Pelican is a Python-powered static site generator with 12K+ GitHub stars — popular among Python developers for blogs and content sites using reStructuredText or Markdown — but as a static site generator it has no built-in WCAG accessibility audit, no Core Web Vitals scoring, and no post-deployment health monitoring. PageGuard audits the live deployed URL of any Pelican site externally — free, no source code needed, results in 30 seconds.
ADA Title II Deadline: April 24, 2026
State and local government websites must meet WCAG 2.1 AA by April 24, 2026. Government agencies, research institutions, academic departments, and nonprofits frequently use Pelican to publish blogs and documentation portals. Many Pelican themes from the community pelican-themes collection were created before WCAG 2.1 was published and may not meet current color contrast, ARIA landmark, or keyboard navigation requirements. Theme updates, new plugin additions, and Jinja2 template modifications can silently introduce accessibility regressions that only appear in the deployed HTML. PageGuard provides continuous post-deployment accessibility monitoring without modifying your content files, pelicanconf.py, or Jinja2 templates.
| Feature | PageGuard | Pelican |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | External website health monitor — scans any URL for performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices | Python-powered static site generator for blogs and content-focused websites — writes content in reStructuredText or Markdown, uses Jinja2 templates, generates tag pages, categories, archives, and Atom/RSS feeds; no database required, deploy the output to any web server or CDN; 12K+ GitHub stars; one of the most popular Python alternatives to Jekyll |
| Free tier | ✓ Yes — unlimited one-off scans, no signup required | Free and open source (AGPL license); no SaaS pricing — install via pip (pip install pelican), write content in .rst or .md files, configure pelicanconf.py, run pelican content, deploy the output/ directory to GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or any static web host |
| Accessibility audit (WCAG / ADA) | ✓ Yes — WCAG 2.1 AA scored 0–100 with specific issue list | No — Pelican generates static HTML from reStructuredText or Markdown content using Jinja2 templates but has no built-in WCAG or ADA accessibility auditing; accessibility quality depends entirely on the chosen Pelican theme (from pelican-themes collection), any theme-level CSS and JavaScript, and how the Jinja2 templates render heading hierarchy, navigation, and interactive elements |
| Technical SEO audit | ✓ Yes — meta tags, headings, canonical, structured data | No — Pelican generates title, description, and Open Graph meta tags from article/page metadata in pelicanconf.py, and produces a sitemap via pelican-sitemap plugin; but provides no SEO audit scores, canonical validation, structured data completeness checks, or heading hierarchy analysis for the rendered output |
| Performance audit (Core Web Vitals) | ✓ Yes — LCP, CLS, FCP scored 0–100 per scan | No — Pelican generates pure static HTML with minimal JavaScript overhead by default, but Core Web Vitals depend on the chosen theme's CSS/JS, any Disqus comment widget, Google Analytics snippet, or other third-party embeds configured in pelicanconf.py; no built-in CWV measurement or scoring for deployed Pelican sites |
| Static site generator for blogs | No — PageGuard is a monitoring tool, not a site generator | ✓ Yes — Pelican is purpose-built for content-focused websites: automatic blog listing pages with pagination, tag and category index pages, archive pages by year/month/day, author pages, Atom and RSS feed generation; supports both reStructuredText (rst) and Markdown via the markdown extension; a large theme gallery at pelican-themes.org provides dozens of ready-to-use designs; Python-native for developers who prefer the Python ecosystem |
| Python ecosystem integration | No — PageGuard is a standalone monitoring service | ✓ Yes — Pelican is written in Python and integrates naturally with the Python toolchain: install via pip, extend with Python plugins (pelican-plugins collection on GitHub), configure via Python pelicanconf.py; suitable for Python developers who want to manage their blog alongside their Python projects without introducing Node.js; supports virtualenv and Python package management workflows |
| Automated website monitoring | ✓ Yes — weekly or daily scans with email alerts on score drop | No — Pelican is a static site generator; it has no post-deployment health monitoring, accessibility regression alerts, or uptime checking for the sites it generates |
| AI-generated plain-English report | ✓ Yes — explains issues in non-technical language | No — no AI health report for sites built with Pelican |
| ADA Title II compliance monitoring | ✓ Yes — WCAG audit + alert on accessibility regression | No — Pelican does not audit or alert on WCAG compliance; common accessibility issues in Pelican sites include insufficient color contrast in theme CSS (many pelican-themes community designs were created before WCAG 2.1 was standard), missing ARIA landmark roles in Jinja2 navigation templates, improper heading hierarchy (h1 in page titles vs h2/h3 in content sections), missing alt text on images in reStructuredText directives or Markdown syntax, and keyboard navigation gaps in any JavaScript-dependent theme components — all requiring external runtime validation |
| Works on any platform | ✓ Yes — scans any URL on any front-end or platform | No — Pelican builds your own static website only; it does not audit sites built by others or sites using different generators |
| Independent external audit | ✓ Yes — third-party scan, shareable URL for clients/stakeholders | No — no built-in tool to generate a shareable external health report for a Pelican-generated site |
| Instant on-demand scan | ✓ Yes — results in 30 seconds, no code changes needed | No — no on-demand health scan; external auditing of Pelican sites requires separate tools like Lighthouse or axe after deployment |
| Multi-site dashboard | ✓ Yes — 1–50 sites depending on plan | Pelican generates individual static sites; there is no health monitoring dashboard showing accessibility, SEO, and performance scores across multiple Pelican deployments |
| Pricing for health monitoring | ✓ Free + from $9/mo for automated monitoring | Health monitoring not available — Pelican is a static site generator, not a website health monitoring tool |
Get the WCAG accessibility score and Core Web Vitals for your deployed Pelican static site. Results in 30 seconds. No Python, Pelican installation, or pelicanconf.py configuration required.
Results in ~30 seconds. 4 scores: Performance, Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices.
Yes — PageGuard scans the live deployed URL of any Pelican-generated site hosted on GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or a self-managed server. Enter the public URL and receive a full health report in ~30 seconds covering Core Web Vitals, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, technical SEO, and best practices. No Python environment, Pelican installation, or content source files are required.
No — Pelican generates static HTML from reStructuredText or Markdown with no WCAG compliance checking. Many community Pelican themes from pelican-themes.org predate WCAG 2.1 and may have contrast issues, missing ARIA landmarks, or keyboard navigation gaps. Common issues include insufficient color contrast in theme CSS, missing alt text on images inserted via rst image directives, improper heading hierarchy in article templates, and keyboard navigation gaps in JavaScript navigation menus. PageGuard audits your live Pelican site and provides a WCAG 2.1 AA score with specific issues to fix.
Pelican is used by government agencies, research labs, academic departments, and nonprofits facing ADA Title II requirements by April 24, 2026. Community Pelican themes may not reflect current ARIA requirements, and theme updates, new plugin additions, and Jinja2 template changes can silently introduce accessibility regressions. Third-party embeds (Disqus, analytics) can also affect Core Web Vitals and accessibility. PageGuard provides continuous post-deployment monitoring without requiring changes to your pelicanconf.py or Jinja2 templates.
No — they serve completely different purposes. Pelican is a Python-powered static site generator converting reStructuredText or Markdown content into fast static HTML websites with blog features like tag pages, category archives, and RSS feeds. PageGuard is an external quality monitoring tool for the deployed output of those static sites. Python developers running Pelican-powered sites should use PageGuard to continuously monitor accessibility, SEO, and performance without modifying their existing content or templates.