Pelican vs Typecho
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Pelican | Typecho |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 80 · Excellent | 85 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,339 | ★ 12,446 |
| First released | 2010 | 2008 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Blogger | WordPress, Blogger |
What are Pelican and Typecho?
Pelican
Pelican is an open-source static site generator written in Python that builds blogs from Markdown or reStructuredText. It supports themes, plugins, and import from other blogging platforms.
- Markdown and reStructuredText
- Theme and plugin support
- Import from WordPress and others
- Atom and RSS feeds
Typecho
Typecho is an open-source blogging platform written in PHP, focused on being simple, lightweight, and fast. It is especially popular among developers in the Chinese-speaking community.
- Lightweight and fast
- Markdown support
- Plugin and theme ecosystem
- Simple installation
Pelican vs Typecho: key differences
Pelican is written in Python, while Typecho is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Pelican versus GPL-2.0 for Typecho. Typecho is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Pelican. Typecho is the more established project (first released 2008), while Pelican arrived in 2010. Typecho lists first-class Docker deployment; Pelican does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Pelican if…
- Great for Python users
- Mature and stable
Watch out for
- No admin UI
- Python environment needed
Choose Typecho if…
- Very lightweight
- Clean codebase
Watch out for
- Documentation mostly in Chinese
- Smaller global community
Frequently asked questions
Is Pelican or Typecho better?
Neither is universally better. Pelican has the larger community, while Typecho is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Pelican and Typecho free and open-source?
Yes. Pelican is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Typecho under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pelican and Typecho with Docker?
Pelican: check the project docs for container support. Typecho: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Pelican or Typecho?
Typecho has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Pelican. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.