head to head · open source
gatsby vs hexo
gatsby has 55,921 GitHub stars, 10,089 forks, 450 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. hexo has 41,782 stars, 55 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. gatsby leads on adoption by 34% (55,921 vs 41,782 stars). gatsby is written in JavaScript under MIT; hexo is written in TypeScript under MIT. gatsby has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, hexo 0%. hexo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (static-site-generator), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| gatsby | hexo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 42K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-20 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 55 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gatsby if
- You weight community size — 56K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick hexo if
- You want the hexo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and hexo fits your workflow better
About gatsby
Gatsby The future of web development is here. Gatsby is a free and open source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps. It combines the control and scalability of dynamically rendered sites with the speed of static site generation, creating a whole new web of possibilities. Quickstart · Tutorial · Plugins · Starters · Showcase · Contribute Support: Discussions Gatsby helps professional developers efficiently create maintainable, highly performant, content rich websites. Load Data From Anywhere. Gatsby pulls in data from any data source, whether it’s Markdown files, a…
read the full gatsby overview →
About hexo
Hexo A fast, simple & powerful blog framework, powered by Node.js. Website Documentation Installation Guide Contribution Guide Code of Conduct API Twitter Features Blazing fast generating Support for GitHub Flavored Markdown and most Octopress plugins One command deploy to GitHub Pages, Heroku, etc. Powerful API for limitless extensibility Hundreds of themes & plugins Quick Start Install Hexo Install with brew on macOS and Linux: Setup your blog Start the server Create a new post Generate static files More Information Read the documentation Visit the Awesome Hexo list Find solutions in troubleshooting Join…
More in Content & Publishing
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Frequently asked questions
Is gatsby or hexo more popular?
gatsby has 55,921 GitHub stars and hexo has 41,782. gatsby has the larger community by that measure.
Are gatsby and hexo free?
Both are open source. gatsby is licensed under MIT and hexo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gatsby and hexo?
gatsby is written in JavaScript and hexo in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gatsby or hexo?
Choose gatsby if you want the larger community (55,921 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose hexo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.