The document discusses and compares various static site generators for React applications. It begins by explaining what JAMstack is and how static site generators (SSGs) are used to build static websites. It then lists and describes 8 top React SSGs: Gatsby, Hugo, React Static, Next.js, Cuttlebelle, Jekyll, Phenomic, and Antwar. The document concludes by providing considerations for choosing an SSG, such as required features, build/deploy times, project type, intended users, and community support.

1. Top 8 React Static
Site Generators
for 2020
www.bacancytechnology.com

2. People are always in a rush. I feel that the
on-demand generation has made everyone
impatient. The other day, my sister was
looking for an LBD little black dress for her
friend’s sinister party. Before even checking
on our wardrobe, she swiped open (and
closed) all the online shopping apps.
Your website users can’t stand a delay of a
mere few seconds. They abandon your site
without a sane consideration. Developers
using CMS (content management systems)
can understand the background functioning
as the web-search takes time to fetch the
LBD from the database/server to my sister’s
screen.
This post is for those who know about
JAMstack. Also for those that don’t yet
know what is JAMstack or its community,
here is the answer:

3. “A modern web development architecture
using client-side Javascript, reusable API,
and an in-built Markup.” The use of
JAMstack is getting popular and gaining
traction amongst the developers because it
easily scales your app with little or no dev-
ops overhead. It is rightly coined as
serverless and headless architecture.
Image Source

4. So the JAMstack architects use static site
generators (SSG), which are tools to build
static contentful websites that make your
content easy for consumption. Using SSGs,
you create HTML pages that are ready for
an HTTP server without any server-side
rendering. You can create your application
using any programming language like
Golang, Ruby, or Javascript.

5. Why React
and Why
Static?

6. Front-end development is at the fore-front
owing to the intuitive APIs of ReactJS.
Developers use React.js for component-
based client-side application development,
which aids excellent user-experience.
React enables server-side rendering to
reduce the users’ performance costs by
saving their UX penalty for single-page
applications SPA. There is no server-
maintenance in static websites, and these
static sites perform much better in Google
indexing.

7. Advantages of
Static Site
Generators

8. Below are mentioned the benefits of using
SSG over CMS:
Speedy Loading
A dynamic website built using a content
management system pulls information from
the database whenever the user requests a
page of a content-heavy site. This process
may consume time and causes a delay,
which frustrates the user. Whereas if you
build your website using a static site
generator, it provides the user a compiled
file at the browser. This way, the SSG site
loads faster and satisfies your user.

9. No back-end
You do not need a web-server or a database
when building your website using SSG. You
can directly host your site on the CDN
(content delivery network), which improves
your web performance.
Secure and Reliable
While you build your website using a CMS,
it might require additional plugins, and
with each plugin, there comes a higher
security vulnerability. On the contradictory,
when you use an SSG for your website
development, you do not need to run any
extra code on the server-side that gives a
threat to security.

10. As compared to the CMS sites, there is a
negligible chance of a server-crash. All the
pages of an SSG website are kept together.
Thus, static site generators build a reliable
and secure website.
Flexible and Scalable
Websites built using SSG have no database
calls that speed their performance, and this
flexibility ensures quick results on the
browser. All the pages of your site, when
you host them on the CDN, can serve them
on multiple places improving your
scalability.

11. Better Developer Experience
If you build your website using a CMS, you
might have to keep separate technology
stacks for your developers and the
marketing team. Whereas by using SSG, you
ensure loose coupling and much better
debugging, which eases the tasks of
developers.
Low Maintenance
You do not need to look after the database
while building your website with SSGs,
which means less to bother, maintain, and
keep a check. At the same time, you pay less
saving costs.

12. Here, I’ve presented a list of my favorite
React Static Site Generators, which are the
finest. Using these SSGs, you can build
amazingly attractive and content-right
websites. You shall be relieved with the ease
it enables and spare time due to its fast
development speed.

13. 8 Top React
Static Site
Generators to
Use in 2020

14. Gatsby is the popular static site generator
that is used in the official ReactJS website.
Gatsby was released in 2015 and is free and
open-source. It collaborates well with the
React ecosystem and uses GraphQL, a rich
plugin for 3rd party services and API.
1. Gatsby

15. Gatsby comes along with many starters,
templates, and it works by the PWA
guidelines. As you develop your website
using Gatsby correctly, it loads in no time.
You can consider it as a modern front-end
framework that uses static files for faster
page-loads.
Gatsby has an amazing GitHub community
holding 8.3k forks and 45.3k stars.

16. This static site generator is written in the
Golang programming language, and you can
use it within your ReactJS application. Hugo
is also a free and open-source framework
that has more than 300 themes.
The best thing about Hugo is that it takes
less than one millisecond for a page to load,
making users get an entire website within
one second.
2. Hugo

17. Hugo supports Windows, Linux, FreeBSD,
macOS, and other operating systems. It also
aids menus, taxonomies, varied content
types, dynamic APIs, and other plugins for
building amusing React websites.
GitHub community is strong with 45k stars
and 5.1k forks.

18. The React team created this new static site
generator to overcome the drawbacks of
other SSGs so that your developers can have
a better experience. Using React Static, your
website enables faster data streaming from
source to the route.
3. React Static

19. React Static has a shorter learning curve, so
your developers will be more than happy to
use it. It incorporates prop mapping
functionalities along with data ingestion
and querying. There have been no
complaints regarding data colocation and
dynamic data.
With a fan-following of 8.8k stars
on GitHub, React Static is making its way
like Gatsby and other proven React SSGs.

20. Zeit created the Next javascript framework
for developing static web applications using
React and for server-side rendering. You
don’t require any pre-requisites like
Webpack configuration or a Node.js server.
Next.js is yet to stand upright for the static
upload and routing issues. It is still an
excellent choice for your next web
application development using ReactJS.
Next.js holds a prominent 49.9k stars and
7.7k forks on GitHub.
4. Next.js

21. Cuttlebelle is a comparatively less
renowned SSG, but it is an awesome
framework that keeps editing and code
concerns separate. You can expand your
possibilities by combining Cuttlebelle with
React components.
5. Cuttlebelle

22. Your marketers and coders now have their
specific domains keeping them for
interruptions. Using this framework, you
can create Javascript XML, compose
layouts, fetch data from external APIs,
undertake Jest-testing, and deploy without
any hesitation.
Cuttlebelle has just started growing
on GitHub with 442 stars and 26 forks.

23. Across the globe, the most widely used SSG
is Jekyll, especially for eCommerce websites
and blogs. Though it was built using Ruby,
Jekyll can show its power along with React
as well. It uses importers for quick
migration.
Jekyll provides your website hosting for
free along with GitHub pages. It has a vast
community on GitHub, enrolling 40.7k stars
and 8.9k forks.
6. Jekyll

24. Phenomic is a modular website compiler
where you can use React as a renderer and
Webpack as a bundler. Your developers will
have the experience of building a full-blown
website or app using this static site
generator.
7. Phenomic

25. Phenomic does have a handful of resources
along with a doc to build your React blog
application. With this SSG, you can build a
high-performing SEO website with a
fantastic and speedy user-experience.
On GitHub, Phenomic collects 3.3k stars and
284 forks.

26. The Founder of SurviveJ built Antwar, a
blog-aware static engine using React and
Webpack. You can create your customized
pages by combining layouts and content on
top of configurations, using Antwar.
You can build websites using Antwar that
are friendly, speedy, and extensible. This
project is not actively maintained, but still
worth being here in the list of React static
site generators.
Antwar has 463 stars and 35 forks
on GitHub.
8. Antwar

27. Consideratio
ns Before
Choosing
your React
SSG

28. You might be daunted by all the options
available here; however, you want to know
the right SSG for you. Here are some
considerations that you should ask yourself
before you finalize your status site
generator. As you answer each of these
questions, you will get close to your answer.
1. How many features do you need for your
website?
You can choose an SSG with various
features for you so that you can develop
your plugins by yourself, e.g., Gatsby or
Next.js. On the other hand, you can choose
an SSG with minimal functionality but
built-in plugins that help you create your
fantastic website. Say, for example, Jekyll.

29. 2. Does your website have a crucial build-
time and deploy-time?
Static site generators are indeed a boon for
improvising your development and loading
time. However, built-times are still at stake.
Can say that Hugo has best of all speed with
less than a millisecond per page, however,
Gatsby’s latest version is also promising.
Experienced developers have voted a
thumbs down for Jekyll’s pace, but its v4 is
improvised.

30. 3. What type of project do you want to build
using SSG?
Choosing an SSG is directly relevant to what
is your end-goal? What do you want to
build? A blog, documentation page,
marketing website, or an eCommerce
website. You may consider Gatsby or Jekyll
for your blog development, and a headless
SSG like Hugo for creating a shopping
website.
If you are looking forward to developing
your marketing website, using Gatsby as
your static site generator will enable you to
incorporate dynamic content or forms, or
authentication, etc. on your website.

31. 4. Who is going to use your website?
You should be clear about your users,
whether they are your developers or your
marketing guys. You might have already
noted that some SSGs are logic-oriented,
whereas others are simple- easy for
marketers.
5. Do you need help from the community?
Entrepreneurs rely on the community for
the continuous support and maintenance of
their websites. As you may check the list of
top 8 React Statis Site Generators, those
having a wide range of stars and forks on
GitHub will get you more help from the
community.

32. However, some projects are static, with no
future need for updating ever. In that case,
even any number of GitHub following will
be futile.
I’m sure you might be clear about your
upcoming project needs and choose the
right React Static Site Generator.

33. Shake hands with the finest React App
Development Company to use your choice
of Static Site Generator to build your next
web project. We offer end-to-end full-stack
React.js development services to help you
attain your business goals. Our ardent React
developers have experience of working on a
varied range of products and thus possess
extensive knowledge of the industry trends.
Are you ready to build your next excellent
web application? We’re a click away.
Closing
Thoughts

34. Thank You