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Features Overview

There are many ways to build a website. If you’re considering Gatsby, you may also be looking at some alternatives:

  • JAMstack frameworks such as Jekyll, Next.js, and Nuxt.js let you put text or markdown in a specific directory such as pages/ in a version-controlled codebase. They then build a specific kind of site, usually a blog, as HTML files from the content you’ve added. These files can be cached and served from a CDN.

    Coming from the JAMstack world?

    Compare Gatsby vs JAMstack
  • Traditional content management systems (CMSs) like WordPress and Drupal give you an online text editor to create content. You customize the look and feel by choosing themes and plugins or by writing custom PHP or JavaScript code. Content is saved in a database, which is retrieved and sent to users when they visit the website. Depending on your requirements you can self-host your website or use an official hosting provider.

    Coming from the CMS world?

    Compare Gatsby vs CMS

The chart below details Gatsby’s capabilities in comparison with a representative from each category. Click on any row to see a more detailed explanation on that feature and our rating for each system.

Legend
Icon
Excellent (fully available)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Fair (needs customization or limited)
Poor (not possible)
Feature AvailabilityExcellent (fully available)Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)Fair (needs customization or limited)Poor (not possible)
IconFeature Availability
Excellent (fully available)
Excellent (fully available)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Fair (needs customization or limited)
Fair (needs customization or limited)
Poor (not possible)
Poor (not possible)
Feature Comparison
CategoryGatsbyJAMstack frameworksTraditional CMS
Excellent (fully available)
Excellent (fully available)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Builds a site that is fast with small response time, completely accessible and responsive to user input.
Excellent (fully available)
Excellent (fully available)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Delivering robust functionality that is stable, speedy, and visually intuitive to developers
Excellent (fully available)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Excellent (fully available)
Provides monitor, measure, management and security to your site
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Excellent (fully available)
Enables access to site content and functionality to literally anyone
Excellent (fully available)
Excellent (fully available)
Excellent (fully available)
Detailed technical guides with tutorials and examples.
Excellent (fully available)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Good (partially available, e.g. plugins)
Resources that facilitate development as they integrate with each other
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