Hugo and Publii are both open source static site generators. Hugo is written in Go and Publii is written in JavaScript.
| Property | Hugo | Publii |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Templates | Go | Handlebars |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0-only |
Hugo is a static site generator written in Go. It is optimized for speed, easy use and configurability. Hugo takes a directory with content and templates and renders them into a full html website.
Hugo makes use of Markdown files with front matter for meta data.
A typical website of moderate size can be rendered in a fraction of a second. A good rule of thumb is that Hugo takes around 1 millisecond for each piece of content.
It is written to work well with any kind of website including blogs, tumbles and docs.
Publii is a desktop-based CMS for Windows and Mac that makes creating static websites fast and hassle-free, even for beginners.
Unlike static-site generators that are often unwieldy and difficult to use, Publii provides an easy-to-understand UI much like server-based CMSs such as WordPress or Joomla!, where users can create posts and other site content, and style their site using a variety of built-in themes and options. Users can enjoy the benefits of a super-fast and secure static website, with all the convenience that a CMS provides.
What makes Publii even more unique is that the app runs locally on your desktop rather than on the site's server. Available for both Windows and Mac, once the app has been installed you can create a site in minutes, even without internet access; since Publii is a desktop app you can create, update and modify your site offline, then upload the site changes to your server at the click of a button.
Publii supports multiple upload options, including standard HTTP/HTTPS servers, Netlify, Amazon S3, GitHub Pages and Google Cloud or SFTP.