Publii vs Scully
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Publii | Scully |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 18 · At risk |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | HTML | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,318 | ★ 2,527 |
| First released | 2017 | 2019 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Squarespace | Gatsby, WordPress |
What are Publii and Scully?
Publii
Publii is an open-source desktop application for building fast, secure static websites and blogs. It provides a friendly graphical interface and publishes the generated site to hosting or Git.
- Desktop GUI for static sites
- One-click publishing
- Built-in themes
- No server runtime needed
Scully
Scully is a static site generator designed for Angular projects that prerenders pages into static HTML for better performance and SEO. It adds blogging capabilities to Angular apps through its plugin system.
- Angular prerendering
- Static HTML output
- Blog plugin
- Improved SEO
Publii vs Scully: key differences
Publii is written in HTML, while Scully is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Publii versus MIT for Scully. Publii is the more established project (first released 2017), while Scully arrived in 2019. Publii has the considerably larger community, at 7,318 GitHub stars versus 2,527.
Why pick each one
Choose Publii if…
- Very approachable for non-developers
- Secure static output
Watch out for
- Single-author workflow
- Desktop app required to edit
Choose Scully if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Publii or Scully better?
Publii is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Scully if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Publii and Scully free and open-source?
Yes. Publii is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Scully under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Publii and Scully with Docker?
Publii: check the project docs for container support. Scully: check the project docs for container support.