Gatsby vs Metalsmith

Gatsby is an open-source, React-based framework for building websites such as eCommerce and marketing sites, blogs, and documentation. It supports JavaScript and Node.js, and pages can be rendered with Static Site Generation, Deferred Static Generation, or Server-Side Rendering. Its GraphQL data layer gives page components a consistent way to request content, API, and service data. Gatsby also provides code-splitting, image optimization, lazy loading, and webpack. Its plugin library covers areas including CMS, styling, analytics, e-commerce, payments, authentication, and search; official integrations include hosting providers and content management systems. Gatsby 5 requires Node 18 and React 18. The open-source framework is free. A separate Free plan costs nothing and includes a 300-credit monthly limit, unlimited deploy previews, and custom domains with SSL. Personal costs $9 a month and Pro costs $20 a month; Enterprise pricing is custom. Projects pause when monthly usage limits are reached.

Metalsmith is a free, pluggable static-site generator for NodeJS that works more like a library than a framework. It transforms a directory tree into plain JavaScript objects that plugins can manipulate, without requiring a predefined project structure. Developers can use configuration over code or code over configuration, and access the package through either its JavaScript API or command-line interface. It works with npm, Markdown, JSON, YAML, and a templating language of choice. Example uses include static sites, scaffolding, backups, command-line and deployment tools, and eBooks made from Markdown for PDF, ePUB, or MOBI output. Starter repositories cover blog, company, resume, and clean-blog projects. Builds create static folders for deployment to CDNs, Netlify, GitHub Pages, GitLab Pages, SFTP hosts, or custom servers. Metalsmith requires NodeJS; the listed platforms include Linux, macOS, and Windows. The documentation says partial rebuilds are not available and suggests using a file watcher and browser synchronization package for automatic rebuilds. No billing terms or prices are stated on the supplied pages.