# Hugo vs MkDocs

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Hugo

| Attribute | Hugo | MkDocs |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 60.7 (49% (low)) | 55 (68% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 39 | 0 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 210 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 89,554 | 22,380 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 3,992,344 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source static site generator that renders content to HTML files using templates, supporting multiple content formats, multilingual projects, and comprehensive asset pipelines for CSS, JavaScript, and images. | A documentation platform that converts Markdown files into static HTML websites. It offers built-in themes, plugin support for extensions, and YAML-based configuration for easy customization. |
| features.capabilities | `{"i18n":true,"kind":"static_generator","engine":"Go","git_sync":true,"authoring":"markdown","themeable":true,"versioning":true,"api_reference":true,"self_hostable":true,"hosted_offering":false}` | `{"i18n":true,"kind":"static_generator","engine":"Python","authoring":"markdown","themeable":true,"api_reference":true,"self_hostable":true,"hosted_offering":false}` |
| integrations.count | 6 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"PostCSS"},{"name":"Tailwind CSS"},{"name":"Dart Sass"},{"name":"Chroma"},{"name":"esbuild"},{"name":"LibSass"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Go | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free and open source under Apache 2.0 License","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://gohugo.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T09:23:05.179Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://www.mkdocs.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T15:21:13.062Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | 77 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.165.0","date":"2026-08-12T15:39:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.165.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.164.0","date":"2026-07-06T17:48:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.164.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.3","date":"2026-06-18T16:41:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.2","date":"2026-06-15T15:27:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.1","date":"2026-06-11T17:19:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.163.0","date":"2026-06-08T14:36:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.163.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.162.1","date":"2026-05-28T18:06:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.162.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.162.0","date":"2026-05-26T14:16:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.162.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.161.1","date":"2026-04-29T14:38:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.161.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.161.0","date":"2026-04-28T13:55:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.161.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.160.1","date":"2026-04-08T14:23:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.160.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.160.0","date":"2026-04-04T14:17:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.160.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.159.2","date":"2026-04-01T14:42:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.159.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.159.1","date":"2026-03-26T10:18:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.159.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.159.0","date":"2026-03-23T18:36:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.159.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.158.0","date":"2026-03-16T18:07:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.158.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.157.0","date":"2026-02-25T17:00:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.157.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.156.0","date":"2026-02-18T17:21:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.156.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.155.3","date":"2026-02-08T17:06:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.155.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases/tag/v0.155.2","date":"2026-02-02T10:41:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.155.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.6.1","date":"2024-08-30T12:23:09Z","type":"stable","version":"1.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.6.0","date":"2024-04-20T17:55:01Z","type":"stable","version":"1.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.3","date":"2023-09-18T21:27:59Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.2","date":"2023-08-02T14:54:19Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.1","date":"2023-07-27T22:44:51Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.5.0","date":"2023-07-26T20:39:53Z","type":"stable","version":"1.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.3","date":"2023-05-02T21:19:16Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.2","date":"2022-11-01T18:34:14Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.1","date":"2022-10-15T19:19:40Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.4.0","date":"2022-09-27T17:38:06Z","type":"stable","version":"1.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.3.1","date":"2022-07-19T07:28:26Z","type":"stable","version":"1.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.3.0","date":"2022-03-26T19:55:09Z","type":"stable","version":"1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.2.4","date":"2022-03-26T19:39:40Z","type":"stable","version":"1.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.2.3","date":"2021-10-12T21:59:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs/releases/tag/1.2.2","date":"2021-07-18T19:32:00Z","type":"stable","version":"1.2.2"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 5.6 | 4.1 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":11,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fgohugoio%2Fhugo&per_page=100","last_12m":8,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | - |

## Capabilities (Documentation Tools)

| Capability | Hugo | MkDocs |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool kind | Static-site generator | Static-site generator |
| Engine / language | Go | Python |
| **Authoring** |  |  |
| Authoring format | Markdown | Markdown |
| **API docs** |  |  |
| API reference from OpenAPI / code | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Content** |  |  |
| Multi-version docs | ✓ | - |
| Internationalisation | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Discovery** |  |  |
| Search | - | - |
| **Design** |  |  |
| Theming / custom design | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Workflow** |  |  |
| Edit-in-Git / WYSIWYG round-trip | ✓ | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | ✓ |
| Official managed host | ✗ | ✗ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Built-in usage analytics | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:44:55.821Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*