The End of Eleventy

What happened

Font Awesome's team launched a Kickstarter for a new product called Build Awesome and Build Awesome Pro, aiming to raise $40,000 USD — and it hit that mark in a single day. It has been reported that Build Awesome is effectively a rebrand of 11ty/Eleventy, a beloved static-site generator created by Zach Leatherman. Leatherman moved 11ty to Font Awesome in 2024, and the new pitch positions Build Awesome as an all-in-one successor to the project many developers know and rely on.

Why developers are uneasy

Eleventy built a reputation for being light, flexible, and non-prescriptive: mix templating engines, avoid being a JavaScript framework, ship static sites fast. Big changes feel personal when your personal site, docs, or organization’s web presence depends on a tool. So when fans hear "rebrand" and "Kickstarter," alarm bells ring. How do you monetize a community tool without fracturing it? Good question. The emotional core here is loss — not just of code, but of an open, low-friction approach that many consider part of the web’s quiet backbone.

What's next

It has been reported that the Kickstarter was cancelled and rescheduled for a few months out after email-delivery problems, which organizers said hurt the project's momentum despite the quick initial fundraising. Expect a tense few months: community discussion, forks, and careful eyes on governance and roadmap. Will Build Awesome become a gentle evolution or the end of an era? Time — and the 11ty community — will decide.

Sources: brennan.day, Hacker News