Lume vs Pencil
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Lume | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 62 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Haskell |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,284 | ★ 5 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, Hugo | Jekyll |
What are Lume and Pencil?
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
Pencil
Pencil is a static site generator library and tool written in Haskell that compiles Markdown and templates into a static website. It gives developers a programmatic way to define site structure and content transformations.
- Haskell library API
- Markdown rendering
- Template inheritance
- Static output
Lume vs Pencil: key differences
Lume is written in TypeScript, while Pencil is built with Haskell. Licensing differs — MIT for Lume versus BSD-3-Clause for Pencil. Pencil is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Lume. Pencil is the more established project (first released 2017), while Lume arrived in 2021. Lume has the considerably larger community, at 2,284 GitHub stars versus 5.
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 Pencil if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Lume or Pencil better?
Lume is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Pencil if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Lume and Pencil free and open-source?
Yes. Lume is licensed under MIT and Pencil under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lume and Pencil with Docker?
Lume: check the project docs for container support. Pencil: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Lume or Pencil?
Pencil has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Lume. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.