What Happened to Eleventy (11ty)?

Eleventy, often abbreviated as 11ty, emerged in December 2017 as a static site generator (SSG) designed by Zach Leatherman. Inspired by Jekyll but built on the Node.js ecosystem, Eleventy quickly distinguished itself with a philosophy centered on simplicity, flexibility, and a "static-first" approach. It offered developers the freedom to use various templating languages like Markdown, Nunjucks, Liquid, and Handlebars, without imposing a rigid client-side JavaScript framework. This approach resonated with the growing JAMstack movement, emphasizing pre-built content for enhanced performance, security, and lower hosting costs.

The project experienced substantial growth, becoming a critical infrastructure for thousands of websites, including those for prominent organizations like NASA, CERN, W3C, Google, Microsoft, and freeCodeCamp. Its ability to produce clean HTML output and achieve excellent performance scores without unnecessary client-side JavaScript contributed to its widespread adoption. By 2025, Eleventy's core npm downloads saw a 51% year-over-year increase, reflecting its strong and active community.

However, like many successful open-source projects, Eleventy faced the inherent challenges of sustainable development and maintainer burnout. Zach Leatherman became a vocal advocate for sustainable open-source funding models, discussing the personal sacrifices and limited resources often associated with maintaining widely adopted, critical infrastructure. This struggle highlighted the need for a more robust financial framework beyond traditional donations or venture capital models that often prioritize rapid, unsustainable growth.

A significant turning point occurred in September 2024 when Eleventy was acquired by Font Awesome, with Zach Leatherman joining their team. This move was part of Font Awesome's broader strategy to create an "Awesomeverse" of interconnected open-source tools, following a similar successful transition with the Web Awesome project (formerly Shoelace). The acquisition aimed to provide Eleventy with dedicated resources and a sustainable path forward.

In March 2026, Eleventy officially rebranded as "Build Awesome," with Eleventy v4 becoming Build Awesome v4. This rebranding was accompanied by a Kickstarter campaign for "Build Awesome Pro," offering optional workflow tools and features for teams, while the core static site generator remains free and open source under the MIT License. The campaign, despite an initial false start due to email issues, quickly met its funding goal. Zach Leatherman has assured the community of full backward compatibility and continued obsessive attention to smooth major-version upgrades, aiming to keep the project viable for many more years.

As of April 12, 2026, Eleventy (now Build Awesome) continues to be actively developed, with version 3.1.5 released on March 18, 2026, and pre-release alpha versions of v4.0.0 (Build Awesome v4) also available. The transition has sparked mixed reactions within the community; some users express concerns about the corporate direction and the "Pro" features, while others view it as a necessary and positive step towards ensuring the project's long-term sustainability. The project's future is now firmly tied to the Font Awesome ecosystem, with a clear business model designed to support its open-source core through professional offerings.