Haunt vs Publ
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Haunt | Publ |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Scheme | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 400 | ★ 41 |
| First released | 2015 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Jekyll | WordPress, Jekyll |
What are Haunt and Publ?
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
Publ
Publ is a Python content management and blogging engine that publishes content directly from files in a directory tree. It supports image galleries, Markdown content, and templated layouts without a separate database for content.
- File-based content publishing
- Built-in image gallery support
- Markdown and template driven
- No content database required
Haunt vs Publ: key differences
Haunt is written in Scheme, while Publ is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Haunt versus MIT for Publ. Haunt is the more established project (first released 2015), while Publ arrived in 2018. Haunt has the considerably larger community, at 400 GitHub stars versus 41.
Why pick each one
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
Choose Publ if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Haunt or Publ better?
Neither is universally better. Haunt has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Haunt and Publ free and open-source?
Yes. Haunt is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Publ under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Haunt and Publ with Docker?
Haunt: check the project docs for container support. Publ: check the project docs for container support.