Jekyll vs Scully
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Jekyll
Simple, blog-aware static site generator
VS
Scully
Static site generator for Angular applications
| Feature | Jekyll | Scully |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 18 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 51,683 | ★ 2,527 |
| First released | 2008 | 2019 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Blogger | Gatsby, WordPress |
What are Jekyll and Scully?
Jekyll
Jekyll is a popular open-source static site generator that transforms Markdown and Liquid templates into static blogs and websites. It pioneered the modern static-site approach and integrates with GitHub Pages.
- Blog-aware by design
- Markdown and Liquid templating
- Large plugin ecosystem
- GitHub Pages support
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
Jekyll vs Scully: key differences
Jekyll is written in Ruby, while Scully is built with TypeScript. Jekyll is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Scully. Jekyll is the more established project (first released 2008), while Scully arrived in 2019. Jekyll has the considerably larger community, at 51,683 GitHub stars versus 2,527.
Why pick each one
Choose Jekyll if…
- Mature and well documented
- Great for personal blogs
Watch out for
- Slower builds on large sites
- Ruby 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 Jekyll or Scully better?
Neither is universally better. Jekyll has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Jekyll and Scully free and open-source?
Yes. Jekyll is licensed under MIT and Scully under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Jekyll and Scully with Docker?
Jekyll: check the project docs for container support. Scully: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Jekyll or Scully?
Jekyll 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.