The best 5 frameworks for Jamstack in 2021
Storyblok is the first headless CMS that works for developers & marketers alike.
The Jamstack conference is behind the door, and the majority of the developers still wonder - what is this Jamstack movement? How to start with it? I am not here to explain Jamstack because jamstack.com has done a great job on the topic. Today we are talking about the best 5 frameworks for Jamstack and the headless approach to your website.
The list of static site generators, or frameworks useful for Jamstack, is pretty long. I picked the 5 most exciting and chose a few you should keep your eyes on. Check it out!
Nuxt
Personally, this is my top pick. I am coming from the Vue.js community, where Nuxt has a considerable fanbase. Nuxt started as a side project of the Chopin brothers (Alexandre & Sébastien) and evolved into something extraordinary. It takes care of all aspects of your Jamstack project and, using the create-nuxt-app, you can get from zero to deploy in a matter of minutes. Check out our Nuxt technology hub to learn how to use it in your next Jamstack project.
Talk recording of integrating Storyblok and Nuxt.
Oh! I can't forget the upcoming Nuxt v3. It will bring many long-time awaited features like native Typescript support, Composition API, Vite, Vue 3, and much more.
Next.js
Next.js is the framework all React.js developers should know about. The first version was released as an open-source project on October 25, 2016. Next.js grew to the most popular Jamstack framework over the years with more than 73 thousand Github stars. It is widely used by many developers and backed by Vercel. You will get support for Static Site Generation (SSG), Server-Side Rendering (SSR), file-system routing, and more. The incremental static regeneration feature is the one we'll hear more about in the future. Also, check out Next Commerce if you are planning to jump on the headless eCommerce train.
Talk recording of integrating Next.js and Storyblok.
If you want to see it live, check out our Next.js technology hub, where you will find a 5 min article, zero-code getting started, and an ultimate guide for a multilanguage jamstack website.
Gatsby
Another natural option for all React.js developers is Gatsby, which offers its own cloud infrastructure: the Gatsby Cloud. You will find unique features that focus on the speed of the deployment & the build process - incremental build included. The latest version of Gatsby offers many starter templates, making the development and setup of the smaller websites efficient.
You can try Gatsby with Storyblok in our 5 minutes tutorial, watch the video on our Gatsby technology hub or even build your first Gatsby multilanguage website using our ultimate guide.
Hugo
Hugo, a static site generator built using the Go language, belongs to the first Jamstack frameworks. It emerged in 2013, and I noticed it as Netlify began providing Hugo hosting. Smashing Magazine used this opportunity to migrate from WordPress to Jamstack solution backed by Netlify and Hugo. It proved to me that Jamstack is stable and can be used for massive projects. I used it as the entry into the world of Jamstack - the simplicity, flexibility, and approach with markdown files, make it very practical to create your own blog, documentation, or agency website.
11ty (Eleventy)
This simpler static site generator created by Zach Leatherman became popular in recent years. As many would state - using 11ty is simple and... a lot of fun. You can use a markdown file or get your content from the headless CMS of your choice. To connect with Storyblok, you can simply use our storyblok-11ty plugin created by Christian Zoppi. Check out this blog post by Jason Lengstorf and Zach Leatherman to learn 11ty quickly.
Storyblok integrates with every framework so that you are free to choose the best fit for your project. See the list of prepared technology hubs and tutorials.
Keep your eyes on...
I need to mention a few rising stars of the Jamstack universe. Evan You, the creator of Vue.js, also created another fantastic tool called Vite. Personally, I wasn't lucky to properly try it, but I heard many good reports from the most skilled people in the business. Keep in mind it is not a framework, but a few already emerged around it.
Another newbie I recommend checking out is Astro. It is not a framework, but more of a tool for building your Jamstack website. Simply put - Astro is trying to ship less Javascript and still let you use your favorite JS framework. Read more in the Astro introduction.
My last pick is Qwick from the creator of Angular, Misko Hevery. It is so fresh that there is no website yet. I recommend reading this Qwik series, where he defines Qwick as an open-source DOM-centric, resumable web-app framework.
Wrap up
You may find more Jamstack frameworks or static site generators here. If I didn't mention your favorite one in the article, don't be sad. These are just my personal top 5 picks.
