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Flat-file software reads content from files in the project, often Markdown with frontmatter, and turns them into pages at build time or on request. Content can live in the same Git repository as the code, so changes are reviewed, versioned and deployed together, and hosting needs no database. Concurrent editing by many people and large volumes of structured data are where teams often add a database. A record holds this value when its documentation describes files on disk as a content source.

29 projects store content in flat files, listed alphabetically. Mostly site and docs generators, content management systems and Headless CMSs, of 6 categories in all. 170 records do not record this field, and cannot appear here either way. For 374 the question does not apply. Counts only projects with momentum; the full list has the rest.

A

  • Astro

    Web framework for content-driven websites that prerenders pages to static HTML and can render routes on demand.

B

  • Bagatto

    Static site generator in which each site is a Janet program that declares its data and its output files.

  • BSSG

    Static site generator written in Bash that builds a website from Markdown posts and pages.

D

  • Docusaurus

    React-based static site generator for documentation websites and blogs written in Markdown and MDX.

E

  • Eleventy

    Static site generator that transforms a directory of templates in various languages into HTML.

F

  • Faircamp

    Static site generator that builds a website from a folder of audio files, for audio producers.

G

  • Grav

    Flat-file PHP content management system that stores pages as Markdown and YAML files without a database.

H

  • HastySite

    Static site generator written in Nim that builds a site from Markdown contents and Mustache templates.

  • Heckle

    Minimal Jekyll clone for Node.js that builds a site from Jekyll-style folders with Mold templates.

  • Hugo

    Static site generator written in Go that builds websites from Markdown content and Go templates.

J

  • Jekyll

    Ruby static site generator that turns plain text, Markdown and Liquid templates into websites and blogs.

K

  • Kart

    Python static site generator that uses Jinja2 templates and Markdown, with blog and tag index support.

  • Keystatic

    Content management tool that edits Markdown, YAML and JSON files in a codebase, through the local file system or GitHub.

M

  • Makko

    Markdown-based static site generator for blogs and websites, written in Zig.

  • Material for MkDocs

    Documentation framework on top of MkDocs that builds static documentation sites from Markdown.

N

  • Nift

    Dependency-aware command-line build tool and template language that generates websites from HTML, content and data files.

  • Node-RED

    Browser-based flow editor and Node.js runtime for building event-driven applications that connect devices, services and data.

  • Nuxt Content

    File-based content module for Nuxt that queries Markdown, YAML, CSV and JSON files from a Vue application.

P

  • Pushword

    Symfony-based content management system for websites, with Markdown or database content and an optional static export.

R

  • Rspress

    Static site generator built on Rsbuild that turns Markdown and MDX files into documentation websites.

S

  • Slidev

    Markdown-based slides maker and presenter that builds slide decks as web pages with Vue and Vite.

  • Starlight

    Documentation theme and integration for the Astro framework that builds documentation websites from Markdown, Markdoc and MDX.

  • Statamic

    Laravel-based content management system that stores content in flat files or a database, with a control panel and optional static site generation.

T

  • Tome

    Drupal module that generates static HTML from a Drupal site and keeps its content as files.

V

  • Velite

    Content layer library that turns Markdown, MDX, YAML and JSON files into typed data for a JavaScript or TypeScript application.

  • VitePress

    Static site generator built on Vite and Vue that turns Markdown content into content-centric websites.

  • Vocs

    Documentation framework that builds Markdown and MDX sources into docs sites, powered by Vite.

Z

  • Zola

    Static site generator distributed as a single binary, with the Tera template engine, Sass compilation and search built in.

  • zs

    Static site generator written in Go that builds Markdown and HTML files into a site, with plugins, hooks and routes.

Which of these is best?

We can't tell from here. What suits an editor-heavy marketing site can be wrong for a static documentation site. The list is alphabetical and nobody paid for a place on it.