Publ vs Publican
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Publ | Publican |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 58 · Fair |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 41 | ★ 20 |
| First released | 2018 | 2024 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Jekyll | Jekyll, Hugo |
What are Publ and Publican?
Publ
Publ is a Python content management and blogging engine that publishes content directly from files in a directory tree. It supports image galleries, Markdown content, and templated layouts without a separate database for content.
- File-based content publishing
- Built-in image gallery support
- Markdown and template driven
- No content database required
Publican
Publican is a fast, dependency-light static site generator for blogs and content sites built with modern JavaScript. It renders Markdown content with flexible templating and incremental builds for quick publishing.
- Markdown content
- Flexible templating
- Incremental builds
- Minimal dependencies
Publ vs Publican: key differences
Publ is written in Python, while Publican is built with JavaScript. Publ is the more established project (first released 2018), while Publican arrived in 2024. Publ has the considerably larger community, at 41 GitHub stars versus 20.
Why pick each one
Choose Publ if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Publican if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Young project
- Small theme selection
Frequently asked questions
Is Publ or Publican better?
Neither is universally better. Publ has the larger community, while Publican is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Publ and Publican free and open-source?
Yes. Publ is licensed under MIT and Publican under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Publ and Publican with Docker?
Publ: check the project docs for container support. Publican: check the project docs for container support.