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