Middleman vs Poole
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?
Middleman
Ruby static site generator with modern tooling
VS
Poole
Minimalist static website generator in a single file
| Feature | Middleman | Poole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,113 | ★ 31 |
| First released | 2009 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | Jekyll |
Why pick each one
Choose Middleman if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Poole if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Middleman or Poole better?
Neither is universally better. Middleman has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Middleman and Poole free and open-source?
Yes. Middleman is licensed under MIT and Poole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Middleman and Poole with Docker?
Middleman: check the project docs for container support. Poole: check the project docs for container support.