Hexo vs Hugo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted blogging platforms options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Hugo
Blazing fast static site generator for blogs and sites
| Feature | Hexo | Hugo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Blogging Platforms | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 41,774 | ★ 89,914 |
| First released | 2012 | 2013 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Blogger | WordPress, Medium |
What are Hexo and Hugo?
Hexo
Hexo is an open-source static blog framework built with Node.js that turns Markdown into a fast static site. It is widely used by developers for personal blogs with a rich plugin ecosystem.
- Fast Markdown-based builds
- Large plugin and theme ecosystem
- One-command deployment
- Highly extensible
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
Hexo vs Hugo: key differences
Hexo is written in TypeScript, while Hugo is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Hexo versus Apache-2.0 for Hugo. Hugo is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Hexo. Hugo has the considerably larger community, at 89,914 GitHub stars versus 41,774.
Why pick each one
Choose Hexo if…
- Popular with developers
- Rich plugin ecosystem
Watch out for
- No admin UI
- Node toolchain required
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 Hexo 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 Hexo and Hugo free and open-source?
Yes. Hexo is licensed under MIT and Hugo under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hexo and Hugo with Docker?
Hexo: check the project docs for container support. Hugo: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Hexo or Hugo?
Hugo has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Hexo. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.