Hexo 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 | Hexo | Scully |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 18 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 41,774 | ★ 2,527 |
| First released | 2012 | 2019 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Blogger | Gatsby, WordPress |
What are Hexo and Scully?
Hexo
Hexo is an open-source static blog framework built with Node.js that turns Markdown into a fast static site. It is widely used by developers for personal blogs with a rich plugin ecosystem.
- Fast Markdown-based builds
- Large plugin and theme ecosystem
- One-command deployment
- Highly extensible
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
Hexo vs Scully: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Hexo is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Scully. Hexo is the more established project (first released 2012), while Scully arrived in 2019. Hexo has the considerably larger community, at 41,774 GitHub stars versus 2,527.
Why pick each one
Choose Hexo if…
- Popular with developers
- Rich plugin ecosystem
Watch out for
- No admin UI
- Node toolchain required
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 Hexo or Scully better?
Neither is universally better. Hexo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Hexo and Scully free and open-source?
Yes. Hexo is licensed under MIT and Scully under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hexo and Scully with Docker?
Hexo: check the project docs for container support. Scully: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Hexo or Scully?
Hexo has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Scully. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.