Pug template engine
Shares rank 4 of 6 template engines by recommenders
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.
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.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
HTML-like syntax without closing tags
“It's essentially pure HTML but with no closing tags and with features to reduce repetition.”
Comment from 31 May 2026 in “The Website Specification” Features that reduce repetition
“It's essentially pure HTML but with no closing tags and with features to reduce repetition.”
Comment from 31 May 2026 in “The Website Specification” Less clutter in templates
“Pug for example is bringing far less clutter”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “You are not required to close your <p>, <li>, <img>, or <br> tags in HTML” Well regarded over the years
“I have always thought highly of Pug”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Marko – A declarative, HTML‑based language”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Odd syntax hard to share with HTML
“they were in JS-like and with an odd HTML syntax that made sharing between plain HTML and whichever language very hard”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Build Your Own React”
Other template engines people recommend
The four most recommended other template engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jinja | 14 | 7 | 67% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Templ | 9 | 3 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| ASP.NET Razor | 8 | 1 | 89% | 5 | — | — |
| Pug template engineThis page | 5 | 2 | 71% | 4 | — | — |
| Gsxui | 5 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's essentially pure HTML but with no closing tags and with features to reduce repetition.”
“Pug lets you turn any API or documentation into a high-quality CLI.”
“Pug for example is bringing far less clutter”
“The original site was on Railway and written in Pug!”
“they were in JS-like and with an odd HTML syntax that made sharing between plain HTML and whichever language very hard”
“I have always thought highly of Pug”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.