Comparison of web template engines
The following table lists the various web template engines used in Web template systems and a brief rundown of their features.
| Engine (implementation) | Languages | License | Variables | Functions | Includes | Conditional inclusion | Looping | Evaluation (language) | Assignment | Errors and exceptions | i18n | Natural templates | Inheritance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Velocity | Java, C# | Apache | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| ASP.NET (Microsoft) | C#, VB.NET | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| ASP.NET (Mono) | C# | LGPL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Laravel Blade | PHP | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| CheetahTemplate | Python | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| CodeCharge Studio | Classic ASP, C#, VB.NET, PHP, Perl, Java/JSP, ColdFusion | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
| ColdFusion | CFML, CFScript | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CTPP | C, C++, Perl, PHP, Python | BSD-like | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Django | Python | BSD-like | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Epsilon Generation Language | Java | Eclipse Public License | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| EJS | JavaScript | Various | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| eRuby | Ruby | GNU GPL / Ruby License | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| FreeMarker | Java | Apache | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Genshi | Python | BSD-like | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Python) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Go templates | Go | BSD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Haml | Ruby, PHP (WIP) | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Ruby) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Hamlets | Java | BSD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| JavaServer Pages | Java | CDDL + GNU GPL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Jinja | Python | BSD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Python) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Jinja2 | Python | BSD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Python) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tera | Rust | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Kid | Python | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Python) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Lucee | CFML | LGPL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (CFML) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mako | Python | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Python) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Mustache | 30+ languages | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (foreach) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Open Power Template | PHP 5 | BSD-like | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (PHP) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| PHP | PHP | PHP License | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Pug | JavaScript | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (JavaScript) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Razor | C#, F#, VB.NET | Apache | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Smarty | PHP | LGPL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (PHP) | Yes | Yes? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Slim | Ruby | MIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Template Attribute Language | Various | open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| Template Toolkit | Perl, Python | Perl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Perl) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Thymeleaf | Java | Apache | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Twig | PHP | BSD | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| web2py | Python | LGPL3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WebMacro | Java | Apache, GNU GPL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Engine (implementation) | Languages | License | Variables | Functions | Includes | Conditional inclusion | Looping | Evaluation (language) | Assignment | Errors and exceptions | i18n | Natural templates | Inheritance |