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11ty vs Jekyll: What are the differences?

11ty and Jekyll are popular static site generators used by web developers to build websites. While they have similarities in terms of their purpose and functionality, there are key differences between the two.

  1. 1. Templating Language: 11ty uses JavaScript templating languages like Nunjucks, Handlebars, and Liquid, giving developers more flexibility and options to work with. On the other hand, Jekyll uses the Liquid templating language, which is simpler and easier to learn for beginners.

  2. 2. Build Time: When it comes to build time, 11ty is faster compared to Jekyll. This is because 11ty recompiles only the specific pages being updated, while Jekyll regenerates the entire site every time there is a change. This makes 11ty more efficient for larger sites with frequent updates.

  3. 3. Configuration: Jekyll requires a YAML configuration file to set up the site's global settings, whereas 11ty provides more flexibility by allowing developers to configure the site using JavaScript files. This makes it easier for developers who are more comfortable working with JavaScript.

  4. 4. Content Organization: Jekyll organizes content using collections and data files, making it well-suited for blog-like websites. In contrast, 11ty provides a more generic approach, giving developers the freedom to structure and organize their content according to their specific needs.

  5. 5. Plugin Ecosystem: Jekyll has a robust plugin ecosystem that offers a wide range of functionalities to enhance the site's capabilities. 11ty, on the other hand, has a smaller plugin ecosystem but allows developers to leverage existing JavaScript libraries and tools to extend its functionality.

  6. 6. Data Sources: Jekyll relies heavily on content files to generate the site, with limited support for other data sources. 11ty, on the other hand, provides more flexibility by allowing developers to pull data from various sources like APIs, databases, and CMS, making it suitable for dynamic websites.

In summary, 11ty and Jekyll differ in their templating languages, build time efficiency, configuration approach, content organization, plugin ecosystem, and support for data sources. These differences make each static site generator suitable for different use cases and developers with varying preferences and requirements.

Decisions about 11ty and Jekyll
Manuel Feller
Frontend Engineer at BI X · | 4 upvotes · 160.5K views

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.

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Pros of 11ty
Pros of Jekyll
  • 4
    Flexibility on choosing template
  • 3
    Great use of data files/sources
  • 3
    Flexible, allows progressive conversion of templates
  • 3
    Content decoupled as much as possible from Eleventy
  • 2
    Zero boilerplate client-side JavaScript
  • 74
    Github pages integration
  • 54
    Open source
  • 37
    It's slick, customisable and hackerish
  • 24
    Easy to deploy
  • 23
    Straightforward cms for the hacker mindset
  • 7
    Gitlab pages integration
  • 5
    Best for blogging
  • 2
    Low maintenance
  • 2
    Easy to integrate localization
  • 1
    Huge plugins ecosystem
  • 1
    Authoring freedom and simplicity

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Cons of 11ty
Cons of Jekyll
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 4
      Build time increases exponentially as site grows
    • 2
      Lack of developments lately
    • 1
      Og doesn't work with postings dynamically

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    What is 11ty?

    A simpler static site generator. An alternative to Jekyll. Written in JavaScript. Transforms a directory of templates (of varying types) into HTML. Works with HTML, Markdown, Liquid, Nunjucks, Handlebars, Mustache, EJS, Haml, Pug, and JavaScript Template Literals.

    What is Jekyll?

    Think of Jekyll as a file-based CMS, without all the complexity. Jekyll takes your content, renders Markdown and Liquid templates, and spits out a complete, static website ready to be served by Apache, Nginx or another web server. Jekyll is the engine behind GitHub Pages, which you can use to host sites right from your GitHub repositories.

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    What companies use 11ty?
    What companies use Jekyll?
    See which teams inside your own company are using 11ty or Jekyll.
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    What tools integrate with 11ty?
    What tools integrate with Jekyll?

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    What are some alternatives to 11ty and Jekyll?
    Hugo
    Hugo is a static site generator written in Go. It is optimized for speed, easy use and configurability. Hugo takes a directory with content and templates and renders them into a full html website. Hugo makes use of markdown files with front matter for meta data.
    Hexo
    Hexo is a fast, simple and powerful blog framework. It parses your posts with Markdown or other render engine and generates static files with the beautiful theme. All of these just take seconds.
    Metalsmith
    In Metalsmith, all of the logic is handled by plugins. You simply chain them together. Since everything is a plugin, the core library is actually just an abstraction for manipulating a directory of files.
    Gatsby
    Gatsby lets you build blazing fast sites with your data, whatever the source. Liberate your sites from legacy CMSs and fly into the future.
    VuePress
    A minimalistic static site generator with a Vue-powered theming system, and a default theme optimized for writing technical documentation. It was created to support the documentation needs of Vue's own sub projects.
    See all alternatives