head to head · open source
hexo vs bridgetown
hexo has 41,783 GitHub stars, 55 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. bridgetown has 1,377 stars, 133 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. hexo leads on adoption by 2,934% (41,783 vs 1,377 stars). hexo is written in TypeScript under MIT; bridgetown is written in Ruby under MIT. hexo has attracted 0% as many forks as stars, bridgetown 10%. 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
| hexo | bridgetown | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-10-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 55 | ⑂ 133 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick hexo if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bridgetown if
- You want the bridgetown feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and bridgetown fits your workflow better
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…
About bridgetown
Bridgetown Bridgetown is a next generation, progressive site generator & fullstack framework, powered by Ruby. Bridgetown takes your local content and external data loaded from APIs; renders templates in Markdown, ERB, and many other formats; automatically compiles frontend assets via esbuild; and exports a complete website ready to be served by fast CDNs like Render or traditional web servers. Bridgetown also integrates closely with Roda for fullstack, dynamic web application functionality—but only when and where you need it. Sponsor Bridgetown Development 🙏 Your direct financial assistance is greatly…
read the full bridgetown overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hexo or bridgetown more popular?
hexo has 41,783 GitHub stars and bridgetown has 1,377. hexo has the larger community by that measure.
Are hexo and bridgetown free?
Both are open source. hexo is licensed under MIT and bridgetown under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hexo and bridgetown?
hexo is written in TypeScript and bridgetown in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, hexo or bridgetown?
Choose hexo if you want the larger community (41,783 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose bridgetown if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.