head to head · open source
hugo vs hexo
hugo has 90,326 GitHub stars, 8,447 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hexo has 41,782 stars, 55 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. hugo leads on adoption by 116% (90,326 vs 41,782 stars). hugo is written in Go under Apache-2.0; hexo is written in TypeScript under MIT. hugo has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, hexo 0%. hugo 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
| hugo | hexo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 42K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.4K | ⑂ 55 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick hugo if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 hugo
[Clang]: [GCC]: [Git]: [Go]: [bep]: [bugs]: [contributing]: CONTRIBUTING.md [create a proposal]: [dart sass]: [details]: [documentation repository]: [documentation]: [dragonfly bsd, freebsd, netbsd, and openbsd]: [features]: [forum]: [friends]: [hugo modules]: [installation]: [issue queue]: [linux]: [macos]: [prebuilt binary]: [requesting help]: [spf13]: [static site generator]: [support]: [themes]: [transpile sass to css]: [website]: [windows]: A fast and flexible static site generator built with love by [bep][], [spf13][], and [friends][] in Go. [Website][] [Installation][] [Documentation][] [Support][]…
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…
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Frequently asked questions
Is hugo or hexo more popular?
hugo has 90,326 GitHub stars and hexo has 41,782. hugo has the larger community by that measure.
Are hugo and hexo free?
Both are open source. hugo is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hexo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hugo and hexo?
hugo is written in Go 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, hugo or hexo?
Choose hugo if you want the larger community (90,326 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hexo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.