Cecil is a free command-line PHP application for building static websites from Markdown content, media, and Twig templates. Content is kept in flat files with front matter, and themes can shape the site's design. Cecil can generate pagination, sitemaps, redirects, robots.txt, taxonomies, and RSS, along with Open Graph tags, Twitter cards, and structured data. It can create responsive WebP and AVIF images and compress them. Multilingual content and translated templates are supported, as is a local preview server. The generated site is static HTML; the maker says site visits do not require a database or server-side script execution. Installation is documented for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and PHP 8.2 or later is required. Deployment recipes cover services including Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, GitLab Pages, and Surge. Starter kits include a publishing blog, a Linktree alternative, a self-hosted photo stream, and a documentation site. Cecil is distributed under the EUPL-1.2 license.
Who it is for
Cecil suits creators who want static websites and prioritize performance while retaining design flexibility. It may also fit publishers or documentation authors who want Markdown content and themes.
What is good
- Free software distributed under the EUPL-1.2 license.
- Generates sitemaps, redirects, taxonomies, and RSS.
- Supports multilingual content and template translation.
- Can create and compress responsive WebP and AVIF images.
- Deployment recipes cover several hosting services.
What to know first
- Requires PHP 8.2 or later.
- Cloudflare Pages and Render no longer support PHP.
- Creating a site uses a command-line PHP application.
Verdict
Cecil offers a file-based approach to static site generation, with localization, image processing, and generated site metadata. Check the PHP requirement and deployment platform compatibility before choosing it.
Cecil plans and pricing
All plansCompared on static site generators
- Free plan
- Yes
- Content sources
- markdown
- Incremental builds
- Yes
- Multilingual support
- Yes
- Local preview server
- Yes
- Supported languages
- PHP
