Eleventy (11ty) is a Node.js static site generator that ships zero client-side JavaScript by default. No framework lock-in, no hydration costs — just build-time compilation with support for Nunjucks, Liquid, Markdown, and more. Eleventy v3 added ESM support and routinely produces perfect Lighthouse scores without optimization plugins.
The tradeoff: Eleventy has no default theme. You bring your own design, which makes good starter templates essential. We compiled 12 of the best free Eleventy themes in 2026, sorted by GitHub stars — covering blogs, CMS-powered sites, digital gardens, and documentation frameworks.
Category: Blog | CSS: Custom CSS | License: MIT | 11ty: v2.x (ARCHIVED)
The most starred Eleventy starter on GitHub, built by a Google engineer. Achieves a perfect 100/100 Lighthouse score through responsive image generation, inlined critical CSS, Content Security Policy headers, a service worker, and zero client-side JS in production. Now archived, but remains a gold-standard reference implementation.
Best for: Developers who want a masterclass in performance-first Eleventy development to fork and adapt.
Category: Blog | CSS: No framework | License: MIT | 11ty: v3.x
The official starter maintained by the Eleventy team. Includes AVIF/WebP image optimization, PrismJS syntax highlighting, RSS/Atom/JSON feeds, XML sitemap, tag organization, and draft support. Always the first template updated for new Eleventy releases.
Best for: Newcomers who want a minimal, actively maintained foundation they can layer any CSS framework onto.
Category: Blog/Multipurpose | CSS: CUBE CSS | License: Custom license | 11ty: v3.x
The batteries-included alternative to Base Blog. Ships with automatic dark/light mode, YouTube lite embeds, auto-generated Open Graph images, paginated archives, Mastodon verification, and a built-in styleguide page. Actively maintained by Lene Saile with updates as recent as January 2026.
Best for: Developers who want a feature-rich, polished Eleventy blog out of the box — check the custom license before commercial use.
If you’re exploring Tailwind CSS for your next project beyond Eleventy, take a look at our roundup of the best Tailwind admin dashboard templates covering React, Vue, and framework-agnostic options.
Category: Blog/CMS | CSS: No framework (2KB inline) | License: MIT | 11ty: v3.x
The go-to template for CMS-powered Eleventy sites. Integrates Decap CMS with editor previews, achieves 100/100/100/100 Lighthouse scores through 2KB of inlined CSS and zero client-side JS, and handles contact forms via Netlify Forms with Netlify Identity authentication.
Best for: Client or team sites where non-technical editors need a familiar CMS interface, deployed on Netlify.
Category: Multipurpose starter | CSS: Custom SCSS | License: MIT | 11ty: v0.12 (old)
Created by Max Boeck, this starter focuses on a solid build pipeline: PostCSS with autoprefixer/cssnano, PurgeCSS, Webpack for JS bundling, and SVG icon sprites. The clean SCSS canvas lets you build without fighting existing design opinions. Runs on v0.12, so dependency updates are needed for v3.x.
Best for: Developers who want a well-architected project structure and don’t mind updating tooling to current Eleventy versions.
Category: Digital garden | CSS: Custom CSS | License: MIT | 11ty: v1.x
The only digital garden template on this list. Supports double-bracket wiki-style links that automatically create connections between notes, generates backlinks, and includes hovercards previewing linked content on mouseover. Active with commits as recent as January 2026.
Best for: Writers, researchers, and developers who maintain a public notebook of interconnected ideas.
Category: Multipurpose | CSS: Tailwind CSS + Alpine.js | License: MIT | 11ty: v1.x
Bundles four tools into one opinionated stack: Netlify CMS (Decap), Eleventy, Alpine.js, and Tailwind CSS. One-click Netlify deploy, pre-configured CMS, and Alpine.js for lightweight interactivity. Well-documented and beginner-friendly.
Best for: Beginners and small business sites who want to learn Eleventy + Tailwind with CMS capabilities.
Looking for admin panel options in the Next.js ecosystem? Our guide to the best Next.js admin dashboard templates covers full-stack dashboards with authentication, RBAC, and database integration.
Category: Documentation | CSS: Tailwind CSS 2 + Alpine.js | License: MIT | 11ty: v0.11 (old)
Purpose-built for documentation with sidebar navigation, hierarchical page organization, and a clean reading layout. Optionally integrates Netlify CMS for non-technical contributors. Runs on v0.11 and Tailwind 2, so upgrading is needed, but the Markdown-to-docs architecture remains solid.
Best for: Teams who find Docusaurus too heavy and want a straightforward Eleventy-based documentation site.
Category: Personal blog | CSS: Custom CSS/PostCSS | License: MIT | 11ty: v2.x
The most visually striking theme on this list. Ships with a bold duotone color scheme that gives it immediate personality, plus SEO meta tags, RSS feeds, PrismJS syntax highlighting, paginated archives, and PurgeCSS for lean stylesheets.
Best for: Developers who want a personal blog with memorable visual identity without sacrificing performance.
Category: Blog | CSS: Tailwind CSS 2 | License: MIT | 11ty: v0.12 (old)
Goes all-in on SEO with Open Graph meta tags, Twitter Cards, and JSON-LD structured data markup — a feature most Eleventy starters skip entirely. Also includes PrismJS, lazy loading, Imagemin, minification, PurgeCSS, and Netlify CMS. Runs on v0.12/Tailwind 2 but the SEO architecture translates to newer versions.
Best for: Content-focused sites where organic search traffic is the priority and you want structured data baked in from day one.
For projects using the shadcn design system, our collection of best shadcn admin dashboard templates showcases polished admin panels built with Radix primitives and Tailwind CSS.
Category: Minimal starter | CSS: Tailwind CSS + Alpine.js + Vite | License: MIT | 11ty: v3.x
Strips the Eleventy starter concept to absolute essentials: Tailwind, Eleventy, and Alpine.js powered by Vite for instant hot module replacement. No CMS, no blog scaffold, no opinions. Running on v3.x with commits as recent as February 2026.
Best for: Experienced developers who just need modern Eleventy + Vite + Tailwind tooling wired up correctly.
Category: Blog/Multipurpose | CSS: SCSS + Every Layout | License: MIT | 11ty: v3.x
The Swiss Army knife of Eleventy starters. Tackles problems most templates ignore: auto-generated archive pages, responsive images from Markdown syntax, inlined critical CSS, full PWA support, and Webmentions for IndieWeb interactions. The most actively maintained template on this list with commits as recent as February 2026.
Best for: Developers who want a maximalist, battle-tested starter with PWA support, Webmentions, and automatic archive generation.
The Eleventy ecosystem rewards patience and intentionality. Every template on this list starts from zero client-side overhead and adds only what’s necessary. Whether you need a performance-obsessed blog, a CMS-powered business site, a digital garden, or a documentation framework, there’s an 11ty template here that fits. Bookmark this page; we’ll update it as new Eleventy themes emerge.
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