# Alternatives to Pelican The Python SSG veteran. Pelican ranks #8 of 8 in Static site generators, with an Alt Score of 64. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and free from Free. 8 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pelican/ Category: Static site generators ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Developers and technical writers who want to publish blogs or documentation sites from plain-text content and are comfortable with Python and the command line. - **What you get**: A static site generator that turns reStructuredText or Markdown files into a complete HTML site with no database or server-side code required. It handles chronological blog posts and static pages, generates Atom/RSS feeds, supports multi-language content, and includes Pygments syntax highlighting. Themes are built with Jinja2 templates and functionality can be extended via plugins. - **How it works**: You write content as Markdown or reStructuredText files in a content folder, then run the pelican command-line tool to generate static HTML output, optionally serving it locally for preview (pelican -r -l). The `pelican-quickstart` command scaffolds a new project's structure and settings. ## Profile - **License**: AGPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-10) - **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10) - **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10) - **Platforms**: ? - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [Eleventy](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/eleventy.md) | 91 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 2 | [Gatsby](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gatsby.md) | 86 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 3 | [Astro](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/astro.md) | 82 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 4 | [Jekyll](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/jekyll.md) | 68 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 5 | [Publii](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/publii.md) | 68 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 6 | [Zola](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zola.md) | 68 | EUPL-1.2 | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 7 | [Hugo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hugo.md) | 64 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | Static site generators checklist | Pelican | Eleventy | Gatsby | Astro | Jekyll | Publii | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | | Starts at | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | | License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT | MIT | MIT | MIT | GPL-3.0 | | Platforms | ? | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | | Build speed | Yes | Yes | Partial | ? | Partial | Yes | | Templating language | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Content collections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | | Image optimization | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | | i18n support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | | Plugin ecosystem | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Markdown / MDX | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | | Partial hydration / islands | No | Partial | Partial | Yes | No | ? | | CMS integrations | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | | Learning curve | ? | Yes | Partial | ? | Partial | Yes | ## Sources Sources for Pelican. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **License**: AGPL-3.0 — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 19 November 2007” - **Starts at**: Free — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “The GNU Affero General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works” - **Pricing model**: Free — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “The GNU Affero General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: pushed_at": "2026-04-20T15:29:50Z", "archived": false" - **Build speed**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Fast rebuild times due to content caching and selective output writing” - **Templating language**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “To generate its HTML output, Pelican uses the Jinja templating engine due to its flexibility and straightforward syntax.” - **Content collections**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Content category (one only — not multiple)... Content tags, separated by commas.” - **i18n support**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: DEFAULT_LANG, ARTICLE_TRANSLATION_ID settings documented. - Quote: “Publication of articles in multiple languages” - **Plugin ecosystem**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Plugins are a way to add features to Pelican without having to directly modify the Pelican core.” - **Markdown / MDX**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: Markdown + reStructuredText; no MDX. - Quote: “You can also use Markdown syntax (with a file ending in .md, .markdown, .mkd, or .mdown).” - **Partial hydration / islands**: No — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: Plain static HTML; no hydration. - Quote: “Completely static output is simple to host anywhere” - **CMS integrations**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: One-way import, not live CMS integration. - Quote: “Import existing content from WordPress, Dotclear, or RSS feeds” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/