Zola
Hacker ApprovedRanked 6 of 10 static site generators by recommenders
People recommend Zola as a simple, fast static site generator that installs as a single binary and is easy to pick up. Updates have sometimes broken sites.
People recommend Zola as a simple, fast static site generator that installs as a single binary and is easy to pick up. Updates have sometimes broken sites.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 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
Easy to set up and use
“I think they're both pretty simple to use once you wrap your mind around how they structure things”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Removing Next.js Got My Blog to 100 on Every Lighthouse Category” “easy to pick up and get running in an hour or so”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Removing Next.js Got My Blog to 100 on Every Lighthouse Category” “it's easy to install and fast”
Comment from 28 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: Is WordPress the best way to create new websites for beginner” Single binary, easy to install
“Zola is good enough for basic blogging needs. I liked the part that it was a single binary”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Removing Next.js Got My Blog to 100 on Every Lighthouse Category” “it's easy to install and fast”
Comment from 28 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: Is WordPress the best way to create new websites for beginner” Good enough for basic blogs
“Zola is good enough for basic blogging needs. I liked the part that it was a single binary”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Removing Next.js Got My Blog to 100 on Every Lighthouse Category” “Perfect for my little use case.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2026)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Updates have broken sites
“Zola updates broke my site a few times, quite apart from my patches not cleanly rebasing.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Jeffgeerling.com has been Migrated to Hugo”
Other static site generators people recommend
The four most recommended other static site generators, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astro | 174 | 36 | 83% | 13 | 2 yrs9 owners | Approved |
| Hugo static site generator | 85 | 40 | 68% | 12 | 3.5 yrs9 owners | Approved |
| Jekyll | 29 | 14 | 67% | 7 | 10 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Eleventy | 22 | 3 | 88% | 6 | 3 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| ZolaThis page | 15 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“just use a ssg like zola/hugo and call it a day”
“easy to pick up and get running in an hour or so”
“Zola is good enough for basic blogging needs. I liked the part that it was a single binary”
“I think they're both pretty simple to use once you wrap your mind around how they structure things”
“At least use Zola instead of Hugo”
“Perfect for my little use case.”
“it's easy to install and fast”
“I used Zola for my SSG and can't think of the last breaking change I've hit.”
“Zola updates broke my site a few times, quite apart from my patches not cleanly rebasing.”
“Have absolutely no regrets.”
“I love zola + gist. it works and I don't have to look at anything”
“I feel like I grok the configuration and templating options for Zola better than I do for Hugo.”
“For a greenfield site where Jekyll/Liquid compatibility is not beneficial, Zola may be an option”
“where you write Markdown files, run a command and run `rsync` to your host.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.