Eleventy vs Hugo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Eleventy
Simpler static site generator for fast websites
VS
Hugo
Blazing fast static site generator for blogs and sites
| Feature | Eleventy | Hugo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,929 | ★ 89,914 |
| First released | 2018 | 2013 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Medium | WordPress, Medium |
What are Eleventy and Hugo?
Eleventy
Eleventy is a flexible open-source static site generator written in JavaScript that works with many templating languages. It is popular for blogs and documentation due to its simplicity and speed.
- Supports many template languages
- Fast incremental builds
- Zero client-side JavaScript by default
- Flexible data cascade
Hugo
Hugo is one of the fastest open-source static site generators, written in Go. It builds blogs, documentation, and websites from Markdown content with thousands of available themes.
- Extremely fast builds
- Markdown content
- Huge theme library
- Single binary install
Eleventy vs Hugo: key differences
Eleventy is written in JavaScript, while Hugo is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Eleventy versus Apache-2.0 for Hugo. Hugo is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Eleventy. Hugo is the more established project (first released 2013), while Eleventy arrived in 2018. Hugo has the considerably larger community, at 89,914 GitHub stars versus 19,929.
Why pick each one
Choose Eleventy if…
- Very flexible templating
- Lean output
Watch out for
- No built-in admin
- Requires Node tooling
Choose Hugo if…
- Outstanding build speed
- No server-side runtime needed
Watch out for
- Templating has a learning curve
- No built-in admin UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Eleventy or Hugo better?
Neither is universally better. Hugo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Eleventy and Hugo free and open-source?
Yes. Eleventy is licensed under MIT and Hugo under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Eleventy and Hugo with Docker?
Eleventy: check the project docs for container support. Hugo: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Eleventy or Hugo?
Hugo has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Eleventy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.