Jekyll Alternative

Blog Without Jekyll
No Ruby, No Terminal,
No Build Errors

Jekyll requires Ruby, Bundler, and a terminal. One bad gem version and your entire build breaks. Thooval gives you the same GitHub Pages output from a native macOS app, in 2 steps, no terminal ever.

Download Free View Source

macOS 12+ · Free and open source · No subscriptions

The workflow difference

Jekyll takes 7 steps.
Thooval takes 2.

Every single time you want to publish a post on Jekyll, you repeat this loop. With Thooval, it's write and click.

With Jekyll

1 Write your post in a text editor

↓

2 Run bundle exec jekyll serve

↓

3 Fix the Ruby/Liquid error

↓

4 Run jekyll build

↓

5 git add . and git commit

↓

6 git push origin main

↓

7 Wait for GitHub Actions to deploy

With Thooval

Write your post in the live editor

↓

Click Publish Blog is live ✓

That's it. Really.

Feature Comparison

Jekyll vs. Thooval Side by Side

Feature	Jekyll	Thooval
Setup time	30–90 min (Ruby, Bundler, gems)	Under 5 minutes
Terminal required	Yes every single publish	Never
Ruby dependency	Yes version conflicts common	None
CI/CD pipelines	GitHub Actions config required	Zero Thooval pushes HTML directly
Editor experience	Raw Markdown in a text editor	Live WYSIWYG bold is bold as you type
Cost	Free (but your time isn't)	Free and open source
Hosting	GitHub Pages (free)	GitHub Pages (free)
Local drafts	Yes .md files	Yes .md files on your Mac
Giscus comments	Manual plugin setup	Built-in, one settings toggle
Build errors	Frequent Liquid/Ruby version issues	Impossible no build system

The real cost of Jekyll

What nobody tells you about
setting up Jekyll

💎

Ruby version hell

Jekyll requires a specific Ruby version. Your macOS comes with a different one. Add rbenv or rvm just to manage Ruby versions for a blog. Then a gem update breaks everything.

🔧

Bundler conflicts

Bundler locks gem versions in a Gemfile.lock. A GitHub Actions update changes the Jekyll version. Your local build and remote build now disagree. Debugging begins.

⚙️

CI pipeline maintenance

Every Jekyll + GitHub Pages blog needs a .github/workflows/ YAML file. That file needs maintenance. When GitHub changes Actions versions, your deploy breaks silently.

📝

Raw Markdown with no preview

Jekyll forces you to write in raw Markdown and then run a local server to preview. Thooval shows you exactly how your post will look as you type it.

🎨

Liquid template errors

Jekyll's templating language, Liquid, is unforgiving. A single unclosed tag in a layout file silently breaks every page that extends it.

⏱️

Time you don't get back

Developers report spending 4–8 hours on initial Jekyll + GitHub Pages setup. Thooval takes 5 minutes. That's your weekend back.

Blog Without Jekyll No Ruby, No Terminal,No Build Errors

Jekyll takes 7 steps.Thooval takes 2.