Metalsmith vs Publii
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Metalsmith
Extremely simple pluggable static site generator
VS
Publii
Desktop CMS for building static blogs and sites
| Feature | Metalsmith | Publii |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,822 | ★ 7,282 |
| First released | 2014 | 2017 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Jekyll | WordPress, Squarespace |
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 Publii better?
Neither is universally better. Metalsmith has the larger community, while Publii is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Metalsmith and Publii free and open-source?
Yes. Metalsmith is licensed under MIT and Publii under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Metalsmith and Publii with Docker?
Metalsmith: check the project docs for container support. Publii: check the project docs for container support.