stable
Watch out for
- No admin UI
- Python environment needed
Frequently asked questions
Is Halo or Pelican better?
Neither is universally better. Halo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Halo and Pelican free and open-source?
Yes. Halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Pelican under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Halo and Pelican with Docker?
Halo: yes. Pelican: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Halo or Pelican?
Pelican has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Halo. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.