Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Hugo VS Pelican

Compare Hugo VS Pelican and see what are their differences

Hugo logo Hugo

Hugo is a general-purpose website framework for generating static web pages.

Pelican logo Pelican

A static site generator, written in Python, that requires no database or server-side logic
  • Hugo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21
  • Pelican Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-16

Hugo features and specs

  • Performance
    Hugo is extremely fast, capable of generating websites with thousands of pages in milliseconds, making it one of the fastest static site generators available.
  • Flexible Content Management
    Hugo supports multiple content types, taxonomies, menus, and dynamic API-driven content, offering a high level of flexibility for different site architectures.
  • Ease of Use
    Hugo’s straightforward installation process and simple configuration files make it accessible, even for beginners.
  • Extended Markdown
    It extends standard Markdown with additional shortcodes, which allows embedding rich content like videos, tweets, and more with simple syntax.
  • Large Community and Plugins
    Hugo has a large and active community that develops themes and plugins, providing ample resources and support for developers.
  • Inbuilt Server
    Hugo comes with a built-in server for local development, enabling real-time previews and speeding up the development process.

Possible disadvantages of Hugo

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its simplicity, Hugo’s template language and content rendering system can be complex for beginners to grasp initially.
  • Limited Dynamic Features
    As a static site generator, Hugo is not ideal for websites that require real-time data processing or dynamic content generation without additional tooling and integration.
  • Go-based Templating
    Hugo uses Go-based templating, which might be unfamiliar to developers accustomed to other templating engines such as Liquid, Handlebars, or Mustache.
  • Lack of Built-in CMS
    Unlike some other static site generators, Hugo does not come with its own CMS interface, which can be a downside for users who prefer a graphical content management system.
  • Dependency on Command Line
    Using Hugo effectively requires comfort with command-line interfaces, which can be a barrier to less technical users.

Pelican features and specs

  • Static Site Generator
    Pelican is a static site generator, which means it creates fast, secure, and easy-to-deploy websites without the need for a database.
  • Content in Markdown
    Allows content to be written in reStructuredText, Markdown, or AsciiDoc, which are lightweight markup languages that are easy to write and maintain.
  • Themes and Plugins
    Supports themes and plugins, allowing for extensive customization and functionality enhancement without altering the core codebase.
  • Python-based
    Built with Python, making it an attractive choice for developers familiar with the language and its extensive ecosystem.
  • Open Source
    Pelican is open-source software, which means it is free to use, and the community can contribute to its development and improvement.
  • Flexible Configuration
    Offers a high level of customization through configuration files, allowing users to tailor the site generation process to their specific needs.
  • Multi-language Support
    Supports multiple languages, making it a good choice for creating multilingual websites with ease.

Possible disadvantages of Pelican

  • Learning Curve
    Requires some learning, especially for those who are new to static site generators or not familiar with Python.
  • Limited Built-in Features
    May require plugins for features that are built-in with other platforms, leading to potential compatibility and maintenance issues.
  • Content Management
    Lacks a built-in content management system (CMS), which can make managing content less intuitive compared to traditional CMSs like WordPress.
  • Build Time
    For very large websites, the build time can become significant, which might not be ideal for sites that require frequent updates.
  • Development Focus
    Primarily focused on developers, which might make it less user-friendly for non-technical users looking for a simple, click-based website builder.
  • Host Dependency
    Requires a separate hosting service for deployment, unlike some managed static site platforms that offer integrated hosting solutions.
  • Limited Ecosystem
    Smaller ecosystem compared to other platforms like Jekyll or Hugo, which may result in fewer themes and plugins.

Hugo videos

Hugo - Movie Review by Chris Stuckmann

More videos:

  • Review - Hugo - A Love Letter to Cinema
  • Review - Hugo Review (funny movie review)

Pelican videos

Halo Infinite Mega Construx Pelican Inbound Review - Set GNB28

More videos:

  • Review - Pelican vs YETI Review | Roadie & Elite Portable Coolers (NEW!)
  • Review - Pelican vs YETI Coolers Review | Insulated Soft Sided Bags (NEW)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Hugo and Pelican)
Blogging
86 86%
14% 14
Static Site Generators
CMS
81 81%
19% 19
Blogging Platform
79 79%
21% 21

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Hugo and Pelican

Hugo Reviews

Top 10 Next.js Alternatives You Can Try
If you are looking for a powerful static website generator, Hugo is a good alternative to Next.js. You can build multilingual websites much faster and in a simple way that no other platform will offer you. Furthermore, this platform will increase your experience in creating websites with beautiful Markdown syntax and pre-built features like commenting.
20 Next.js Alternatives Worth Considering
Certainly. Jekyll and Hugo are popular static site generators that don’t rely on React.js. Jekyll uses Ruby, while Hugo is renowned for its speed and simplicity. These options are excellent for projects focusing on content-driven sites without heavy JavaScript frameworks.
10 static site generators to watch in 2021
Perhaps most conveniently described as Jekyll implemented with JavaScript rather than Ruby, Eleventy has now moved beyond that while retaining a clear and simple on-ramp, and only shipping to the browser what you tell it too. As with Jekyll and Hugo, no JavaScript frameworks are auto-baked in.
Source: www.netlify.com
Hugo vs Jekyll: an Epic Battle of Static Site Generator Themes
Hugo does something similar with its menu templates. You can define menu links in your Hugo site config, and even add useful properties that Hugo understands, like weighting. Here’s a definition of the menu above in config.yaml:
Top Static Site Generators For 2019
Hugo is a static site generator which is also very popular which is proven by over 30,000 stars on GitHub right now. Hugo is based on the Go programming language which is great if you have already gained some knowledge of Go. Hugo claims that it is the fastest framework for building websites. In fact Hugo comes with an ultra-fast build process and makes building static...
Source: medium.com

Pelican Reviews

We have no reviews of Pelican yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Hugo seems to be a lot more popular than Pelican. While we know about 384 links to Hugo, we've tracked only 31 mentions of Pelican. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Hugo mentions (384)

  • 🥳 We built the cli of our dreams to send sms ❣️
    The content of the guide lives in a single Markdown file, content/_index.md. The website is built using Hugo. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Add Pagefind Search to Hugo
    Every PKMS/BASB needs a search functionality. Ever since I've created brainfck to host my own collection of thoughts/ideas/resources (aka Zettelkasten) I wanted to be able to actually search within my collection of org-roam based notes. Meanwhile for all my sites I own (this blog, my CV/portfolio, brainfck and defersec) I use hugo. All of them didn't have proper search capabilities. That's why I was looking for a... - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • Fast-Track Your Static Site: Deploying Hugo with Pulumi on AWS S3
    This project demonstrates how to deploy a static website using Hugo and Pulumi on AWS S3. Hugo is a fast static site generator, and Pulumi is an infrastructure-as-code tool that allows you to define cloud resources using TypeScript. The site is deployed to an S3 bucket configured as a static website, with public access enabled for viewing. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Ask HN: Do you still self-host a blog? What's your publishing stack?
    Is there a particular stack you prefer? If JS, maybe consider Astro (for simple blogs)? It has built-in MDX support and deploys in a few seconds. If PHP, maybe https://getgrav.org/? For Go or a prebuilt binary, maybe https://gohugo.io/? - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Setup a blog with Hugo and Github Pages
    It was long my desire to write a blog with stuff that interests me. Lately I was studying Golang and I came across Hugo which is a really nice and fast site generation utility. This was a great opportunity to start my own blog by using Hugo and Github Pages in order to host it. Why? - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
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Pelican mentions (31)

  • WordPress Is in Trouble
    Instead of a wiki, why not a static site generator. I have used Pelican[1] for over a decade. Strongly recommend if you know Python. You don't need to know Python, but in the off chance that one day in the future you want to write your own plugin... [1] https://getpelican.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Ask HN: Best Minimal Blog Site?
    Https://gohugo.io/ It's written in go but what's great about it, unlike many competitors written in Javascript or Python, is that it is just a simple binary you download and run, you do not need to get a PhD in the go build system to start a web site also it is crazy fast. It can publish a site to something like S3 or Azure Storage behind a CDN and you do not have to worry about anything other than paying the... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Qwen2.5-Coder-32B is an LLM that can code well that runs on my Mac
    Not really tried the Claude 3.5, later tried o1-preview on github models and recently Qwen2.5 32B for a prompt to generate a litestar[0] app to manage a wysiwyg content using grapesjs[1] and use pelican[2] to generate static site. It generated very bad code and invented many libraries in import which didn't exist. Cluade was one of the worst code generator, later tried sieve of atkin to generate primes to N and... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
    I've been using Pelican [1] to generate my blog [2]. Here's how I set everything up: [3]. [1] https://getpelican.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (October 2024)
    Do you have any links? I've recently been using Pelican[0] to create static sites using Python, but always looking for simpler solutions. [0] https://getpelican.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Hugo and Pelican, you can also consider the following products

Jekyll - Jekyll is a simple, blog aware, static site generator.

Ghost - Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

GatsbyJS - Blazing-fast static site generator for React

WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Grav - The modern open source flat-file CMS

Hexo - A fast, simple & powerful blog framework, powered by Node.js