CMS
Hosting
Tools
Community
Eleventy (11ty) vs Hugo
Compare Eleventy (11ty) and Hugo to find the best tool for your needs.
Eleventy (11ty)
A simpler static site generator focused on flexibility and performance.
See all detailsVS
Hugo
The world's fastest framework for building static websites, with rich content management capabilities.
See all detailsQuick overview
Pricing
Free (open source)
Free (open source)
Pros & Cons
Eleventy (11ty)
Pros
- Zero client-side JavaScript by default
- Extremely flexible templating
- Fast builds
- Easy to learn and use
Cons
- Smaller ecosystem than Gatsby/Hugo
- Less built-in features
- Documentation can be sparse
- Requires some technical knowledge
Hugo
Pros
- Extremely fast build times
- No dependencies required
- Live reload for instant preview
- Flexible content management
Cons
- Steeper learning curve for templating
- Less plugins than older generators
- Requires command line usage
- Go templates can be challenging
Features comparison
| Feature | Eleventy (11ty) | Hugo |
|---|---|---|
| Core Features | ||
| SEO | Via integration Requires custom implementation or adding meta tags in templates | Yes Built-in SEO features including meta tags, canonical URLs, Open Graph, and JSON-LD |
| Sitemap | Via plugin Can be added with plugins like eleventy-plugin-sitemap | Yes Built-in sitemap generation without plugins |
| RSS Feed | Via plugin Available through plugins like eleventy-plugin-rss | Yes Built-in RSS/Atom feed generation without plugins |
| Theming system | Partial No formal theming system, but flexible templating allows for theme-like structures | Yes Powerful theming system with theme inheritance and module capabilities |
| Plugin system | Yes Extensible through JavaScript plugins and custom shortcodes | Partial Uses 'modules' rather than plugins, with a different architectural approach than traditional plugins |
| Content Management | ||
| Emoji | Via plugin Can be implemented through markdown-it plugins | Yes Native emoji support with several rendering options |
| Image optimization | Via plugin Available through eleventy-img or similar plugins | Yes Built-in image processing with resize, crop, filter capabilities and image optimization |
| Taxonomies | Via integration Can be implemented through custom collections and tags | Yes Powerful built-in taxonomy system with support for custom taxonomies |
| Pagination | Yes Built-in pagination API | Yes Built-in pagination for list pages with customizable options |
| Table of contents | Via plugin Can be implemented through markdown-it plugins or custom functions | Yes Built-in table of contents generation for markdown content |
| Comments | Via integration Can integrate with services like Disqus, Utterances, etc. through template includes | Via integration Integration with Disqus, Commento, Utterances or other comment systems via templates |
| Integrations | ||
| Social media integration | Via integration Requires custom implementation in templates | Yes Built-in support for social cards, sharing, and integration via templates |
| Analytics | Via integration Easy to add through template includes | Via integration Easy integration with most analytics platforms via themes or templates |
| Newsletter | Via integration Can be added through template includes | Via integration Third-party services can be integrated via templates or partials |
| Search | Via integration Options include Algolia, Lunr.js, or custom client-side implementation | Via integration Options include built-in JSON index, Algolia, Lunr.js, or other client-side search solutions |
| Headless CMS integration | Yes Good support for various headless CMS options through data fetching | Yes Excellent support for most headless CMS platforms including Contentful, Forestry, NetlifyCMS, Strapi |
| Advanced Features | ||
| Multilingual | Via integration Possible through directory structure and custom collections | Yes First-class support for multilingual sites with i18n capabilities |
| AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) | Via integration Can be implemented through custom output formats | Via templates Can be implemented using custom output formats and templates |
| PWA (Progressive Web App) | Via integration Can be implemented through custom service worker and manifest files | Via integration Requires custom configuration or theme with PWA support |
| Specialized Content | ||
| PlantUML | Via plugin Can be implemented through markdown-it plugins or custom shortcodes | Via shortcode Customizable shortcodes can be created for PlantUML integration |
| Mermaid | Via plugin Can be implemented through custom shortcodes or markdown-it plugins | Via shortcode Official shortcode available for Mermaid diagrams |
| KaTeX (math) | Via plugin Can be implemented using eleventy-plugin-katex or similar solutions | Via integration Support through either KaTeX or MathJax via templates or theme integration |
| GitHub Gists integration | Via integration Can be implemented through custom shortcodes | Via shortcode Can be implemented via custom shortcodes |