shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Jekyll?

Transform your plain text into static websites and blogs - jekyllrb.com

Worth it. Buy if you're a developer or Git-comfortable writer who wants a free, fast, blog-aware static site — especially hosted on GitHub Pages. Skip it if you need a visual CMS, dynamic features, or want to avoid maintaining a Ruby toolchain.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~30 public sources; most are academic citations, few direct user reviews, so user-sentiment coverage is thin.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Open source

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Developer and personal blogs
  • Project or org docs sites
  • GitHub Pages hosting
  • Academic and research sites

Not for

  • Non-technical teams wanting an admin UI or visual CMS
  • Anyone needing logins, databases, or dynamic server features
  • Teams unwilling to install and maintain Ruby
  • Buyers wanting vendor support or SLAs

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Guess: Effectively free, but GitHub Pages builds restrict unsupported plugins — advanced setups may need self-hosting.

medium

Security fixes ship as patch releases of supported minors — updating your build is your job.

medium

Guess: Migration to Hugo or Eleventy means rewriting templates and converting content — real lock-in.

low

Ruby version requirements shift between releases; your build environment needs ongoing maintenance.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and open source — no license fees ever
  • Blog-aware out of the box: posts and categorization built in
  • Extensive community-maintained theme system
  • Static HTML output, no database — fewer things to secure
  • Free hosting path through GitHub Pages integration

Cons

  • Requires Ruby 2.4+ and RubyGems — real setup friction
  • Content is plain text files — no admin UI for editors
  • Past arbitrary code injection vulnerability in the gem (2017)
  • Researchers demonstrate static site generators can still be exploited

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 12 sources - No database to attack; one 2017 arbitrary-code-injection issue in the build gem; project publishes patch releases under a security policy.

official x2review x6security x3news x1
  • Arbitrary Code Injection in jekyll, Snyk-listed code injection vulnerability in the Jekyll gem, disclosed July 5, 2017.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free, open source, free GitHub Pages hosting
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Praised for simplicity, but Ruby setup required
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Posts, categorization, themes, plugin ecosystem
  • Support quality: 2/5. Community support only; no vendor
  • Security posture: 4/5. No database attack surface; one old gem vuln
  • $0 Starting price Open source, no license fees
  • Yes Free tier Free hosting via GitHub Pages
  • 1 Known vulnerabilities 2017 code injection, listed by Snyk
  • Tom Preston-Werner Creator Ruby-based, per Wikipedia

Pricing

Open source

$0

  • Full generator, all features
  • Free builds and hosting via GitHub Pages
  • Community themes and plugins

Security

No database to attack; one 2017 arbitrary-code-injection issue in the build gem; project publishes patch releases under a security policy.

  • Arbitrary Code Injection in jekyllSnyk-listed code injection vulnerability in the Jekyll gem, disclosed July 5, 2017.⁴

Alternatives

Compare Jekyll with each alternative.

  • WordPress

    Choose if you need an admin UI and plugins instead

Full analysis

Based on ~30 public sources; most are academic citations, few direct user reviews, so user-sentiment coverage is thin.

Free, open-source static site generator: great for dev blogs and docs on GitHub Pages; wrong pick if you want a CMS or dynamic features.

Methodology

Based on ~30 public sources; most are academic citations, few direct user reviews, so user-sentiment coverage is thin.

Sources

  1. Jekyll official sitejekyllrb.com
    official
  2. Jekyll on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. Jekyll security policyjekyllrb.com
    security
  4. Arbitrary Code Injection in jekyll — Snyksecurity.snyk.io
    security
  5. Exploiting Static Site Generators — Assetnoteassetnote.io
    security
  6. Gatsby, Docusaurus, Jekyll, and Hugo — System Design Schoolsystemdesignschool.io
    review
  7. The Best Static Blog Generator: Middleman vs Jekyll — SitePointsitepoint.com
    review
  8. Jekyll Tool Review — Scriptedscripted.com
    review
  9. Building a static website with Jekyll and GitHub Pages — Programming Historianprogramminghistorian.org
    review
  10. Jekyll (software) — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  11. Jekyll + Netlify + GitHub rebuild notesacotie.me
    review
  12. A Review of Some of the Most Popular Static Site Generatorsblog.devgenius.io
    review

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