Static site generators
Alternatives to Gatsby
Gatsby is a free, open-source React framework for building eCommerce sites, marketing sites, blogs, documentation, and other websites. It combines content, APIs, and services through GraphQL, supports static, deferred, and server rendering, and includes image optimization, code-splitting, lazy-loading, multilingual support, incremental builds, CMS connections, and local previews. Gatsby runs through API, self-hosted, and web setups with JavaScript and Node.js. Its free plan includes unlimited deploy previews and custom domains with SSL, but limits usage to 300 credits per month.
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Eleventy It suits people building static sites with templates who want to adopt a generator incrementally or work within an existing directory structure.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · Self-hosted8.9 Visit Specs - 02
Cecil Cecil suits creators who want to generate a website from Markdown and prioritize performance while retaining design flexibility.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux8.8 Visit Specs - 03
Nikola Nikola suits people building blogs, company or personal sites, software project sites, or books who can work with a Python-based static site generator.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · Self-hosted8.8 Visit Specs - 04 Jekyll
Jekyll suits people building static websites or blogs from markup and layouts, including users deploying through GitHub Pages or their own hosting process.
Free plan Open source Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.8 Visit Specs - 05 Nanoc
Nanoc suits people comfortable with a command-line workflow who want to generate static sites from filesystem-managed content.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux8.7 Visit Specs - 06
Hugo Hugo suits people building multilingual static sites from Markdown, including documentation, corporate, government, nonprofit, education, news, event, and project sites.
Free plan Open source Windows · macOS · Linux8.6 Visit Specs - 07
Publii Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux8.6 Visit Specs - 08 Metalsmith
Metalsmith suits developers who want to shape a NodeJS site build through plugins and JavaScript rather than adopt a fixed project structure.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · API8.6 Visit Specs - 09 Zola
Zola suits people building static blogs, knowledge bases or landing pages from Markdown, including multilingual sites.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · Self-hosted8.5 Visit Specs - 10 Lume
Lume suits developers building static sites with Deno who want content kept in project files.
Free plan Web · Self-hosted8.4 Visit Specs - 11
Bridgetown Bridgetown suits developers building static sites, full-stack applications or both, especially those who want Ruby plugins and Roda-backed routes or APIs.
Windows · macOS · Linux · API8.0 Visit Specs - 12 React Static Free plan Web · Self-hosted8.0 Visit Specs
- 13 Roq
Roq suits developers and AI-focused users who want a Java-based static site workflow.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux7.9 Visit Specs - 14 Stapy
Stapy suits Python users building static sites who want local previews, extensible templates and deployment options.
Free plan Windows · Linux7.8 Visit Specs - 15 Harp Free trial Web · Windows · macOS · Linux7.8 Visit Specs
- 16 Assemble Free plan Linux7.8 Visit Specs
- 17 Statiq From $50/mo Windows · macOS · Linux7.7 Visit Specs
- 18 Nitro Free plan Linux · Self-hosted7.7 Visit Specs
- 19 Toucan Free plan macOS · Linux7.7 Visit Specs
- 20 Jigsaw Free plan Self-hosted7.6 Visit Specs
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VuePress Web · API · Self-hosted7.5 Visit Specs - 22 Pelican Windows · macOS · Linux7.5 Visit Specs
- 23 Hakyll Windows · macOS · Linux7.5 Visit Specs
- 24 Cobalt Windows · macOS · Linux7.5 Visit Specs
- 25 Middleman Web · Windows · macOS · Linux7.5 Visit Specs
- 26 Franklin.jl Web · Linux · Self-hosted7.4 Visit Specs
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Astro Starlight Starlight suits teams building documentation websites with Astro, especially those wanting built-in search and navigation alongside framework components.
Web · Self-hosted7.2 Visit Specs - 28 Statue Web · Linux7.2 Visit Specs
- 29 Static Site Boilerplate Free plan Web7.2 Visit Specs
- 30 JungleJS Web7.1 Visit Specs
Choosing instead of Gatsby
Readers may seek another tool when Gatsby’s React and Node.js requirements, GraphQL data layer, or credit-based usage model do not suit their project. Gatsby 5 requires Node 18 and React 18, projects pause at monthly limits, and free-plan serverless functions have invocation, memory, and timeout caps. The alternatives differ in authoring formats, runtimes, operating systems, hosting models, and publishing controls. Compare whether you need CMS integration, multilingual output, incremental builds, local previews, scheduling, desktop software, or a particular programming language before changing frameworks.