If you’ve already invested in a new website you know that there’s much more to web development than what you see on the screen.

As developers, we can’t stress enough that you get what you pay for.

So, to help you make an informed decision as to what’s best for your business (hint - no, it’s not a WordPress theme), let’s take a look at GatsbyJS - a web solution that’s taking our industry by storm.

What is Gatsby JS?

GatsbyJS is an open-source React-based, GraphQL powered static site generator (SSG).

In slightly more simple terms, this means that it combines the very best bits of React, Webpack, React-router, GraphQL, and other front-end tools, creating one single solution that web developers love to use.

It uses precompilation features to build a website that only uses static files, resulting in amazingly fast page loads, code splitting, server-side rendering, image lazy loading, asset optimization and data prefetching.

What makes Gatsby so awesome?

While Gatsby may be pretty new on the IT scene, it really is a force to be reckoned with. You’re probably wondering why, right?

• 🔎 SEO. There’s no doubt about it - Gatsby builds the fastest websites in the world, and we’re not even exaggerating! As page speed is such a major ranking factor when it comes to SEO, it’s no wonder Google loves Gatsby sites. It also gets a number of other SEO brownie points by being so secure and highly adaptable.
• 💲 Free hosting…well, nearly! Right now if you have a basic website and want better performance you need to invest in good hosting, which can get pretty expensive. With Gatsby, that’s not the case as Gatsby hosting works on a freemium model.
• 🚀 Quicker development. Developers love Gatsby, and because it’s such a pleasure to work with, developers are able to work more efficiently, which means you get your site back sooner.
• 📲 It’s like one big app. UX is such a major factor in getting sales from your website, and that’s why Gatsby is so great. Gatsby websites feel like one big app, so they’re really simple for users to navigate their path to purchase.
• 😁 Happy site = happy life! Ok, that doesn’t quite make as much sense as happy wife happy life, but you get the idea! If users love your site, they’re going to buy and that’s going to make you (and the big boss) happy. Plus, you won’t get complaints from people having a moan about the website taking too long to load, etc.

More about great advantages of Gatsby you can read here, here, and here.

Are there any other good alternatives to Gatsby?

Yes, there are a couple of alternatives to Gatsby out there. You have Jekyll, Next.js, Hugo, Hexo. There are a number of other alternatives, but these ones we’ve just mentioned are by far the most popular.

The thing about Gatsby, though, is that it is more feature-rich than its competitors, and its use cases are the main thing that wins over its users.