Lume vs Metalsmith
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Lume | Metalsmith |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 68 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,284 | ★ 7,822 |
| First released | 2021 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | WordPress, Jekyll |
What are Lume and Metalsmith?
Lume
Lume is a fast and flexible static site generator for the Deno runtime that supports many template engines and file formats out of the box. It is used to build blogs, documentation, and websites with minimal configuration.
- Built on Deno
- Many template engines
- Plugin system
- Fast static builds
Metalsmith
Metalsmith is a static site generator that treats every site as a series of plugins manipulating files, making it suitable for blogs, project pages, and documentation. All functionality, including Markdown rendering and templating, is provided by plugins.
- Everything is a plugin
- Pipeline architecture
- Markdown and templating plugins
- Static output
Lume vs Metalsmith: key differences
Lume is written in TypeScript, while Metalsmith is built with JavaScript. Metalsmith is the more established project (first released 2014), while Lume arrived in 2021. Metalsmith has the considerably larger community, at 7,822 GitHub stars versus 2,284.
Why pick each one
Choose Lume if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (2.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Metalsmith if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Lume or Metalsmith better?
Neither is universally better. Metalsmith has the larger community, while Lume is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Lume and Metalsmith free and open-source?
Yes. Lume is licensed under MIT and Metalsmith under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lume and Metalsmith with Docker?
Lume: check the project docs for container support. Metalsmith: check the project docs for container support.