Halo vs Scully
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Halo | Scully |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 18 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 39,879 | ★ 2,527 |
| First released | 2018 | 2019 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Medium | Gatsby, WordPress |
What are Halo and Scully?
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
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
Halo vs Scully: key differences
Halo is written in Java, while Scully is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Halo versus MIT for Scully. Scully is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Halo. Halo has the considerably larger community, at 39,879 GitHub stars versus 2,527. Halo lists first-class Docker deployment; Scully 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 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 Halo or Scully 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 Scully free and open-source?
Yes. Halo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Scully under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Halo and Scully with Docker?
Halo: yes. Scully: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Halo or Scully?
Scully has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Halo. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.