Haunt vs Saaze
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Haunt | Saaze |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Scheme | Blade |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 400 | ★ 52 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Jekyll | Jekyll, WordPress |
What are Haunt and Saaze?
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
Saaze
Saaze is a lightweight flat-file CMS and static site generator built with PHP. It can serve content dynamically or export a fully static site, using YAML and Markdown files for content.
- Dynamic or static site modes
- Flat-file content storage
- Blade templating engine
- Markdown and YAML content
Haunt vs Saaze: key differences
Haunt is written in Scheme, while Saaze is built with Blade. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Haunt versus MIT for Saaze. Saaze is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Haunt. Haunt is the more established project (first released 2015), while Saaze arrived in 2021. Haunt has the considerably larger community, at 400 GitHub stars versus 52.
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 Saaze if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Blade
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Haunt or Saaze better?
Neither is universally better. Haunt has the larger community, while Saaze is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Haunt and Saaze free and open-source?
Yes. Haunt is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Saaze under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Haunt and Saaze with Docker?
Haunt: check the project docs for container support. Saaze: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Haunt or Saaze?
Saaze has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Haunt. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.