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Where do you build your portfolio as a programmer?

Published on: 2025-04-12 🗓️

In this article we’ll look at all the places where you can build your portfolio quickly and easily.

Whatever your developer profile (front-end web developer, back-end web developer, Game Developer, DevOps Engineer…) this article should provide you with at least one place where you can build a portfolio without any headaches.

Jekyll

One of the pioneers of static site generators, written in Ruby.

Website

Jekyll static website logo

Advantages

  • Speed: Generates static HTML files, making websites fast and lightweight;
  • Security: Static sites are less prone to hacking compared to dynamic sites like WordPress;
  • Integration with GitHub Pages: Seamlessly integrates with GitHub Pages for free hosting;
  • Ease of Use: Jekyll is straightforward to set up and ideal for both beginners and experienced developers;

Disadvantages

  • No Admin UI: Requires regeneration of the site for updates, which can be inconvenient for frequent content changes;
  • No Built-in Comments: Requires third-party services to add user interaction features like comments or contact forms;

Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Moderate for beginners but requires familiarity with Markdown and Liquid).
Languages Required: Markdown, Liquid, HTML, CSS.
Hosting Options: GitHub Pages, Netlify, AWS S3.

Gatsby

Based on React and GraphQL, it offers advanced features for creating modern, high-performance websites.

Website

Gatsby static website logo

Advantages

  • Performance: Pre-rendered static assets and CDN integration ensure fast page load times;
  • Modern Features: Offers plugins like Gatsby Image for responsive images and high performance scores;
  • Flexibility: Built on React and GraphQL, allowing developers to create highly customizable websites;

Disadvantages

  • Plugin Dependency: Adding new features often requires manual plugin installation and configuration;
  • Complexity for Beginners: Requires knowledge of React and GraphQL, which may be challenging for newcomers;

Difficulty Level: 4/5 (Requires intermediate knowledge of React and GraphQL).
Languages Required: JavaScript (React), GraphQL, HTML, CSS.
Hosting Options: Netlify, Vercel, AWS Amplify.

Eleventy (11ty)

Simple, flexible generator written in JavaScript.

Website

Eleventy static website logo

Advantages

  • No Framework Dependency: Does not require JavaScript frameworks like React or Vue;
  • Simplicity: Zero-config platform with fast build times and beginner-friendly setup;
  • Flexibility in Templating Languages: Supports multiple languages like HTML, Markdown, Liquid, Nunjucks, etc;

Disadvantages

  • Limited Ecosystem Compared to Larger SSGs: Smaller plugin ecosystem compared to Gatsby or Jekyll;
  • Manual Configuration Needed for Advanced Features: Requires custom setups for complex functionalities;

Difficulty Level: 2/5 (Beginner-friendly with flexible language options).
Languages Required: HTML, Markdown, JavaScript (optional), Liquid.
Hosting Options: Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages.

Astro

More recent, it allows you to use several front-end frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte) while producing highly optimised sites.

Website

Astro static website logo

Advantages

  • Performance: Generates fast-loading static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files with minimal JavaScript by default;
  • Flexibility: Framework-agnostic; supports React, Vue, Svelte, and others. Allows mixing frameworks in one project;
  • SEO-Friendly: Static sites are easy to crawl and index by search engines;
  • Developer-Friendly: Component-based structure simplifies code management. Familiar syntax for developers experienced in React, Vue, or Svelte;
  • Hybrid Rendering: Supports both static site generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR), offering flexibility for dynamic content needs;

Disadvantages

  • Limited Ecosystem: As a relatively new tool, its ecosystem is smaller compared to older frameworks like Next.js or Nuxt.js;
  • JavaScript Dependency: Although lightweight, some developers may prefer tools with zero dependency on JavaScript for static sites;
  • Learning Curve: While approachable, it requires familiarity with modern JavaScript frameworks and concepts like component-based architecture;

Difficulty Level: 2/5. Languages Used: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Markdown. Hosting Options: Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, Azure Static Web Apps.

Next.js

Although it is primarily a React framework, it also offers a very powerful static generation mode.

Website

Next.js static website logo

Advantages

  • React-Based: Built on React, which is widely used and has a large community and ecosystem;
  • Future-Proof: Ideal for scaling projects with additional features like blogs or affiliate menus;
  • Performance Optimization: Automatic code splitting and optimized builds ensure fast loading times;
  • Versatility: Supports both static site generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR), making it suitable for dynamic portfolios;

Disadvantages

  • Overkill for Simple Sites: Might be unnecessarily heavy for simple portfolios compared to lighter frameworks like Astro or Gridsome;
  • Complexity: More advanced than simpler static site generators. Requires knowledge of React and Next.js-specific features like routing and API handling;

Difficulty Level: 3/5. Languages Used: JavaScript (React), HTML, CSS. Hosting Options: Vercel (native hosting), Netlify, GitHub Pages.

Nuxt.js

The equivalent of Next.js for Vue.js.

Website

Nuxt.js static website logo

Advantages

  • Vue-Based: Built on Vue.js, offering simplicity and flexibility in development;
  • Full Stack Capabilities: Supports SSG, SSR, and even hybrid rendering for complex projects;
  • SEO Optimization: Automatically handles meta tags and structured data for better search engine visibility;
  • Modular Architecture: Provides a rich ecosystem of modules for features like authentication or analytics;

Disadvantages

  • Learning Curve: Requires familiarity with Vue.js and Nuxt-specific conventions;
  • Build Times: Can be slower compared to simpler static site generators depending on project complexity;

Difficulty Level: 3/5. Languages Used: JavaScript (Vue), HTML, CSS. Hosting Options: Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages.

Gridsome

A generator based on Vue.js and GraphQL, similar to Gatsby but for the Vue ecosystem.

Website

Gridsome static website logo

Advantages

  • Vue-Based Static Site Generator: Easy to use for Vue developers;
  • SEO-Friendly: Generates pre-rendered HTML pages that are easy to crawl;
  • GraphQL Integration: Simplifies data fetching from APIs or CMS systems;
  • Fast Builds: Optimized for creating lightweight websites with excellent performance;

Disadvantages

  • GraphQL Dependency: Requires learning GraphQL if unfamiliar;
  • Limited Ecosystem: Smaller community compared to Next.js or Nuxt.js;

Difficulty Level: 2/5. Languages Used: JavaScript (Vue), HTML, CSS. Hosting Options: Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages.

Pelican

An alternative written in Python that is popular with Python developers.

Website

Pelican static website logo

Advantages

  • Extremely fast due to Rust’s performance;
  • SEO friendly: Fast static site generation;
  • Flexibility: Strong multi-language support;
  • Plugins: Plugin system allows for custom extensions;
  • Markdown: Supports Markdown and reStructuredText for content writing;
  • Learning Ecosystem: Python-based, making it a great choice for Python developers;

Disadvantages

  • Smaller community compared to Hugo or Hexo;
  • Not as many ready-made themes as other SSGs;
  • Configuration and theme development require Python knowledge;

Difficulty Level: 3/5. Languages Used: Markdown, reStructuredText, Jinja2 (Python for customization). Hosting Options: GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, AWS S3.

Zola

Written in Rust, with a focus on simplicity and performance, similar to Hugo.

Website

Advantages

  • Extremely fast due to Rust’s performance;
  • Supports taxonomies (tags, categories) natively;
  • Simple installation (single binary, no dependencies);
  • Good theme support and flexible templating with Tera;

Disadvantages

  • Less documentation compared to more popular alternatives;
  • Smaller ecosystem and fewer themes/plugins than Hugo or Hexo;
  • Rust-based, which may not be familiar to most web developers;

Difficulty Level: 2/5. Languages Used: Markdown, Tera Templates (Rust-based). Hosting Options: GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Vercel.

ScouttIt

A portfolio builder specifically for developers who don’t want to build a portfolio from scratch.

Website

ScouttIt portfolio builder for developer logo

Advantages

  • Responsive;
  • No need to learn HTML, CSS, JS;
  • Plain text, no Markdown or programming language;
  • Focuses on building a developer portfolio that non-techies can read;

Disadvantages

  • Constraints on the design;
  • Not SEO-friendly (but not relevant for a portfolio);
  • Although lightweight, some developers may prefer tools with zero dependency on JavaScript for static sites;

Difficulty Level: 1/5. Languages Used: Flutter based but the developer use only plain text. Hosting Options: The solution handle the hosting.

Hexo

A fast and simple generator based on Node.js, popular in the JavaScript community.

Website

Hexo static website logo

Advantages

  • Large theme ecosystem;
  • Active community and good documentation;
  • Built with Node.js, making it great for JavaScript developers;
  • Supports Markdown, multi-language support, and easy deployment;

Disadvantages

  • Less flexible for non-blog use cases;
  • Can be slow for large sites compared to Hugo;
  • Heavier than other static site generators due to Node.js dependencies;

Difficulty Level: 3/5. Languages Used: Markdown, JavaScript, EJS/Pug for templating
Hosting Options: GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages

Hugo

Website

Hugo static website logo

Advantages

  • Large number of themes and plugins;
  • Built-in shortcodes for reusable content;
  • One of the fastest static site generators;
  • No external dependencies—just a single binary;

Disadvantages

  • Some themes are outdated or lack documentation;
  • Go-based templating can be complex for beginners;
  • Less flexible for dynamic content compared to JavaScript-based alternatives;

Difficulty Level: 2/5. Languages Used: Markdown, Go Templates Hosting Options: GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, Vercel