Cecil vs Nitro
Cecil
cecil.appNitro
nitro.shSide by side
| Figure | Cecil | Nitro |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Static site generators | 8.8 (#3) | 7.7 (#19) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Incremental builds | Yes | Yes |
| Intended users | Cecil is designed for creators who prioritize website performance while retaining design flexibility. | Nitro is aimed at Python developers who want to build websites in Python end to end. |
| Local preview server | Yes | Yes |
| Product | Cecil is a command-line PHP application that combines Markdown pages, media, and Twig templates to generate static websites. | Nitro is a suite of Python tools for building static websites, with pages written as Python functions. |
| Security | The maker says generated static HTML has no database or server-side script execution during visits, avoiding vulnerabilities related to dynamic PHP on the final site. | Nitro DataStore says it includes path traversal protection and file size limits. |
| Supported languages | PHP | Python |
Plans
In their own words
Cecil
Cecil is a free command-line PHP application that generates static websites from Markdown pages, media, and Twig templates. It stores content in Markdown files with front matter and supports themes for changing site design. The generator can create pagination, sitemaps, redirects, robots.txt, taxonomies, RSS, and SEO metadata such as Open Graph tags, Twitter cards, and structured data. It can also produce responsive WebP and AVIF images and compress them. Multilingual content and template translation are supported, as is a local preview server. Cecil generates static HTML; its maker says site visits do not require a database or server-side script execution. Installation is documented for macOS, Windows, and Linux, but PHP 8.2 or later is required. Deployment recipes cover services including Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, and GitLab Pages. The project is distributed under the EUPL-1.2 license and maintained by Arnaud Ligny. Cecil is free software at free, with no cost or usage limits stated.