Eleventy (11ty) is a JavaScript-based static site generator that has grown into one of the most flexible options in its category. Where Hugo makes strong structural decisions and asks you to work within them, Eleventy makes almost none — it is a set of tools for turning content into HTML, with minimal opinions about how your project should be organized. That flexibility is genuinely powerful and genuinely requires more upfront decision-making.

The static site generator landscape has matured considerably. What was once a niche developer preference — choosing a build tool over a CMS — is now a mainstream option for publishers of all sizes. Performance, security, and hosting cost advantages have made static generation attractive well beyond the developer blog use case. The challenge now is not whether to consider a static site generator, but which one. The options differ in speed, flexibility, content modeling, and the technical profile they assume.