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Ghost vs Jekyll: What are the differences?
- Template Engine: One key difference between Ghost and Jekyll is the template engine they use. Ghost utilizes Handlebars, a popular templating language that allows for dynamic content rendering and easy layout creation. On the other hand, Jekyll uses Liquid, a flexible templating language that enables customization of page layouts, variable usage, and conditional logic.
- Content Management: Ghost provides a built-in content management system, offering a user-friendly interface for creating and publishing content. Jekyll, on the other hand, does not have a native CMS and relies on a folder-based structure where content is added in Markdown or HTML files. Users must manually edit and organize files to manage their content effectively.
- Hosting: Ghost offers a hosted solution, allowing users to create and run their websites on the Ghost platform seamlessly. Conversely, Jekyll is a static site generator that requires users to host their websites on external servers or use platforms like GitHub Pages to publish their sites.
- Dynamic Content: Ghost allows for the integration of dynamic content, making it suitable for websites that require real-time updates or user interaction, such as blogs or news sites. Jekyll generates static sites, meaning that it pre-builds all pages, making it less suitable for dynamic content and more suitable for simple websites or blogs without frequent updates or user-generated content.
- Themes and Plugins: Ghost provides a wide range of themes and plugins that can be easily installed and customized for website personalization. In contrast, Jekyll offers a more limited range of themes and plugins, requiring users to manually create or modify themes to fit their website's design and functionality requirements.
- Ease of Use: Ghost emphasizes a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it easier for non-technical users to create and manage their websites. Jekyll, while offering more control and flexibility, has a steeper learning curve and is better suited for users with coding or development experience.
In Summary, Ghost and Jekyll differ in their template engines, content management systems, hosting options, dynamic content capabilities, availability of themes and plugins, and ease of use.
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.
So many choices for CMSs these days. So then what do you choose if speed, security and customization are key? Headless for one. Consuming your own APIs for content is absolute key. It makes designing pages in the front-end a breeze. Leaving Ghost and Cockpit. If I then looked at the footprint and impact on server load, Cockpit definitely wins that battle.
Pros of Ghost
- Beautiful45
- Fast35
- Quick/simple post styling29
- Live Post Preview20
- Open source20
- Non-profit19
- Seamless writing16
- Node.js6
- Fast and Performatic5
- Javascript5
- Simplest4
- Wonderful UI3
- Handlebars3
- Full Control3
- Magic2
- Clean2
- Headless CMS1
- Self-hostable1
Pros of Jekyll
- Github pages integration74
- Open source54
- It's slick, customisable and hackerish37
- Easy to deploy24
- Straightforward cms for the hacker mindset23
- Gitlab pages integration7
- Best for blogging5
- Low maintenance2
- Easy to integrate localization2
- Huge plugins ecosystem1
- Authoring freedom and simplicity1
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Cons of Ghost
Cons of Jekyll
- Build time increases exponentially as site grows4
- Lack of developments lately2
- Og doesn't work with postings dynamically1