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Jekyll vs Eleventy (11ty)
Compare Jekyll and Eleventy (11ty) to find the best tool for your needs.
Jekyll
A simple, blog-aware static site generator perfect for personal, project, or organization sites.
See all detailsVS
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
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
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 | Jekyll | Eleventy (11ty) |
|---|---|---|
| Core Features | ||
| SEO | Partial Basic features built-in, but requires 'jekyll-seo-tag' plugin for full functionality | Via integration Requires custom implementation or adding meta tags in templates |
| Sitemap | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-sitemap' plugin | Via plugin Can be added with plugins like eleventy-plugin-sitemap |
| RSS Feed | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-feed' plugin | Via plugin Available through plugins like eleventy-plugin-rss |
| Theming system | Yes Built-in theming system with many available themes | Partial No formal theming system, but flexible templating allows for theme-like structures |
| Plugin system | Yes Rich plugin system with many extensions available | Yes Extensible through JavaScript plugins and custom shortcodes |
| Content Management | ||
| Emoji | Via plugin Requires 'jemoji' plugin | Via plugin Can be implemented through markdown-it plugins |
| Image optimization | Via plugin Options include 'jekyll-picture-tag', 'jekyll-responsive-image', or manual integration | Via plugin Available through eleventy-img or similar plugins |
| Taxonomies | Partial Native support for categories and tags, but limited for custom taxonomies without plugins | Via integration Can be implemented through custom collections and tags |
| Pagination | Via plugin Native in older versions, but requires 'jekyll-paginate' or 'jekyll-paginate-v2' for recent versions | Yes Built-in pagination API |
| Table of contents | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-toc' plugin or using kramdown with toc option | Via plugin Can be implemented through markdown-it plugins or custom functions |
| Comments | Via integration Integration with third-party services like Disqus, Utterances, or staticman | Via integration Can integrate with services like Disqus, Utterances, etc. through template includes |
| Integrations | ||
| Social media integration | Partial Basic support via Liquid templates, but requires customization for advanced integration | Via integration Requires custom implementation in templates |
| Analytics | Via integration Easily integrable via snippets in Liquid templates | Via integration Easy to add through template includes |
| Newsletter | Via integration Requires third-party services integration like Hakanai, Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc. | Via integration Can be added through template includes |
| Search | Via plugin Options include 'jekyll-algolia', 'simple-jekyll-search', or 'jekyll-lunr-js-search' | Via integration Options include Algolia, Lunr.js, or custom client-side implementation |
| Headless CMS integration | Via integration Compatible with Forestry, Netlify CMS, CloudCannon, Contentful via custom configuration | Yes Good support for various headless CMS options through data fetching |
| Advanced Features | ||
| Multilingual | Limited Basic support via collections or plugins like 'jekyll-polyglot' or 'jekyll-multiple-languages-plugin' | Via integration Possible through directory structure and custom collections |
| AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-amp-pwa-plugin' or custom configuration | Via integration Can be implemented through custom output formats |
| PWA (Progressive Web App) | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-pwa-plugin' or custom configuration | Via integration Can be implemented through custom service worker and manifest files |
| Specialized Content | ||
| PlantUML | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-plantuml' or 'jekyll-diagrams' plugin | Via plugin Can be implemented through markdown-it plugins or custom shortcodes |
| Mermaid | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-mermaid' plugin or custom JavaScript integration | Via plugin Can be implemented through custom shortcodes or markdown-it plugins |
| KaTeX (math) | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-katex' plugin or custom JavaScript integration | Via plugin Can be implemented using eleventy-plugin-katex or similar solutions |
| GitHub Gists integration | Via plugin Requires 'jekyll-gist' plugin | Via integration Can be implemented through custom shortcodes |