# Pug template engine

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Pug template engine and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Developers like Pug for HTML-like templates without closing tags and with features that cut repetition. The main caveat is its non-HTML syntax makes sharing templates with plain HTML hard.

## Why people recommend it

- HTML-like syntax without closing tags (1 comments): "It's essentially pure HTML but with no closing tags and with features to reduce repetition." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48349435))
- Features that reduce repetition (1 comments): "It's essentially pure HTML but with no closing tags and with features to reduce repetition." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48349435))
- Less clutter in templates (1 comments): "Pug for example is bringing far less clutter" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576989))
- Well regarded over the years (1 comments): "I have always thought highly of Pug" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865597))

## What people warn about

- Odd syntax hard to share with HTML (1 comments): "they were in JS-like and with an odd HTML syntax that made sharing between plain HTML and whichever language very hard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46337029))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Jinja](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jinja.md): 14 recommend
- [Templ](https://hackerapproved.com/p/templ.md): 9 recommend
- [ASP.NET Razor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/razor.md): 8 recommend
- [Gsxui](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gsxui.md): 5 recommend
- [Liquid templating language](https://hackerapproved.com/p/liquid-templating-language.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Pug template engine", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pug/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).