# Alternatives to Astro

Islands architecture, ship less JS.

Astro ranks #3 of 8 in Static site generators, with an Alt Score of 82. It is licensed under MIT, free from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 8 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/astro/
Category: Static site generators

## Where Astro stands out

- **Partial hydration / islands** — 1 of 6 apps with a verified answer have this
- **Markdown / MDX** — 2 of 8 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Developers and teams building content-heavy sites — blogs, marketing sites, documentation, and e-commerce fronts — who want fast page loads and strong SEO without giving up their preferred UI library.
- **What you get**: A framework that renders components on the server and ships zero JavaScript by default, hydrating only the interactive pieces you mark as 'islands.' It supports mixing React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, and Preact components in the same project. File-based routing, built-in content collections with TypeScript-checked frontmatter, image optimization, and view transitions come out of the box.
- **How it works**: Scaffold a project with `npm create astro@latest`, write pages/content as `.astro` files or Markdown/MDX with file-based routing, then opt individual components into client-side interactivity as islands. Deploy via a one-line adapter to platforms like Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare.

## Profile

- **License**: MIT (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Eleventy](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/eleventy.md) | 91 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 2 | [Gatsby](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gatsby.md) | 86 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [Jekyll](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/jekyll.md) | 68 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [Publii](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/publii.md) | 68 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 5 | [Zola](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zola.md) | 68 | EUPL-1.2 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 6 | [Hugo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hugo.md) | 64 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 7 | [Pelican](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pelican.md) | 64 | AGPL-3.0 | ? |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Static site generators checklist | Astro | Eleventy | Gatsby | Jekyll | Publii | Zola |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| License | MIT | MIT | MIT | MIT | GPL-3.0 | EUPL-1.2 |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Build speed | ? | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Templating language | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content collections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Image optimization | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| i18n support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Plugin ecosystem | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Markdown / MDX | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Partial hydration / islands | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | ? | ? |
| CMS integrations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | ? |
| Learning curve | ? | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Astro. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: MIT — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/withastro/astro/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “MIT License”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/withastro/astro/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/withastro/astro/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://docs.astro.build/en/install-and-setup/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Node-based CLI; cross-platform.
  - Quote: “Terminal - Astro is accessed through its command-line interface (CLI).”
- **Status**: active — <https://api.github.com/repos/withastro/astro> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: pushed_at": "2026-07-10T16:41:29Z", "archived": false"
- **Templating language**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/basics/astro-components/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Astro’s component template syntax also supports JavaScript expressions, Astro <style> and <script> tags, imported components, and special Astro directives.”
- **Content collections**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/content-collections/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Content collections are the best way to manage sets of content in any Astro project: blog posts, product descriptions, character profiles, recipes, or any structured content.”
- **Image optimization**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/images/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Astro provides built-in <Image /> and <Picture /> Astro components, Markdown image syntax processing, SVG components, and an image generating function to optimize and/or transform your images.”
- **i18n support**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/internationalization/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Astro’s internationalization (i18n) features allow you to adapt your project for an international audience.”
- **Plugin ecosystem**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/integrations-guide/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Astro integrations add new functionality and behaviors for your project with only a few lines of code.”
- **Markdown / MDX**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/markdown-content/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “In Astro, you can author content in GitHub Flavored Markdown, then render it in .astro components.”
- **Partial hydration / islands**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/concepts/islands/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “The technique that this architectural pattern builds on is also known as partial or selective hydration.”
- **CMS integrations**: Yes — <https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/cms/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Some headless CMSes, like Storyblok, provide an Astro integration that helps fetch the content specifically for an Astro site.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/