Alternatives to Eleventy
Flexible, dependency-light SSG
Eleventy ranks #1 of 8 in Static site generators, with an Alt Score of 91. It is licensed under MIT, free from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Web developers and technical writers building content-driven sites (docs, blogs, marketing pages) who want full control over HTML output without a required JS framework on the frontend.
A static site generator that compiles templates into plain HTML with no mandatory configuration. It supports 13+ template languages (Markdown, Nunjucks, Liquid, JSX, and more) that can be mixed within one project, and builds are notably fast even at scale. Output is plain files with no runtime lock-in, so any hosting works.
You write content and templates in your language of choice, then run the Eleventy CLI (e.g. `npx @11ty/eleventy --serve`) to compile everything into static HTML in an output folder, with a dev server and watch mode for local iteration.
Why people leave Eleventy
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Static site generators checklist (14 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Static site generators checklist | Eleventy | Gatsby | Astro | Jekyll | Publii | Zola |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Content collections | ||||||
| Image optimization | ||||||
| i18n support | ||||||
| Plugin ecosystem | ||||||
| Markdown / MDX | ||||||
| Partial hydration / islands | ||||||
| CMS integrations | ||||||
| Learning curve |
Every fact and feature listed for Eleventy is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License MIT verified 2026-07-10
MIT License
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/11ty/eleventy/main/LICENSE -
Starts at Free verified 2026-07-10
helping to grow the free and open source version for everyone
https://www.11ty.dev/blog/build-awesome/ -
Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux verified 2026-07-10
macOS, Linux, Windows, and Cross Platform
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/ -
Pricing model Free verified 2026-07-10
MIT core free; a separate paid 'Build Awesome Pro' builder exists but isn't required.
helping to grow the free and open source version for everyone
https://www.11ty.dev/blog/build-awesome/ -
Status active verified 2026-07-10
Release 01 Jul 2026; repo pushed 2026-07-07.
Build Awesome (11ty) v4.0.0-alpha.9
https://github.com/11ty/eleventy/releases -
Build speed Yes verified 2026-07-10
[11ty] Wrote 2 files in 0.04 seconds (v3.1.6)
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/getting-started/ -
Templating language Yes verified 2026-07-10
Eleventy's super power is that it is built on an extensible architecture that can work with one or more template languages in the same project.
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/languages/ -
Content collections Yes verified 2026-07-10
A collection allows you to group content in interesting ways.
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/collections/ -
Image optimization Yes verified 2026-07-10
Via official @11ty/eleventy-img plugin.
Utility to perform build-time image transformations for both vector and raster images: output multiple image sizes, multiple formats, and cache remote images locally.
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/plugins/image/ -
i18n support Yes verified 2026-07-10
Manages locale routing; doesn't translate strings itself.
The Internationalization (i18n) plugin is bundled with Eleventy and does not require separate installation.
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/plugins/i18n/ -
Plugin ecosystem Yes verified 2026-07-10
Plugins are custom code that Eleventy can import into a project from an external repository.
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/plugins/ -
Markdown / MDX Partial verified 2026-07-10
Markdown built-in; MDX needs @mdx-js/mdx + manual config.
Markdown files are by default pre-processed as Liquid templates.
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/languages/markdown/ -
Partial hydration / islands Partial verified 2026-07-10
Zero-JS by default; islands opt-in via WebC + is-land.
Works great with is-land for web component hydration.
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/languages/webc/ -
CMS integrations Yes verified 2026-07-10
Eleventy (like most site generators) is not tightly coupled to any specific CMS and offers the flexibility to work with a wide variety of available industry and community options!
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/cms/ -
Learning curve Yes verified 2026-07-10
Sub-10-minute quick-starts indicate a gentle learning curve.
6 minutes to Build a Blog from Scratch
https://www.11ty.dev/docs/getting-started/
FAQ
Yes. Gatsby, Astro and Jekyll have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Gatsby, Astro and Jekyll — every license claim links its source.