Metalsmith vs Orchard Core
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Metalsmith
Extremely simple pluggable static site generator
VS
Orchard Core
Modular, multi-tenant CMS built on ASP.NET Core
| Feature | Metalsmith | Orchard Core |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | JavaScript | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,822 | ★ 8,148 |
| First released | 2014 | 2018 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Jekyll | Sitecore, WordPress |
Why pick each one
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 Metalsmith or Orchard Core better?
Neither is universally better. Orchard Core has the larger community, while Metalsmith is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Metalsmith and Orchard Core free and open-source?
Yes. Metalsmith is licensed under MIT and Orchard Core under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Metalsmith and Orchard Core with Docker?
Metalsmith: check the project docs for container support. Orchard Core: yes.