Middleman 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 | Middleman | Soupault |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 64 · Good |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | OCaml |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,111 | ★ 430 |
| First released | 2009 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | Jekyll, Hugo |
What are Middleman and Soupault?
Middleman
Middleman is a static site generator using all the shortcuts and tools in modern web development, including templating, asset pipelines, and helpers. Its blogging extension turns it into a full static blog engine.
- Asset pipeline
- Blogging extension
- Helpers and partials
- 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
Middleman vs Soupault: key differences
Middleman is written in Ruby, while Soupault is built with OCaml. Soupault is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Middleman. Middleman is the more established project (first released 2009), while Soupault arrived in 2019. Middleman has the considerably larger community, at 7,111 GitHub stars versus 430.
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 Soupault if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in OCaml
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Middleman or Soupault 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 Soupault free and open-source?
Yes. Middleman is licensed under MIT and Soupault under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Middleman and Soupault with Docker?
Middleman: check the project docs for container support. Soupault: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Middleman or Soupault?
Soupault has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Middleman. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.