Gatsbyvs
Hugovs
Eleventy
Static Site Generators features
Compare the features of the Static Site Generators to help you choose the right one for your needs.
Feature |  Gatsby |  Hugo |  Eleventy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Written in | JavaScript | Go | JavaScript | |
Template Language The syntax or language used to define the layout and structure of web pages. | JSX | Go-based HTML | HTML, Markdown, JavaScript, Liquid, Nunjucks, Handlebars, Mustache, EJS, Haml, Pug | |
Based on JS framework | React | |||
Built-in module bundler | webpack | Community example | Community example | |
Static pages (SSG) | ||||
Dynamic pages (SSR) | ||||
Developer Experience | ||||
TypeScript support | ||||
Serverless Functions (API) Small pieces of code that run on-demand without managing servers, typically used for API endpoints. | ||||
Focus on plugin system | ||||
Themes ecosystem | ||||
Hot reloading The ability to instantly see changes in the browser without refreshing the page when developing. | ||||
Code Splitting The ability of splitting code into smaller chunks to load them only when needed, improving performance. | Manual Code Splitting | Manual Code Splitting | ||
Content Preview Allows content editors to see live changes to draft content in a staging environment before it goes live. | ||||
Builit-in Optimizations | ||||
Third-party Script Optimization Optimizing external scripts (like analytics or ads) to improve the performance and loading speed of your website. | ||||
Image Optimization | ||||
An option to disable runtime JS For certain use cases, like static HTML + CSS websites where interactivity isn't needed, shipping JavaScript is unnecessary. | Community example | No runtime JS required by default | No runtime JS required by default | |
Critical CSS Extraction Extracting only the CSS needed for the initial page load to improve performance. | ||||
Starters or examples with common use cases | ||||
Data fetching Methods to fetch data from APIs or other sources, either at build time or runtime. | ||||
10+ Headless CMS examples | Community example | |||
Authentication | Community example | |||
Adding search | ||||
Ecommerce | Community example | |||
Security | ||||
Regular security audits by external researchers | ||||
Environment Variables Variables used to configure applications based on different environments (development, production). | ||||
Content Security Policy (CSP) | Community example | Custom HTTP headers rules | Custom HTTP headers rules | |