So, I use Hugo for this site. And I used 11ty for TLC for a long while before moving that to Hugo as well. I’m pretty good with Hugo but I will admit that they can be complicated to set up.

But in his response to the article that Jan wrote, Kev says this:

Yes, setting up a static site is definitely more involved than installing WordPress. I completely agree there.

This is just not right. It seems like it’s right, because you can go into your local cpanel and click “install WordPres” and BAM! You have WordPress, but it’s not really that simple. WordPress needs a ton of work behind the scene to make that one-click install work. LAMP stacks and Apache along with other things.

Now, I know that the ease of use is the only thing seen by those who face the hurdle of Hugo or Jekyll or 11ty. If you only compare the ease of install that your host provides vs the hardship of static site generators, of course you think one is easier than the other.

But, and Kevin knows this of course, all that “ease of use” comes at a cost of ownership and control. WordPress itself may be open source (though I don’t think the Automattic guys are great), but most of the tools that automate hosting services are not. That means you trust these one click installs to only install what they say they’re going to install. (I’m sure there are FOSS web panels, but there are also many proprietary ones as well).

This is the classic “it’s easier for me” problem. Google has been exploiting it for years. They provide a service that on its face makes your life better, but in exchange you’re selling your –soul– data to them in return for that service.

I’m not saying that WP can’t be the right choice for some people. It can be, but I think it’s very important for people to realize that Hugo et. al. are just as hard to setup as WordPress is, you just don’t see how the sausage is made with WordPress, and that comes at a cost. Even if you’re willing to pay that cost, you should still know what it is.

Also want to make it clear that I’m not disagreeing with Kevin’s or Jan’s posts here, I’m just adding in my two cents to take the conversation a bit futher.