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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Frameworks
  4. Static Site Generators
  5. 11ty vs Hugo

11ty vs Hugo

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Hugo
Hugo
Stacks1.3K
Followers1.2K
Votes206
11ty
11ty
Stacks107
Followers120
Votes15
GitHub Stars19.0K
Forks556

11ty vs Hugo: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this Markdown code for a website, we will be discussing the key differences between 11ty and Hugo, two popular static site generators.

  1. Template Language: One major difference between 11ty and Hugo is the template language they use. 11ty utilizes JavaScript as its primary templating language, allowing developers to leverage the full power and flexibility of JavaScript for dynamic content generation. On the other hand, Hugo uses its own template language called Go templates, which is less powerful than JavaScript but provides a simpler syntax for static site generation.

  2. Language Support: Another key difference is the range of languages supported by each static site generator. 11ty has broad language support and can handle various programming languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, and HTML, making it versatile for different projects. In contrast, Hugo is primarily focused on supporting the Go programming language, limiting its usage to developers proficient in Go.

  3. Ease of Use: Ease of use is a differentiating factor between 11ty and Hugo. 11ty offers a more beginner-friendly approach with minimal configuration required and a simple project setup. Its simplicity and intuitive documentation make it accessible for developers of all skill levels. On the other hand, Hugo has a steeper learning curve, especially for those unfamiliar with the Go programming language. It requires more configuration and setup, making it better suited for experienced developers.

  4. Performance: Performance is an essential aspect when choosing a static site generator. Both 11ty and Hugo are known for their fast build times, but Hugo generally outperforms 11ty in terms of speed. Hugo's compilation speed is significantly faster due to its simplified template language and efficient caching mechanism. However, the choice between the two generators should also consider other factors and project requirements beyond just performance.

  5. Community and Ecosystem: The size and activity of the community surrounding a static site generator can greatly impact its development and support. 11ty has a smaller but growing community compared to Hugo. While this may result in fewer community-made plugins and themes, 11ty's community is known for its helpfulness and developer-friendly atmosphere. On the other hand, Hugo benefits from its large and established community, offering a wider range of plugins, themes, and resources for developers to utilize.

  6. Customization Flexibility: The level of customization flexibility also varies between 11ty and Hugo. 11ty allows developers to easily extend and customize their website through JavaScript, providing a high degree of flexibility. On the other hand, Hugo has a more opinionated structure and limited extensibility options, making it less customizable compared to 11ty.

In summary, the key differences between 11ty and Hugo lie in their template languages, language support, ease of use, performance, community and ecosystem, and customization flexibility. These factors should be carefully considered based on project requirements when selecting the most suitable static site generator.

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Advice on Hugo, 11ty

Manuel
Manuel

Frontend Engineer at BI X

Jul 22, 2020

Decided

As a Frontend Developer I wanted something simple to generate static websites with technology I am familiar with. GatsbyJS was in the stack I am familiar with, does not need any other languages / package managers and allows quick content deployment in pure HTML or Markdown (what you prefer for a project). It also does not require you to understand a theming engine if you need a custom design.

178k views178k
Comments
Kazim
Kazim

Founder & Developer at Devkind

May 13, 2020

Needs advice

Fastest and quickest way to do static HTML site which is extremely fast? Do you consider above tools or is there anything more quicker or better? This is just a one time one pager site for now, no backend required. I might have such projects in future, having something to get familiar with which can immediately come into action to develop would be great advise!

53.5k views53.5k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Hugo
Hugo
11ty
11ty

Hugo is a static site generator written in Go. It is optimized for speed, easy use and configurability. Hugo takes a directory with content and templates and renders them into a full html website. Hugo makes use of markdown files with front matter for meta data.

A simpler static site generator. An alternative to Jekyll. Written in JavaScript. Transforms a directory of templates (of varying types) into HTML. Works with HTML, Markdown, Liquid, Nunjucks, Handlebars, Mustache, EJS, Haml, Pug, and JavaScript Template Literals.

Run Anywhere - Hugo is quite possibly the easiest to install software you've ever used, simply download and run. Hugo doesn't depend on administrative privileges, databases, runtimes, interpreters or external libraries. Sites built with Hugo can be deployed on S3, Github Pages, Dropbox or any web host.;Fast & Powerful - Hugo is written for speed and performance. Great care has been taken to ensure that Hugo build time is as short as possible. We're talking milliseconds to build your entire site for most setups.; Flexible - Hugo is designed to work how you do. Organize your content however you want with any URL structure. Declare your own content types. Define your own meta data in YAML, TOML or JSON.
Uses independent template engines;Works with your project’s existing directory structure;Works with multiple template languages; Zero-config by default but has flexible configuration options;JavaScript alternative to Jekyll
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
19.0K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
556
Stacks
1.3K
Stacks
107
Followers
1.2K
Followers
120
Votes
206
Votes
15
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 47
    Lightning fast
  • 29
    Single Executable
  • 26
    Easy setup
  • 24
    Great development community
  • 23
    Open source
Cons
  • 4
    No Plugins/Extensions
  • 2
    Template syntax not friendly
  • 1
    Quick builds
Pros
  • 4
    Flexibility on choosing template
  • 3
    Flexible, allows progressive conversion of templates
  • 3
    Content decoupled as much as possible from Eleventy
  • 3
    Great use of data files/sources
  • 2
    Zero boilerplate client-side JavaScript
Integrations
Markdown
Markdown
Golang
Golang
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Hugo, 11ty?

Jekyll

Jekyll

Think of Jekyll as a file-based CMS, without all the complexity. Jekyll takes your content, renders Markdown and Liquid templates, and spits out a complete, static website ready to be served by Apache, Nginx or another web server. Jekyll is the engine behind GitHub Pages, which you can use to host sites right from your GitHub repositories.

Gatsby

Gatsby

Gatsby lets you build blazing fast sites with your data, whatever the source. Liberate your sites from legacy CMSs and fly into the future.

Hexo

Hexo

Hexo is a fast, simple and powerful blog framework. It parses your posts with Markdown or other render engine and generates static files with the beautiful theme. All of these just take seconds.

Middleman

Middleman

Middleman is a command-line tool for creating static websites using all the shortcuts and tools of the modern web development environment.

Gridsome

Gridsome

Build websites using latest web tech tools that developers love - Vue.js, GraphQL and Webpack. Get hot-reloading and all the power of Node.js. Gridsome makes building websites fun again.

Pelican

Pelican

Pelican is a static site generator that supports Markdown and reST syntax. Write your weblog entries directly with your editor of choice (vim!) in reStructuredText or Markdown.

DocPad

DocPad

Empower your website frontends with layouts, meta-data, pre-processors (markdown, jade, coffeescript, etc.), partials, skeletons, file watching, querying, and an amazing plugin system. DocPad will streamline your web development process allowing you to craft full-featured websites quicker than ever before.

Metalsmith

Metalsmith

In Metalsmith, all of the logic is handled by plugins. You simply chain them together. Since everything is a plugin, the core library is actually just an abstraction for manipulating a directory of files.

MkDocs

MkDocs

It builds completely static HTML sites that you can host on GitHub pages, Amazon S3, or anywhere else you choose. There's a stack of good looking themes available. The built-in dev-server allows you to preview your documentation as you're writing it. It will even auto-reload and refresh your browser whenever you save your changes.

VuePress

VuePress

A minimalistic static site generator with a Vue-powered theming system, and a default theme optimized for writing technical documentation. It was created to support the documentation needs of Vue's own sub projects.

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