Harp vs Pencil
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Harp | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 66 · Good | 62 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | JavaScript | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,995 | ★ 5 |
| First released | 2013 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Jekyll | Jekyll |
What are Harp and Pencil?
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
Pencil
Pencil is a static site generator library and tool written in Haskell that compiles Markdown and templates into a static website. It gives developers a programmatic way to define site structure and content transformations.
- Haskell library API
- Markdown rendering
- Template inheritance
- Static output
Harp vs Pencil: key differences
Harp is written in JavaScript, while Pencil is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — MIT for Harp versus BSD-3-Clause for Pencil. Pencil is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Harp. Harp is the more established project (first released 2013), while Pencil arrived in 2017. Harp has the considerably larger community, at 4,995 GitHub stars versus 5.
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 Pencil if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Harp or Pencil better?
Harp is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Pencil if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Harp and Pencil free and open-source?
Yes. Harp is licensed under MIT and Pencil under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Harp and Pencil with Docker?
Harp: check the project docs for container support. Pencil: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Harp or Pencil?
Pencil has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Harp. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.