- Gatsby Trends: Static framework with dynamic growth
- Structure of Gatsby sites
- Gatsby examples: The 8 biggest companies having Gatsby sites in 2024
- Most inspiring Gatsby sites in 2024
- Gatsby sites: Blogs
- Gatsby sites: Personal Blog website (Portfolio)
- Gatsby E-commerce
- Gatsby sites: Company, SAAS, and landing pages websites
- Gatsby sites: Documentation
- Building Gatsby Sites with BCMS
Though Gatsby is perceived as being on the verge of extinction, Gatsby sites are proof that even though it was a "new kid on the block," it has remained a formidable framework, and there are no plans to phase it out. Before the examples, let's take a look at some Gatsby trends.
Gatsby Trends: Static framework with dynamic growth
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised to see the Gatsby stats.
My impression was that Gatsby had its peak and was slowly fading away, but according to Wappalyzer's report, Gatsby appears to be doing well in the industry.
Therefore, I decided to find out which are the most popular Gatsby sites, which companies use Gatsby, and which kinds of sites use Gatsby and CMS.
Structure of Gatsby sites
Gatsby connects different data sources using external APIs. Gatsby is a framework that lets you build front-ends without worrying about data. Because it is data-agnostic, it lets you focus on front-end development, leaving database creation and server maintenance to others.
So, a typical Gatsby site has the following parts:
Are Gatsby sites the best static sites?
The core React library does not include routing, linking, and handling images, which makes Gatsby unique among static site generators.
But I wouldn't dare say such a firm statement that Gatsby is the best SSG. Gatsby can be the perfect choice for quickly developing simple websites with small amounts of dynamic, live-updated data that don't require complex data fetching structures.
On the other hand, frameworks like NextJS or Nuxt are useful for building complicated sites with high server interaction.
So if you ask me: "Are Gatsby sites the best static sites?" It depends on your needs, project size, and requirements, and then I would tell that you can learn more about that here: Gatsby vs Next vs Nuxt: Key Features and Differences.
Gatsby examples: The 8 biggest companies having Gatsby sites in 2024
Listed below are the biggest and most well-known companies that use Gatsby.
Gatsby site examples: CIA
CIA uses Gatsby as its official website. The first thing I noticed, although perhaps simple, is the CIA's website is not a small one! According to its sitemaps, the CIA built 3000 pages in total using Gatsby.
Gatsby site examples: TypeScript
Typescript used Gatsby to build its documentation site. Gatsby's Markdown support, seamless integration with Git and GitHub for content management, and fast search functionality plugins ensure that documentation websites can easily create and maintain high-quality content.
Gatsby site examples: Ahrefs
Gatsby site examples: Linktree
Gatsby site examples: Calendly
Gatsby site examples: Cloudflare
Gatsby site examples: Spotify
Gatsby site examples: React
Most inspiring Gatsby sites in 2024
So these were 8 big companies that kept rolling on with Gatsby. The next part of the article will focus on the different kinds of websites. So let’s start with the most common category: blogs.
Gatsby sites: Blogs
Gatsby makes it easy to create blogs. Gatsby generates static sites using React and GraphQL. With this, Gatsby can generate highly customizable, fast, and secure pages.
Gatsby's SEO capabilities make blog content easily discoverable by search engines, boosting visibility and engagement. With seamless content management integration, bloggers can efficiently create and manage content using Markdown files or Gatsby CMS platforms.
Learn how to build an SEO-friendly Gatsby blog
Gatsby blog examples: Apollo GraphQL Blog
The Apollo GraphQL blog, powered by Gatsby, provides insights, tutorials, and updates about GraphQL, Apollo Client, and related technologies in the GraphQL ecosystem.
Gatsby blog examples: aGuideHub
aGuideHub is a tech blog created specifically to explain complex tech simply and concisely to budding developers.
Gatsby blog examples: Airbnb Design
The Airbnb platform allows homeowners to rent their properties to travelers. There is a separate website for Airbnb Design, which is used to share design ideas and promote the brand. The website is built using Gatsby.js along with Figma, a popular design tool.
Gatsby sites: Personal Blog website (Portfolio)
The same Gatsby blog features apply to portfolio websites, but these types of websites also require additional ones.
Besides being SEO-friendly and fast, portfolios should:
Have cheap hosting
Easy to edit
Handle traffic so any viral posts don't shut the site down
As Gatsby sites are static websites, they are cheap to host and maintain but still scalable and fast.
Gatsby portfolio examples: Robin Wieruch’s Blog
Gatsby portfolio examples: monica*dev
Gatsby portfolio examples: Kent C. Dodds
From the examples above you can see that there are many possible goals for personal blogs like building a personal brand, providing services, teaching others, or even having a podcast.
Fortunatley, Gatsby is a popular framework for which there are code starters that enable you to launch a personal website without excessive programming knowledge. I wrote about Gatsby starters and made an ultimate list, but if you want to try to build a personal website with BCMS you are more than welcome. Check out Gatsby Personal Website Demo.
Gatsby E-commerce
There are many reasons why Gatsby is a good choice for E-commerce websites.
Firstly, Gatsby's websites are quick to load and have a responsive design, which is crucial for an enjoyable user experience for eCommerce sites. Gatsby offers integrated support for managing payments and transactions, as well as interaction with other technologies like PayPal and Stripe.
Gatsby may also be used to create customized static storefronts for headless web shops, which is useful for eCommerce websites.
It is frequently integrated with Shopify because, by default, Shopify doesn't provide many customization options.
Gatsby E-commerce examples: Urban Armor Gear
Gatsby E-commerce examples: Atelier Cartier Blumen
Gatsby E-commerce examples: Ecobee
Gatsby E-commerce examples: Nutrafol
Gatsby E-commerce examples: Raleigh Bikes
Gatsby E-commerce examples: Little Caesar
Gatsby sites: Company, SAAS, and landing pages websites
The main goal of these websites is to convert visitors into customers. Requirements for company websites, SaaS websites, and landing pages:
Great user experience
Fast page load speed
High performance
Full SEO support
Integrations with user analytics and automation marketing tools
Gatsby easily fulfills all these features. Unlike other static site generators, Gatsby is faster because it can easily fetch data from various sources, including Markdown files, headless CMS, and other sources.
Gatsby landing page examples: PutIO
Gatsby landing page examples: Klaviyo
Gatsby landing page examples: Animoto
Gatsby landing page examples: Leave Me Alone
Gatsby landing page examples: Ably
Gatsby landing page examples: JBHunt
Gatsby SaaS and company sites example: WA.link
Gatsby SaaS and company sites example: DeepL
Gatsby SaaS and company sites example: Bitwarden
Gatsby SaaS and company sites example: Nucor
Gatsby SaaS and company sites example: SpaceX
Gatsby SaaS and company sites example: Chatwoot
Gatsby sites: Documentation
Gatsby is a common tool choice for building documentation websites. React components are one of Gatsby's key advantages for creating content. This allows you to reuse or create new documentation components easily.
Gatsby Documentation site examples: NPM Docs
Gatsby Documentation site examples: Graphene Python
Gatsby Documentation site examples: Node.js HBase
Gatsby Documentation site examples: Amplify
Building Gatsby Sites with BCMS
You can see from the above that using Gatsby has many benefits. Businesses of all sizes who want their users to have a fast, responsive, and secure experience can benefit from its focus on performance, scalability, and security.
The great addition to building static sites is BCMS-the possibilities are really many, for inspiration see Gatsby free code starters, or learn how to build a static site with a headless CMS.
In conclusion, choosing BCMS headless CMS, paired with Gatsby offers a powerful combination for building modern websites and applications. Together, they enable you to create dynamic, content-rich experiences that are easy to maintain, scale, and customize. Whether you're building a blog, portfolio, e-commerce site, or any other web application from this article (or even more) BCMS and Gatsby can unlock endless possibilities for innovation and creativity in your projects.