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Hugo
Fast, flexible static site generator built with Go
Hugo is a high-performance static site generator with advanced templating, multilingual support, and fast asset pipelines that renders complete sites in seconds.
Overview
What is Hugo?
Hugo is a static site generator written in Go, optimized for speed and designed for flexibility. With its advanced templating system and fast asset pipelines, Hugo renders complete sites in seconds, making it ideal for developers who value performance and efficiency.
Who Uses Hugo?
Hugo powers corporate, government, nonprofit, education, news, and event sites, as well as documentation sites, image portfolios, landing pages, blogs, and resumes. Its flexible framework, multilingual support, and powerful taxonomy system make it suitable for projects of any scale.
Core Capabilities
Hugo includes an embedded web server for instant development feedback, comprehensive image processing (convert, resize, crop, filters, EXIF extraction), JavaScript bundling with TypeScript/JSX support, Sass and Tailwind CSS processing, and Hugo Modules for sharing content and templates across projects via Git repositories. Available in three editions—standard, extended, and extended/deploy—Hugo offers core functionality or advanced features like WebP encoding, LibSass transpilation, and direct cloud deployment to AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Storage.
Highlights
Renders complete sites in seconds with Go-powered performance
Advanced asset pipelines for images, JavaScript, Sass, and Tailwind CSS
Hugo Modules for sharing content, themes, and templates via Git
Multilingual support and powerful taxonomy system for complex sites
Pros
- Exceptional build speed, often rendering sites in under a second
- Comprehensive asset processing without external dependencies
- Flexible templating system supports diverse content architectures
- Active community with extensive themes and documentation
Considerations
- Steeper learning curve for advanced templating features
- Extended edition requires GCC for building from source
- Go template syntax may be unfamiliar to some developers
- Limited dynamic functionality inherent to static site generators
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When teams consider Hugo, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
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Fit guide
Great for
- Documentation sites requiring fast builds and multilingual content
- High-traffic blogs and corporate sites prioritizing performance
- Developers comfortable with Go templates and Git-based workflows
- Projects needing integrated asset processing without Node.js toolchains
Not ideal when
- Sites requiring real-time user-generated content or authentication
- Teams preferring visual page builders or WYSIWYG editors
- Projects with heavy reliance on WordPress-style plugins
- Developers seeking JavaScript-based templating ecosystems
How teams use it
Technical Documentation Portal
Fast, searchable documentation with multilingual support and instant local preview during content updates
Corporate Marketing Site
High-performance landing pages with optimized images, Tailwind CSS styling, and automated cloud deployment
Developer Blog with Code Samples
Syntax-highlighted articles with fast build times and Git-based content management workflow
Multi-Region News Platform
Localized content delivery with taxonomy-driven navigation and automated builds via Git integration
Tech snapshot
Go96%
JavaScript3%
HTML1%
Dockerfile1%
Shell1%
CSS1%
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Hugo's three editions?
The standard edition provides core functionality. The extended edition adds WebP encoding and LibSass transpilation. The extended/deploy edition includes direct deployment to AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Storage.
How fast is Hugo compared to other static site generators?
Hugo renders complete sites in seconds, often less, thanks to Go's performance. Build times are significantly faster than Node.js-based generators for medium to large sites.
Can I use Hugo without learning Go programming?
Yes. Hugo uses Go templates for theming, but you don't need Go programming knowledge. Many pre-built themes are available, and template syntax is learnable for content creators.
Does Hugo support modern CSS frameworks like Tailwind?
Yes. Hugo includes built-in Tailwind CSS processing with tree shaking, minification, and PostCSS integration, eliminating the need for separate Node.js build tools.
How do Hugo Modules work?
Hugo Modules let you share content, assets, themes, templates, and configuration across projects via public or private Git repositories, enabling modular site architecture and component reuse.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 86,173
- Watchers
- 86,173
- Forks
- 8,174
LicenseApache-2.0
Repo age12 years old
Last commit7 hours ago
Primary languageGo
Last synced 3 hours ago