Metalsmith vs Soupault
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Metalsmith | Soupault |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 68 · Good | 64 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | OCaml |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,822 | ★ 430 |
| First released | 2014 | 2019 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Jekyll | Jekyll, Hugo |
What are Metalsmith and Soupault?
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
Soupault
Soupault is a static website generator and HTML processor that manipulates the page DOM directly rather than relying on a templating language. It can build new sites or post-process existing static sites.
- DOM-based processing
- Lua plugin support
- Single-binary tool
- Works on existing sites
Metalsmith vs Soupault: key differences
Metalsmith is written in JavaScript, while Soupault is built with OCaml. Soupault is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Metalsmith. Metalsmith is the more established project (first released 2014), while Soupault arrived in 2019. Metalsmith has the considerably larger community, at 7,822 GitHub stars versus 430.
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
Choose Soupault if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in OCaml
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Metalsmith or Soupault better?
Neither is universally better. Metalsmith has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Metalsmith and Soupault free and open-source?
Yes. Metalsmith is licensed under MIT and Soupault under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Metalsmith and Soupault with Docker?
Metalsmith: check the project docs for container support. Soupault: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Metalsmith or Soupault?
Soupault has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Metalsmith. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.