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Hugo vs Nanoc: What are the differences?
Introduction: Here we will discuss the key differences between Hugo and Nanoc, two popular static site generators.
Template Language: Hugo uses Go's template language, whereas Nanoc uses ERB (Embedded Ruby) as its template language. This means developers familiar with Go might find Hugo's template language easier to work with, while those experienced with Ruby might prefer Nanoc's ERB.
Language Support: Hugo is primarily written in Go, so it is best suited for developers comfortable with that language. Nanoc, on the other hand, is built using Ruby, making it a better choice for Ruby developers.
Performance: Hugo is known for its exceptional speed, often outperforming other static site generators, including Nanoc. This makes Hugo a top choice for projects where performance is a crucial factor.
Community and Ecosystem: While both Hugo and Nanoc have active communities, Hugo's community tends to be larger and more vibrant. This can be advantageous for developers seeking support, resources, and plugins for their static site projects.
Use Cases: Hugo is favored for building blogs, documentation sites, and personal portfolios due to its ease of use and fast build times. On the other hand, Nanoc is more flexible and can be customized extensively, making it suitable for complex and diverse projects.
Learning Curve: Due to its simplicity and straightforward design, Hugo is often considered easier to learn and use compared to Nanoc, which may have a steeper learning curve, especially for beginners in static site generation.
In Summary, Hugo and Nanoc differ in their template languages, language support, performance, community size, use cases, and learning curve.
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.
Pros of Hugo
- Lightning fast47
- Single Executable29
- Easy setup26
- Great development community24
- Open source23
- Write in golang13
- Not HTML only - JSON, RSS8
- Hacker mindset8
- LiveReload built in7
- Gitlab pages integration4
- Easy to customize themes4
- Very fast builds4
- Well documented3
- Fast builds3
- Easy to learn3
Pros of Nanoc
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Cons of Hugo
- No Plugins/Extensions4
- Template syntax not friendly2
- Quick builds1