Static Generator

Two Years with Hexo: A Solid Static Generator, but Needs Serious Improvements

Hazem Abbas

Nov 19, 2024 — 7 min read

As a web developer who prioritizes open-source solutions, I have been using Hexo extensively for personal projects before considering it for larger, production-level use cases, including a horse riding blog.

I personally like it, as it is simple, fast, with markdown support, and easier workflow.

While Hexo is a battle-tested static site generator with a rich ecosystem of 400+ themes and plugins, it has notable flaws that prevent it from being production-ready for serious projects.

Hexo's Nightmare

Broken Admin Plugins

Hexo lacks a robust admin panel for managing content. Community plugins exist, but they are unreliable and prone to breaking.

The core development team should prioritize building an integrated local admin panel for editing content, including photos, to streamline workflow.

Theme Issues

I tested around 20 themes, and 14 of them were either incompatible with the latest Hexo version or completely broken.

While the ecosystem is vast, many themes are outdated and require updates or extensive customization to function properly.

Workflow Challenges

Using Hexo with a simple theme and no plugins worked smoothly, but managing assets like photos and videos required a tedious manual approach.

A more efficient workflow for handling these files would significantly improve the experience.

Lack of Professional Themes

Most themes in Hexo’s ecosystem feel unpolished and unsuitable for professional projects. They often require extensive customization for fonts, styles, and assets, which adds unnecessary complexity for developers working on high-quality projects.

Integration Limitations

While deploying Hexo on Vercel and Netlify was relatively straightforward for personal projects, the process isn’t optimized for team workflows. Improved Git, Vercel, and Netlify integration would make Hexo more attractive for collaborative projects.

Final call

Hexo is a good promising tool for static site generation, but its ecosystem and workflow need significant improvements to meet the demands of professional developers.

Until then, I can’t recommend it for serious production use.