head to head · open source
next.js vs bridgetown
next.js has 142,343 GitHub stars, 32,220 forks, 3,358 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bridgetown has 1,365 stars, 132 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. next.js leads on adoption by 10,328% (142,343 vs 1,365 stars). next.js is written in JavaScript under MIT; bridgetown is written in Ruby under MIT. next.js has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, bridgetown 10%. next.js 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
| next.js | bridgetown | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 142K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 32K | ⑂ 132 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick next.js if
- You weight community size — 142K 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 next.js
Next.js is a JavaScript framework for building web applications, distributed under the MIT license and described by its maintainers as "The React Framework." It extends the latest React features so that developers can build full stack web applications, and it integrates Rust based JavaScript tooling to produce fast builds. The project lives in the React and Node ecosystem, and its topic list places it among static site generators, server rendering tools, hybrid and universal rendering approaches, and compiler oriented front end tooling. The repository is ten years old and has been pushed as recently as September …
read the full next.js overview →
About bridgetown
Bridgetown is a Ruby powered progressive site generator and fullstack framework for building blogs, documentation sites, and personal websites. It lives in the Ruby and Jamstack ecosystem, combining static site generation with optional dynamic web application functionality through Roda.
read the full bridgetown overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is next.js or bridgetown more popular?
next.js has 142,343 GitHub stars and bridgetown has 1,365. next.js has the larger community by that measure.
Are next.js and bridgetown free?
Both are open source. next.js is licensed under MIT and bridgetown under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between next.js and bridgetown?
next.js 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, next.js or bridgetown?
Choose next.js if you want the larger community (142,343 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose bridgetown if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.