Organizations behind projects such as Kubernetes, Bootstrap, Git, Redis, DigitalOcean, and Grafana use Hugo to power their websites and documentation.
One of the biggest reasons engineering teams migrate to Hugo is its speed. As the saying goes: “If your site makes $100,000/day, a 1-second improvement in page speed brings $7,000 in additional daily revenue.”
However, speed is only part of the story. Below are some of the other reasons engineering teams choose Hugo.
Security
As the Kubernetes team noted during their migration:
“I asked our Head of Development whether we could migrate from our custom WordPress fork and Ghost to Hugo. He immediately gave me a thumbs-up, saying that his team also preferred not to maintain someone else’s database.”
— Kubernetes Team
The advantage is simple: Hugo generates static HTML files. There is no application server, database, or CMS to maintain, patch, or monitor. This dramatically reduces the attack surface while lowering maintenance costs, making Hugo an attractive choice for security-conscious engineering teams.
Modular Architecture
As the 1Password team explained:
“Static front-end sites can easily connect with any back-end service, API, or static data, allowing us to use the same infrastructure we use for our products.”
— 1Password Engineering Team
Because Hugo generates a static frontend, it integrates easily with virtually any backend service or API. Each component can be replaced or upgraded independently without redesigning the entire system.
According to the team, this approach made their website more portable, maintainable, and flexible than a traditional CMS such as WordPress.
A Brief History.
Hugo was created in 2013 by Norwegian developer Bjørn Erik Pedersen. Later, Steve Francia became the project’s lead maintainer, helping transform Hugo into one of the world’s most widely used static site generators.
Today, Hugo powers thousands of websites for organizations of all sizes including this site as well.
References
- Kubernetes — https://kubernetes.io/community/
- Small Multiples — https://smallmultiples.com.au/articles/introducing-the-new-small-multiples-website/
- Why Hugo? — Erdos R., https://moonbooth.com/hugo/why/
- Gopher image — French R., https://reneefrench.blogspot.com/ (CC BY 3.0)