Chirpy vs Minimal Mistakes
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A free Jekyll theme for building a technical blog or documentation-style site.
Open source · MIT
A two-column Jekyll theme for personal sites, blogs, docs, and portfolios.
The short answer
Choose Chirpy if you need…
- Developers who want a technical blog without designing a site from scratch
- Writers who need code highlighting, math expressions, or Mermaid diagrams in posts
- People already comfortable with Jekyll or Ruby tooling
- Teams who want a site hosted for free on static hosting
Choose Minimal Mistakes if you need…
- People who want a personal site or blog built with Jekyll
- Anyone publishing on GitHub Pages, which the README lists as compatible
- Developers who want to customize a theme with Jekyll's Sass/SCSS support
- Project documentation sites that need search and navigation options
Side-by-side
| Chirpy | Minimal Mistakes | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 10.3k | 13.6k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | See the README |
| Main language | HTML | HTML |
| Last code update | 56 days ago | 28 days ago |
What each one is
Chirpy
Chirpy is a template (theme) for Jekyll, a tool that turns text files into a static website. It gives you a ready-made layout for a blog focused on technical writing, with features such as dark and light modes, syntax highlighting, math and diagram support, search, and a table of contents. You write posts in Markdown and the theme handles the look and layout.
Minimal Mistakes
Minimal Mistakes is a Jekyll theme, a set of templates and styles that turns plain text files into a website. It has a two-column layout and is meant to be customized, so its styling is kept deliberately simple. People use it for personal sites, blogs, project documentation, and portfolios.
Best for
Chirpy
- Developers who want a technical blog without designing a site from scratch
- Writers who need code highlighting, math expressions, or Mermaid diagrams in posts
- People already comfortable with Jekyll or Ruby tooling
- Teams who want a site hosted for free on static hosting
Minimal Mistakes
- People who want a personal site or blog built with Jekyll
- Anyone publishing on GitHub Pages, which the README lists as compatible
- Developers who want to customize a theme with Jekyll's Sass/SCSS support
- Project documentation sites that need search and navigation options
Strengths
Chirpy
- Feature-rich for technical writing, covering code, math, diagrams, and search in one theme
- Responsive layout with dark and light modes and optional PWA support
- Permissive MIT license and an active project with a published gem and a live demo
Minimal Mistakes
- Flexible two-column layout that is meant to be customized
- Compatible with GitHub Pages and distributed as a theme gem for easier installation and upgrades
- Released under the MIT license
Not ideal for
Chirpy
- People who want a visual site builder with no code: the README points to a wiki and Jekyll setup, which assumes some technical comfort
- Anyone needing a dynamic app with user accounts or databases, since Jekyll produces static pages
- Readers looking for a general-purpose website template beyond technical writing
Minimal Mistakes
- People who do not want to work with Jekyll or Ruby-based tooling, since setup and customization assume that toolchain
- Users who need a site builder with no code or configuration, because the README describes a theme to be customized rather than a finished product
Trade-offs
Chirpy
- Setup and upgrades are documented in an external wiki, so the README alone gives limited guidance
- Requires Jekyll and Ruby knowledge to customize, which may be a hurdle for non-developers
- Feature list is taken from the README; specific comment systems and analytics providers are not named here
Minimal Mistakes
- Requires the jekyll-include-cache plugin in the Gemfile and in the plugins list of _config.yml, or the build fails with an 'Unknown tag' error
- Assumes familiarity with Jekyll; the README does not walk a beginner through a full setup
Getting started
Chirpy
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cotes2020/jekyll-theme-chirpy.gitMinimal Mistakes
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/mmistakes/minimal-mistakes.gitFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Chirpy and Minimal Mistakes?
Chirpy: A free Jekyll theme for building a technical blog or documentation-style site. Minimal Mistakes: A two-column Jekyll theme for personal sites, blogs, docs, and portfolios. Chirpy suits developers who want a technical blog without designing a site from scratch, while Minimal Mistakes suits people who want a personal site or blog built with jekyll.
Are Chirpy and Minimal Mistakes free?
Chirpy: Free and open source. Minimal Mistakes: Free and open source.
Is Chirpy or Minimal Mistakes more popular?
Minimal Mistakes has more GitHub stars (13.6k) than Chirpy (10.3k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Chirpy and Minimal Mistakes?
Other options people compare them with include Docusaurus, Tabler, PaperMod.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.