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Hugo vs Jekyll
Compare Hugo and Jekyll to find the best tool for your needs.
Hugo
The world's fastest framework for building static websites, with rich content management capabilities.
See all detailsVS
Jekyll
A simple, blog-aware static site generator perfect for personal, project, or organization sites.
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
Jekyll
Pros
- Fast and secure static sites
- GitHub Pages integration
- Simple to use for developers
- Great for blogs and documentation
Cons
- Requires Ruby knowledge for customization
- Not suitable for dynamic content
- No visual editor for non-technical users
- Build time increases with site size
Features comparison
| Feature | Hugo | Jekyll |
|---|---|---|
| Core Features | ||
| SEO | Yes Built-in SEO features including meta tags, canonical URLs, Open Graph, and JSON-LD | Partial Basic features built-in, but requires 'jekyll-seo-tag' plugin for full functionality |
| Sitemap | Yes Built-in sitemap generation without plugins | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-sitemap' plugin |
| RSS Feed | Yes Built-in RSS/Atom feed generation without plugins | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-feed' plugin |
| Theming system | Yes Powerful theming system with theme inheritance and module capabilities | Yes Built-in theming system with many available themes |
| Plugin system | Partial Uses 'modules' rather than plugins, with a different architectural approach than traditional plugins | Yes Rich plugin system with many extensions available |
| Content Management | ||
| Emoji | Yes Native emoji support with several rendering options | Via plugin Requires 'jemoji' plugin |
| Image optimization | Yes Built-in image processing with resize, crop, filter capabilities and image optimization | Via plugin Options include 'jekyll-picture-tag', 'jekyll-responsive-image', or manual integration |
| Taxonomies | Yes Powerful built-in taxonomy system with support for custom taxonomies | Partial Native support for categories and tags, but limited for custom taxonomies without plugins |
| Pagination | Yes Built-in pagination for list pages with customizable options | Via plugin Native in older versions, but requires 'jekyll-paginate' or 'jekyll-paginate-v2' for recent versions |
| Table of contents | Yes Built-in table of contents generation for markdown content | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-toc' plugin or using kramdown with toc option |
| Comments | Via integration Integration with Disqus, Commento, Utterances or other comment systems via templates | Via integration Integration with third-party services like Disqus, Utterances, or staticman |
| Integrations | ||
| Social media integration | Yes Built-in support for social cards, sharing, and integration via templates | Partial Basic support via Liquid templates, but requires customization for advanced integration |
| Analytics | Via integration Easy integration with most analytics platforms via themes or templates | Via integration Easily integrable via snippets in Liquid templates |
| Newsletter | Via integration Third-party services can be integrated via templates or partials | Via integration Requires third-party services integration like Hakanai, Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc. |
| Search | Via integration Options include built-in JSON index, Algolia, Lunr.js, or other client-side search solutions | Via plugin Options include 'jekyll-algolia', 'simple-jekyll-search', or 'jekyll-lunr-js-search' |
| Headless CMS integration | Yes Excellent support for most headless CMS platforms including Contentful, Forestry, NetlifyCMS, Strapi | Via integration Compatible with Forestry, Netlify CMS, CloudCannon, Contentful via custom configuration |
| Advanced Features | ||
| Multilingual | Yes First-class support for multilingual sites with i18n capabilities | Limited Basic support via collections or plugins like 'jekyll-polyglot' or 'jekyll-multiple-languages-plugin' |
| AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) | Via templates Can be implemented using custom output formats and templates | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-amp-pwa-plugin' or custom configuration |
| PWA (Progressive Web App) | Via integration Requires custom configuration or theme with PWA support | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-pwa-plugin' or custom configuration |
| Specialized Content | ||
| PlantUML | Via shortcode Customizable shortcodes can be created for PlantUML integration | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-plantuml' or 'jekyll-diagrams' plugin |
| Mermaid | Via shortcode Official shortcode available for Mermaid diagrams | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-mermaid' plugin or custom JavaScript integration |
| KaTeX (math) | Via integration Support through either KaTeX or MathJax via templates or theme integration | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-katex' plugin or custom JavaScript integration |
| GitHub Gists integration | Via shortcode Can be implemented via custom shortcodes | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-gist' plugin |