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Jekyll vs React-Static: What are the differences?
- Differences in Rendering Approach: Jekyll takes a static site generator approach, where the content is built beforehand and served as plain HTML files. React-Static, on the other hand, employs a client-side rendering approach using React components, where the content is dynamically rendered on the client's browser. This allows React-Static to provide interactive and real-time updates, while Jekyll is more suitable for simpler static websites without complex interactions.
- JavaScript Dependency: React-Static heavily relies on JavaScript to render and update the content, making it a powerful tool for dynamic web applications. Jekyll, on the other hand, does not have JavaScript as a requirement since it generates static HTML files. This difference means that React-Static offers more flexibility and interactivity but may require more technical know-how to work with.
- Server-Side Rendering: React-Static has built-in support for server-side rendering (SSR), allowing the initial content rendering to happen on the server before being sent to the client's browser. Jekyll does not have native SSR capabilities since it is focused on static site generation. SSR enables faster loading times and better SEO performance for React-Static sites compared to Jekyll.
- Data Fetching: React-Static provides an out-of-the-box solution for data fetching, allowing developers to retrieve data from APIs or other sources easily. Jekyll, on the other hand, requires manual data integration using plugins or custom scripts, making data fetching a more involved process. React-Static's built-in data fetching capabilities simplify the development process and make it easier to create dynamic content-driven websites.
- Hot Module Replacement: React-Static comes with Hot Module Replacement (HMR) support, which allows instant updates to the website during development without full page reloads. This feature enables faster iteration times and a smoother development experience. Jekyll does not have native HMR support since it generates static files, requiring a browser refresh each time changes are made.
- React Ecosystem: React-Static benefits from the extensive React ecosystem, including a wide range of libraries, components, and tools that can be easily integrated into projects. Jekyll, being agnostic to front-end frameworks, does not have the same level of integration with the React ecosystem. This difference means that React-Static users have access to a larger variety of pre-built solutions and can leverage the robustness of the React community.
In summary, Jekyll is a static site generator focused on simplicity and compatibility, while React-Static is a powerful tool for creating dynamic web applications using React's rendering capabilities. React-Static offers client-side rendering, server-side rendering, built-in data fetching, HMR support, and integration with the React ecosystem, providing developers with more flexibility and interactivity.
Decisions about Jekyll and React-Static
Manuel Feller
Frontend Engineer at BI X · | 4 upvotes · 161.8K views
As a Frontend Developer I wanted something simple to generate static websites with technology I am familiar with. GatsbyJS was in the stack I am familiar with, does not need any other languages / package managers and allows quick content deployment in pure HTML or Markdown (what you prefer for a project). It also does not require you to understand a theming engine if you need a custom design.
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Learn MorePros of Jekyll
Pros of React-Static
Pros of Jekyll
- Github pages integration74
- Open source54
- It's slick, customisable and hackerish37
- Easy to deploy24
- Straightforward cms for the hacker mindset23
- Gitlab pages integration7
- Best for blogging5
- Low maintenance2
- Easy to integrate localization2
- Huge plugins ecosystem1
- Authoring freedom and simplicity1
Pros of React-Static
- GraphQL2
- All the benefits of a static website + React+GraphQL1
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Cons of Jekyll
Cons of React-Static
Cons of Jekyll
- Build time increases exponentially as site grows4
- Lack of developments lately2
- Og doesn't work with postings dynamically1
Cons of React-Static
- GraphQL1
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- No public GitHub repository available -
What is Jekyll?
Think of Jekyll as a file-based CMS, without all the complexity. Jekyll takes your content, renders Markdown and Liquid templates, and spits out a complete, static website ready to be served by Apache, Nginx or another web server. Jekyll is the engine behind GitHub Pages, which you can use to host sites right from your GitHub repositories.
What is React-Static?
React-Static is a next-gen static site generator for React. Finally, you can build a website like you do any other React App. There's no special CMS, query language, or crazy lifecycle hooks. Just good old React producing an amazing SEO-ready, user experience driven, progressively enhanced website. The effort is minimal, but the benefits are not!
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What companies use Jekyll?
What companies use React-Static?
What companies use React-Static?
See which teams inside your own company are using Jekyll or React-Static.
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What tools integrate with Jekyll?
What tools integrate with React-Static?
What tools integrate with Jekyll?
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What are some alternatives to Jekyll and React-Static?
WordPress
The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” — we’d love you to join the family.
Hugo
Hugo is a static site generator written in Go. It is optimized for speed, easy use and configurability. Hugo takes a directory with content and templates and renders them into a full html website. Hugo makes use of markdown files with front matter for meta data.
Hexo
Hexo is a fast, simple and powerful blog framework. It parses your posts with Markdown or other render engine and generates static files with the beautiful theme. All of these just take seconds.
Ghost
Ghost is a platform dedicated to one thing: Publishing. It's beautifully designed, completely customisable and completely Open Source. Ghost allows you to write and publish your own blog, giving you the tools to make it easy and even fun to do.
Sphinx
It lets you either batch index and search data stored in an SQL database, NoSQL storage, or just files quickly and easily — or index and search data on the fly, working with it pretty much as with a database server.