head to head · open source
gatsby vs bridgetown
gatsby has 55,921 GitHub stars, 10,089 forks, 450 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. bridgetown has 1,376 stars, 133 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. gatsby leads on adoption by 3,964% (55,921 vs 1,376 stars). gatsby is written in JavaScript under MIT; bridgetown is written in Ruby under MIT. gatsby has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, bridgetown 10%. gatsby was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (static-site-generator), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| gatsby | bridgetown | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-10-20 | 2026-10-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 133 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gatsby if
- You weight community size — 56K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bridgetown if
- You want the bridgetown feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and bridgetown fits your workflow better
About gatsby
Gatsby The future of web development is here. Gatsby is a free and open source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps. It combines the control and scalability of dynamically rendered sites with the speed of static site generation, creating a whole new web of possibilities. Quickstart · Tutorial · Plugins · Starters · Showcase · Contribute Support: Discussions Gatsby helps professional developers efficiently create maintainable, highly performant, content rich websites. Load Data From Anywhere. Gatsby pulls in data from any data source, whether it’s Markdown files, a…
read the full gatsby overview →
About bridgetown
Bridgetown Bridgetown is a next generation, progressive site generator & fullstack framework, powered by Ruby. Bridgetown takes your local content and external data loaded from APIs; renders templates in Markdown, ERB, and many other formats; automatically compiles frontend assets via esbuild; and exports a complete website ready to be served by fast CDNs like Render or traditional web servers. Bridgetown also integrates closely with Roda for fullstack, dynamic web application functionality—but only when and where you need it. Sponsor Bridgetown Development 🙏 Your direct financial assistance is greatly…
read the full bridgetown overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gatsby or bridgetown more popular?
gatsby has 55,921 GitHub stars and bridgetown has 1,376. gatsby has the larger community by that measure.
Are gatsby and bridgetown free?
Both are open source. gatsby is licensed under MIT and bridgetown under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gatsby and bridgetown?
gatsby is written in JavaScript and bridgetown in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gatsby or bridgetown?
Choose gatsby if you want the larger community (55,921 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose bridgetown if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.