# Alternatives to Gatsby

React SSG (now in maintenance at Netlify).

Gatsby ranks #2 of 8 in Static site generators, with an Alt Score of 86. It is licensed under MIT, free from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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

## Where Gatsby stands out

- **Markdown / MDX** — 2 of 8 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Front-end developers and teams building content-driven websites (marketing sites, blogs, documentation, e-commerce storefronts) who want React components with strong performance out of the box.
- **What you get**: A React framework that pre-renders pages to static HTML for fast load times, with an image optimization pipeline and support for hybrid rendering (SSG, SSR, DSG). Its unified GraphQL data layer lets you pull content from CMSs, markdown files, APIs, and databases into a single queryable schema. A large plugin and starter ecosystem handles common integrations (Contentful, WordPress, Shopify, etc.) without custom glue code.
- **How it works**: You scaffold a site from a starter or plugin, then write React components that query data via GraphQL at build time. Gatsby compiles the site into static assets (with optional server-rendered or deferred pages) that you deploy to a host like Netlify or Gatsby Cloud.

## 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**: maintenance (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 | [Astro](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/astro.md) | 82 | 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 | Gatsby | Eleventy | Astro | 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 | Partial | Yes | ? | 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 | Partial | Partial | Yes | No | ? | ? |
| CMS integrations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | ? |
| Learning curve | Partial | Yes | ? | Partial | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

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

- **License**: MIT — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2015 Gatsbyjs”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Gatsby is a free and open-source framework based on React”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Gatsby is a free and open-source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps.”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/tutorial/getting-started/part-0/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Same page has Windows + Linux setup steps.
  - Quote: “To install Gatsby and Node.js on a Mac, it is recommended to use Homebrew.”
- **Status**: maintenance — <https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/releases/tag/gatsby%405.16.0> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Release cadence slowed (5.15 Aug 2025, 5.16 Jan 2026); Netlify-owned (2023) but still commits.
  - Quote: “Gatsby Partial Hydration, an experimental feature for three years now, is known to be incompatible with React 19 at this time.”
- **Build speed**: Partial — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/conceptual/rendering-options/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Deferred Static Generation exists because full builds can be slow at scale.
  - Quote: “the entire site is pre-rendered into HTML, CSS, and JavaScript at build time”
- **Templating language**: Yes — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/glossary/jsx/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “JSX is an XML-like syntax extension for JavaScript that's used to create React components.”
- **Content collections**: Yes — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/reference/graphql-data-layer/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “APIs for querying your data (PageQuery, StaticQuery, Fragments) and specifying your GraphQL schema (schema customization).”
- **Image optimization**: Yes — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/how-to/images-and-media/using-gatsby-plugin-image/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “can shave up to 300ms off of frontend page load times and as a result improve your lighthouse scores”
- **i18n support**: Yes — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/how-to/adding-common-features/localization-i18n/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “gatsby-plugin-i18n – Creates language-specific routes using a naming convention (e.g., about.en.js → /en/about)”
- **Plugin ecosystem**: Yes — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/plugins/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Welcome to the Gatsby Plugin Library: Add functionality and customize your Gatsby site or app with thousands of plugins built by our amazing developer community.”
- **Markdown / MDX**: Yes — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/how-to/routing/adding-markdown-pages/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Gatsby can use markdown files to create pages in your site. You add plugins to read and understand folders with markdown files and from them create pages automatically.”
- **Partial hydration / islands**: Partial — <https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/releases/tag/gatsby%405.16.0> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Gatsby Partial Hydration, an experimental feature for three years now, is known to be incompatible with React 19 at this time.”
- **CMS integrations**: Yes — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/how-to/sourcing-data/sourcing-from-contentful/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: gatsby-source-contentful" plugin to pull content from Contentful into Gatsby sites."
  - Quote: “The page recommends using the ”
- **Learning curve**: Partial — <https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/glossary/jsx/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Needs React + JSX + GraphQL together.
  - Quote: “Gatsby and React use Babel to transpile JSX into browser-compatible JavaScript”

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