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Jekyll vs MkDocs: What are the differences?

Introduction

Jekyll and MkDocs are both static site generators that allow developers to build websites and documentation. However, there are several key differences between the two.

  1. Template Engines: Jekyll uses Liquid, a flexible template engine, while MkDocs uses Jinja2, a powerful templating language. Liquid offers a simpler syntax, making it easier for beginners to grasp, while Jinja2 provides more advanced features and functionalities. Depending on the complexity of the project, the choice of template engine can impact the ease of development and customization.

  2. Documentation Structure: MkDocs is specifically designed for creating documentation, providing a hierarchical structure that mirrors folders and files. It automatically generates a table of contents based on the file structure, simplifying navigation. Jekyll, on the other hand, gives developers more flexibility in organizing content, making it suitable for both traditional websites and documentation. Jekyll requires manual creation of navigation menus and table of contents, which can be more time-consuming for extensive documentation projects.

  3. Plugin Ecosystem: Jekyll has a more mature and extensive plugin ecosystem, offering a wide range of functionality through plugins. This allows developers to add features such as SEO optimization, image processing, and form handling easily. MkDocs, while still providing some useful plugins, has a more limited selection. If the project requires extensive customization and specific functionality, Jekyll's plugin ecosystem can be an advantage.

  4. Language Support: Jekyll primarily uses Markdown for content creation, allowing developers to write in a straightforward and intuitive syntax. It also supports HTML, Sass, and other programming languages. MkDocs also supports Markdown but only offers limited support for HTML. Thus, if the project requires more complex HTML structures or advanced styling, Jekyll provides greater flexibility and options.

  5. Development Environment: Jekyll requires Ruby and its associated dependencies to be installed, which can add a layer of complexity for developers who are not familiar with Ruby development. MkDocs, on the other hand, is built on Python and is generally easier to set up and get started with. This can make MkDocs more accessible for developers who prefer Python or want a simpler setup process.

  6. Community and Documentation: Jekyll has a larger and more active community due to its longer existence. This means that there is a wealth of documentation, tutorials, and forums available for troubleshooting and getting assistance. MkDocs, while also having a supportive community, may have fewer resources available. For developers who prefer a more established and well-documented framework, Jekyll provides an advantage in terms of community support.

In summary, Jekyll and MkDocs differ in their template engines, documentation structures, plugin ecosystems, language support, development environments, and community and documentation. The choice between the two depends on the specific project requirements, development experience, and preferences of the developers.

Decisions about Jekyll and MkDocs
Manuel Feller
Frontend Engineer at BI X · | 4 upvotes · 160.2K 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 Jekyll
Pros of MkDocs
  • 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
  • 5
    Speed
  • 4
    Gitlab integration
  • 3
    Extensibility
  • 2
    Themes

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Cons of Jekyll
Cons of MkDocs
  • 4
    Build time increases exponentially as site grows
  • 2
    Lack of developments lately
  • 1
    Og doesn't work with postings dynamically
  • 1
    Build time increases exponentially as site grows

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- No public GitHub repository available -

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.

What is MkDocs?

It builds completely static HTML sites that you can host on GitHub pages, Amazon S3, or anywhere else you choose. There's a stack of good looking themes available. The built-in dev-server allows you to preview your documentation as you're writing it. It will even auto-reload and refresh your browser whenever you save your changes.

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What companies use Jekyll?
What companies use MkDocs?
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What are some alternatives to Jekyll and MkDocs?
WordPress
The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” — we’d love you to join the family.
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.
Ghost
Ghost is a platform dedicated to one thing: Publishing. It's beautifully designed, completely customisable and completely Open Source. Ghost allows you to write and publish your own blog, giving you the tools to make it easy and even fun to do.
Sphinx
It lets you either batch index and search data stored in an SQL database, NoSQL storage, or just files quickly and easily — or index and search data on the fly, working with it pretty much as with a database server.
See all alternatives