Quartz vs Zola
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Quartz | Zola |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 75 · Good | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,281 | ★ 17,463 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Notion, Medium | WordPress, Medium |
What are Quartz and Zola?
Quartz
Quartz is a static site generator that transforms Markdown notes, including Obsidian vaults, into a fast, searchable digital garden website. It supports backlinks, graph views, and full-text search out of the box.
- Digital garden publishing
- Backlinks and graph view
- Full-text search
- Obsidian compatible
Zola
Zola is an open-source static site generator written in Rust that ships as a single binary with no dependencies. It builds blogs and documentation sites quickly with built-in Sass and search support.
- Single dependency-free binary
- Fast builds
- Built-in Sass compilation
- Built-in search index
Quartz vs Zola: key differences
Quartz is written in TypeScript, while Zola is built with Rust. Zola is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Quartz. Zola is the more established project (first released 2017), while Quartz arrived in 2021.
Why pick each one
Choose Quartz if…
- Great for note publishing
- Fast static output
Watch out for
- Static-only
- Build step required
Choose Zola if…
- No toolchain to install
- Very fast
Watch out for
- No admin UI
- Smaller theme selection
Frequently asked questions
Is Quartz or Zola better?
Neither is universally better. Zola has the larger community, while Quartz is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Quartz and Zola free and open-source?
Yes. Quartz is licensed under MIT and Zola under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Quartz and Zola with Docker?
Quartz: check the project docs for container support. Zola: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Quartz or Zola?
Zola has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Quartz. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.