Perplexity SSG Stack Evaluation
Perplexity Deep Research report (April 2026) evaluating static site generators, search engines, hosting platforms, and access control for converting the Pride wiki into a read-only HTML site for Mat.
Key Facts
SSG Comparison (8 tools evaluated)
- Quartz v4 is the only SSG with native
[[wiki link]]support matching all three Obsidian resolution modes — zero config, 15–30 min setup. 11.8K stars, single maintainer (jackyzha0), bus factor of 1. Known case-sensitivity bug (#2316) where mismatched casing silently produces 404s. No build-time broken link detection. Source: Quartz docs, GitHub - Starlight (Astro) is the strongest runner-up — venture-backed Astro org, TypeScript frontmatter validation, Pagefind built-in,
starlight-links-validatorfor broken link detection. Requiresstarlight-obsidianplugin (134 stars) for wiki links. Setup ~1–2 hours. Source: GitHub - MkDocs Material entered maintenance mode Nov 2025; MkDocs 2.0 rewrite is incompatible with Material and removes plugin system. Do not start new projects. Source: MkDocs Material blog
- Hugo maintainer explicitly rejected native wiki link support (May 2023). Requires ~100 lines custom Go templates. Source: Hugo #3606
- Docusaurus — no viable wiki link plugin. 2–4 hour setup, worst fit for Obsidian content.
Search Engine Comparison (7 tools evaluated)
- Pagefind recommended overall — chunked index (~100–150 KB for 200 pages), built-in UI with excerpts, BM25 ranking. No true Levenshtein fuzzy matching. Built into Starlight. Source: pagefind.app
- FlexSearch (built into Quartz) — sub-10ms for 500K words,
Cmd+Kmodal. Lacks true fuzzy matching despite marketing claims. Source: Quartz search docs - Lunr.js unmaintained since 2019. Stork abandoned Jan 2023. Do not use either.
Hosting Comparison
- Cloudflare Pages recommended — 500 builds/month free, unlimited bandwidth, free SSL, custom domains, 5-min setup, auto-deploy on push. Source: pages.cloudflare.com
- Netlify viable second choice but suspends site if free tier exceeded; 100 GB bandwidth cap.
- Vercel Hobby plan restricted to non-commercial use (ToS). Not viable for business wiki.
- Railway not recommended for static hosting — $5/month minimum, designed for app backends.
Access Control Comparison
- Cloudflare Access with email OTP recommended — free for ≤50 users, Mat enters email → receives 6-digit PIN → session cookie up to 1 month. Native Cloudflare Pages integration. Source: Cloudflare Access docs
- Netlify password protection requires $19/month Pro plan.
- Vercel password protection $150/month. Cost prohibitive.
Wiki Link Edge Cases
- Case sensitivity is the #1 silent failure mode — Obsidian is case-insensitive, Quartz is not.
- Ambiguous page names across subdirectories resolve non-deterministically in most SSGs.
- Mitigation: use explicit subdirectory paths in links, enforce consistent casing, add CI broken link checker.
Recommended Stack
| Layer | Choice | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| SSG | Quartz v4 | Free |
| Search | FlexSearch (built-in) | Free |
| Hosting | Cloudflare Pages | Free |
| Access control | Cloudflare Access (email OTP) | Free |
| Total | $0/month |
Runner-up: Starlight + Pagefind + Cloudflare Pages + Cloudflare Access (also $0/month, better long-term maintainability but more setup).
Related Pages
- Mat Wiki Access Implementation — decision page synthesising all three research reports
- Humphrey Intelligence App — separate system; wiki viewer is independent of Humphrey
- Tech Stack — Pride’s core technology platforms