About Eleventy
Overview Eleventy is a simpler static site generator that compiles template files into static HTML output. It is designed for developers who want fast build times and fine-grained control over their site output without requiring client-side JavaScript. Unlike JavaScript-heavy frameworks or complex static site generators, Eleventy focuses on being lightweight and flexible. It supports multiple template languages including Markdown, Liquid, Nunjucks, HTML, JavaScript, and TypeScript, and works with any hosting provider that serves static files. Key Benefits Build times measured in fractions of a second — Eleventy compiles sites in as little as 0.03 seconds. Zero client-side JavaScript by default, producing pure static HTML output. Supports over a dozen template languages including Markdown, Liquid, Nunjucks, JavaScript, TypeScript, and WebC. Over 19.5 million downloads and 19.8k GitHub stars as of the latest release. Winner of the 2022 Google Open Source Peer Bonus Award. Works with any static hosting provider and integrates with CMS platforms and runtime APIs. How It Works You install Node.js (version 18 or newer), then create Markdown or template files in your project directory. You run npx @11ty/eleventy --serve in your terminal, and Eleventy compiles all valid template files into a _site output folder while starting a local development server at http://localhost:8080/ . You edit templates using front matter, layouts, collections, and data cascade features to build your site structure. Use Cases Front-end developers building personal blogs or documentation sites with fast build times. Designers and content creators who want full control over HTML output without a JavaScript framework. Teams migrating from Jekyll or other static site generators who need a simpler, faster alternative. Open source project maintainers creating project documentation sites with collections and pagination. Developers prototyping sites locally with the built-in dev server and live reload. Why Choose This Product Eleventy is best suited for developers who want a no-frills static site generator with fast build performance and broad template language support. It is free and open source, with no paid tiers or premium features — the entire product is available to everyone equally.
Eleventy Pros & Cons
- Free and open source (MIT license)
- Zero client-side JavaScript by default
- Supports 12+ template languages
- Extremely fast build times (fractions of a second)
- Over 19.5 million downloads
Key Features
Multi-language templates
Eleventy supports over a dozen template languages including Markdown, Liquid, Nunjucks, HTML, JavaScript, TypeScript, WebC, HAML, Pug, EJS, Handlebars, and Mustache.
Zero-client JS output
By default Eleventy produces pure static HTML with no client-side JavaScript required in the output.
Collections API
Eleventy provides a Collections API to group and iterate over content, with support for pagination and navigation.
Data cascade
Content data flows through a cascade from front matter, template directory files, global data files, and computed data with clear precedence rules.
Image plugin
The official Image plugin provides responsive image generation, optimization, and transformation during the build process.
Internationalization
Built-in i18n plugin supports multi-language sites with locale-aware URLs, date formatting, and content organization.
RSS plugin
The official RSS plugin generates RSS feeds from collections with proper date handling and XML output.
Plugin system
Eleventy offers a plugin API for creating and using community plugins, plus official plugins for images, syntax highlighting, navigation, and more.
Collections & pagination
Content can be organized into collections with pagination support, navigation menus, and automatic content date handling.
Syntax highlighting
The official syntax highlighting plugin adds code block highlighting during the build process using Prism or Shiki.
Eleventy Pricing
Pricing extracted from the product website and may change. Check the source for current details.