Pencil vs Wintersmith
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?
Pencil
Static site generator library built in Haskell
VS
Wintersmith
Flexible Node.js static site and blog generator
| Feature | Pencil | Wintersmith |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Haskell | CoffeeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5 | ★ 3,478 |
| First released | 2017 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Jekyll | WordPress, Jekyll |
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 Wintersmith if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in CoffeeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Pencil or Wintersmith better?
Wintersmith is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Pencil if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Pencil and Wintersmith free and open-source?
Yes. Pencil is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Wintersmith under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pencil and Wintersmith with Docker?
Pencil: check the project docs for container support. Wintersmith: check the project docs for container support.