A simpler site generator. Transforms a directory of templates (of varying types) into HTML.
19.8k
Stars
585
Forks
174
Open issues
30
Contributors
AI Analysis
Build Awesome (Eleventy) is a static site generator written in JavaScript that transforms template directories into HTML, supporting multiple template languages and extensive plugin ecosystem. It serves developers and content creators who need a flexible alternative to Jekyll for building blogs, documentation sites, and static websites. This tool is particularly valuable for those already in the JavaScript ecosystem and for teams requiring fine-grained control over template processing.
Inferred from signals mentioned in the README (tests, CI, type safety) — not a review of the actual code.
AI's overall editorial judgment — not an average of the bars above, can weigh other factors too.
Eleventy: JavaScript-based static site generator with broad template support, now ~19K stars
Eleventy (11ty) is a JavaScript static site generator that converts templates — written in Markdown, Liquid, Nunjucks, HTML, WebC, and more — into plain HTML. It is designed for developers who want a simple, flexible build pipeline without mandatory JavaScript frameworks on the client side. Adopted by independent developers, agencies, and open source documentation projects, it competes in the space occupied by Jekyll, Hugo, and Gatsby, but emphasizes zero client-side JS by default and multi-template-language support. Its community appears active with Discord, YouTube, and GitHub Discussions.
Created in November 2017 by Zach Leatherman as a simpler JavaScript alternative to Jekyll. Grew steadily through the JAMstack era and earned recognition from Google's web.dev team and Netlify sponsorship. Has gone through multiple major versions.
Growth was driven by early JAMstack adoption, Google web.dev using Eleventy publicly, and strong community evangelism. The 'zero client JS' philosophy resonated when React-based static generators felt heavy. Recent 7-day star velocity (20 stars) suggests the project is in a stable, mature phase rather than a high-growth phase, consistent with a well-established niche tool.
Eleventy is publicly documented as being used by Google's web.dev, the Firefox browser project documentation, and numerous agency and personal sites. npm download counts for @11ty/eleventy are publicly available and historically in the millions of monthly downloads. Adoption appears broad among the JAMstack and web performance communities.
Appears to follow a plugin-based, pipeline architecture where templates are read, processed through configurable template engines, and written as HTML output. Likely supports incremental builds and watch mode. The README mentions multiple addon packages (WebC, Sass, Vue, Svelte) suggesting a monorepo or plugin ecosystem structure.
Multiple test suites are documented: Ava as the primary runner, Node.js built-in test runner as secondary, and Vitest in browser mode for browser-specific tests. A benchmark suite for performance regression and a code coverage statistics file are also referenced, indicating a mature and well-exercised test infrastructure.
Last push was June 18, 2026 — four days before the evaluation date — indicating active, ongoing development. CI via GitHub Actions is documented. With 19,723 stars and 584 forks, the project has sustained developer interest. The README references current social channels (Bluesky, Mastodon, Discord), suggesting the community infrastructure is being maintained.
ADOPT IF: you are building content-focused websites, documentation sites, or marketing sites where you want full control over output HTML, zero mandatory client-side JS, and multi-template-language flexibility within the Node.js ecosystem. AVOID IF: you are building a highly interactive application or need a component-driven authoring experience — tools like Astro or Next.js are better fits. MONITOR IF: you are evaluating for large-team documentation projects and want to track whether Eleventy's v3+ monorepo direction and WebC integration prove stable and ergonomic at scale.
Independent dimensions
Mainstream potential
5/10
Technical importance
7/10
Adoption evidence
8/10
- Astro and similar newer generators are absorbing mindshare in the JS ecosystem, potentially slowing Eleventy's community growth over time.
- Eleventy's flexibility is also a configuration burden — projects can become difficult to maintain if template languages and plugin combinations proliferate without discipline.
- The project has historically been heavily dependent on a single primary maintainer (Zach Leatherman); bus-factor risk exists, though community contributions have grown.
- Build performance may become a bottleneck for very large sites (tens of thousands of pages) compared to Hugo or compiled alternatives.
- The npm package name discrepancy shown in the README (@awesome.me/buildawesome vs @11ty/eleventy) introduces potential confusion for new adopters and may reflect an ongoing branding or namespace transition.
Eleventy will likely remain a stable, respected choice for content-first sites and developer portfolios, but is unlikely to reclaim rapid growth given Astro's momentum. Slow, steady maintenance trajectory is the most probable path.
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Languages
Information
- Website
- https://www.11ty.dev/
- Language
- JavaScript
- License
- MIT
- Last updated
- 3d ago
- Created
- 105mo ago
- Analyzed with
- anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5
Stars over time
Contributors over time
Top 100 contributors only — repos with more will plateau at 100.
Open issues
Making changes to templates with a child layout during `--serve` mode are not reflected in output (nunjucks layouts using inheritance)
A plugin using `eleventyComputed` to set global data overwrites a project’s use of `buildawesomeComputed` in a data directory
Add a `page.filePath` for input path without the input directory
Documentation for full-async Nunjucks v4.0.0
Dev task only: prepare devDependency allow scripts for npm v12
Top contributors
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Jekyll is the historical incumbent with 51K stars and Ruby dependency. Eleventy targets the same audience but runs in Node.js (lower friction for JS developers) and supports more template languages. Jekyll has more legacy adoption; Eleventy is generally favored in newer JS-centric workflows.
Hugo is faster at build time due to being compiled Go, and dominates large documentation sites needing speed. Eleventy is more flexible with template languages and JS ecosystem integration, but will be slower on very large sites.
Astro has surpassed Eleventy in star growth and mindshare among developers wanting component-based authoring with partial hydration. Eleventy is simpler and more unopinionated; Astro offers more modern DX for JS-component-heavy projects.
Gatsby is a React-based static site generator with a GraphQL data layer. Eleventy deliberately avoids mandatory client-side framework overhead. Gatsby's ecosystem has contracted; Eleventy's simpler model has aged better for content-first sites.
docsify renders Markdown client-side at runtime without a build step, making it simpler for quick documentation but worse for SEO and performance. Eleventy produces pre-built HTML, making it a better choice for production content sites.
