Harp vs Haunt
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Harp | Haunt |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Scheme |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,995 | ★ 400 |
| First released | 2013 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Jekyll | Jekyll |
What are Harp and Haunt?
Harp
Harp is a static web server and site generator that serves Jade, Markdown, EJS, CoffeeScript, Sass, LESS, and Stylus as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without any configuration. It can compile a project to a deployable static site.
- Zero-config preprocessing
- Built-in web server
- Compiles to static site
- Multiple template languages
Haunt
Haunt is a hackable static site generator for blogs and websites, written in and configured with Guile Scheme. It treats site building as a functional pipeline, giving programmers fine-grained control over output.
- Functional build pipeline
- Scheme configuration
- Atom feed support
- Asset processing
Harp vs Haunt: key differences
Harp is written in JavaScript, while Haunt is built with Scheme. Licensing differs — MIT for Harp versus GPL-3.0 for Haunt. Harp is the more established project (first released 2013), while Haunt arrived in 2015. Harp has the considerably larger community, at 4,995 GitHub stars versus 400.
Why pick each one
Choose Harp if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (5k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Choose Haunt if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Scheme
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Niche language
- Steep for non-Lispers
Frequently asked questions
Is Harp or Haunt better?
Harp is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Haunt if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Harp and Haunt free and open-source?
Yes. Harp is licensed under MIT and Haunt under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Harp and Haunt with Docker?
Harp: check the project docs for container support. Haunt: check the project docs for container support.