Overview

Gatsby’s GraphQL layer gives page and StaticQuery components a consistent way to request content from APIs and other services. That can suit sites pulling from several sources, though it brings more structure than a small, straightforward site may need. Gatsby supports Static Site Generation, Deferred Static Generation, and Server-Side Rendering, so teams can choose among different rendering approaches in one framework.

Code-splitting, image optimization, lazy-loading, webpack, and Deferred Static Generation are included. These built-in capabilities give React developers useful performance and delivery tools without requiring a separate framework for each one. Gatsby 5 requires Node 18 and React 18, so teams on older versions must account for that requirement.

Key features

Content and integrations

The plugin library has 3,269 results across areas including CMS, CSS and UI, analytics, e-commerce, payments, authentication, and search. Official CMS integrations include Contentful, Sanity, Drupal, Strapi, and WordPress; hosting integrations include AWS S3, Azure, Firebase, Netlify, and Vercel. This breadth is useful when a project needs to connect an existing content or hosting stack, though choosing and maintaining integrations is part of adopting a framework rather than a turnkey site builder.

Gatsby also supports multilingual sites, incremental builds, and a local preview server. Its supported languages are JavaScript and Node.js, making it a natural fit for teams already working in that ecosystem rather than those seeking a language-neutral workflow.

Hosting, security, and collaboration

Gatsby Cloud was to be incorporated into Netlify’s platform after Gatsby Inc. joined Netlify. Netlify describes its platform as SOC 2 certified, and Gatsby says its security program is SOC 2 Type 2 certified for Security, Availability, and Confidentiality and adheres to GDPR. Account protections include one-time-password authentication apps, while teams can assign roles and permissions and let users belong to multiple teams. Integrations include GitHub Enterprise Server, self-managed GitLab, Bitbucket, and a Netlify app for Slack.

Support options include priority email support and 24/7/365 support with an SLA. Gatsby says users can open an issue and ask a question for a response from the project team, but it does not operate a formal bug bounty program or pay monetary rewards for vulnerability reports.

Pricing

The open-source framework is free. Hosted plans start with a free tier and move to monthly credit allowances; projects pause when they reach their monthly usage limit, so the cap matters for sites that cannot tolerate an interruption.

Plan	Price	What it includes	Best fit
Gatsby open source	Free	Open-source framework; billed always free	Developers who want the framework without a hosted plan.
Free	Free	$0 forever; 300 credits / month, unlimited deploy previews, custom domains with SSL	Small projects or evaluation where the monthly credit cap is workable.
Personal	9.00 USD per month	$9 /month; 1,000 credits / month, priority email support, 1-day observability	Individuals who need more credits and a support channel beyond the free tier.
Pro	20.00 USD per month	$20 /month with unlimited members; 3+ concurrent builds, 30-day analytics & metrics, monthly credits from plan	Teams that need concurrent builds, longer analytics and metrics, and no member limit.
Enterprise	Custom pricing	99.99% SLA, enterprise network tier, SSO & SCIM, 24/7 dedicated support	Organizations that need enterprise access controls and dedicated support.

The Free plan’s unlimited previews and custom domains with SSL are useful, but its 300-credit allowance is a real ceiling. Serverless Functions on the free plan are separately limited to 100,000 invocations per month, 128MB of memory, and a 15-second timeout. New projects on credit-based accounts start private until published. Choose Personal or Pro for their stated credit and support additions; choose Enterprise when its SLA, SSO and SCIM, or dedicated support are requirements.

Platforms

Gatsby is available for web, API, and self-hosted use. Its supported languages are JavaScript and Node.js.

Who it's for

Gatsby suits React teams building content-rich sites that benefit from multiple rendering options, a unified GraphQL data layer, and a broad integration ecosystem. It is less compelling for a simple site that does not need that framework structure, or for a team unable to meet Gatsby 5’s Node 18 and React 18 requirements.

Pros and cons

Multiple rendering choices: SSG, DSG, and SSR let teams choose an approach within one framework.
Broad integration ecosystem: Thousands of plugin results and official CMS and hosting integrations help connect existing services.
Useful free hosting allowance: Unlimited deploy previews and custom domains with SSL are included, but usage still stops at 300 monthly credits.
Hard usage pauses: Projects pause at monthly limits until the next billing cycle, which can disrupt a site that outgrows its allowance.
Version requirements: Gatsby 5 needs Node 18 and React 18, which may constrain teams on older stacks.
Bounded free functions: The 100,000 monthly invocation, 128MB memory, and 15-second timeout limits narrow the free tier’s serverless use.

Alternatives

For other static-site options, browse Static site generators. Choose Eleventy for a free, MIT-licensed, self-hosted static-site generator; Cecil for free software distributed under the EUPL-1.2 license; or Nanoc for a free passion project. Bridgetown is another free option with API, self-hosted, and desktop-platform support.

Hugo is a free, open-source alternative for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Metalsmith is free software under MIT/(L)GPL licenses; Lume is a free static-site generator for Deno; and Publii is a free option for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Verdict

Choose Gatsby if your React team needs several rendering approaches, a GraphQL layer across content sources, and integrations for an established web stack. Its free framework and broad ecosystem are compelling, but hosted credit caps can pause projects, and the framework is a poor fit for teams that need a simpler tool or cannot meet its current runtime requirements.

	Cobalt	Gatsby
Free plan		Yes
Paid from		$9/mo
Platforms	Linux, macOS, Windows	api, self-hosted, Web
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Content sources	markdown	api
Local preview server	Yes	Yes
Supported languages	Rust	JavaScript, Node.js
Paid from		$9/mo
CMS integration		Yes
Incremental builds		Yes
Multilingual support		Yes

Cobalt vs Gatsby

Cobalt

Gatsby