Middleman vs Zola
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Middleman | Zola |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,111 | ★ 17,463 |
| First released | 2009 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Jekyll, WordPress | WordPress, Medium |
What are Middleman and Zola?
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
Zola
Zola is an open-source static site generator written in Rust that ships as a single binary with no dependencies. It builds blogs and documentation sites quickly with built-in Sass and search support.
- Single dependency-free binary
- Fast builds
- Built-in Sass compilation
- Built-in search index
Middleman vs Zola: key differences
Middleman is written in Ruby, while Zola is built with Rust. Zola is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Middleman. Middleman is the more established project (first released 2009), while Zola arrived in 2017. Zola has the considerably larger community, at 17,463 GitHub stars versus 7,111.
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 Zola if…
- No toolchain to install
- Very fast
Watch out for
- No admin UI
- Smaller theme selection
Frequently asked questions
Is Middleman or Zola better?
Neither is universally better. Zola has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Middleman and Zola free and open-source?
Yes. Middleman is licensed under MIT and Zola under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Middleman and Zola with Docker?
Middleman: check the project docs for container support. Zola: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Middleman or Zola?
Zola has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Middleman. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.