Pencil vs Saber
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Pencil | Saber |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 62 · Good | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Haskell | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5 | ★ 2,115 |
| First released | 2017 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Jekyll | Gatsby, Jekyll |
What are Pencil and Saber?
Pencil
Pencil is a static site generator library and tool written in Haskell that compiles Markdown and templates into a static website. It gives developers a programmatic way to define site structure and content transformations.
- Haskell library API
- Markdown rendering
- Template inheritance
- Static output
Saber
Saber is a static site generator built on top of Vue.js that lets you create static websites and blogs using Vue components and Markdown. It bridges the gap between flexible single-page apps and traditional static generators.
- Vue-component pages
- Markdown content
- Plugin ecosystem
- Static output
Pencil vs Saber: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Saber's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Pencil is actively maintained. Pencil is written in Haskell, while Saber is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Pencil versus MIT for Saber. Pencil is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Saber. Pencil is the more established project (first released 2017), while Saber arrived in 2019. Saber has the considerably larger community, at 2,115 GitHub stars versus 5.
Why pick each one
Choose Pencil if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Saber if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Pencil or Saber better?
Saber is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Saber if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Pencil and Saber free and open-source?
Yes. Pencil is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Saber under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pencil and Saber with Docker?
Pencil: check the project docs for container support. Saber: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Pencil or Saber?
Pencil has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Saber. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.