Astro

Astro ships zero JavaScript by default. For content-driven websites — blogs, docs, marketing pages, portfolios — that means near-perfect Lighthouse scores with 90% smaller bundles than Next.js. Cloudflare acquired Astro in January 2026, giving it infrastructure-level backing and long-term credibility.

Next.js is the full-stack React framework for interactive apps. Gatsby is in decline since Netlify's acquisition. Hugo is faster for pure static sites but Go-template syntax is painful. Astro's killer feature: you can mix React, Vue, and Svelte components in the same project with Islands Architecture.

Use Astro if you're building anything content-first — your blog, docs site, landing page, or marketing site. It builds 10x faster than Next.js for static content and the output is plain HTML.

The catch: Astro is not for interactive apps. If you need client-side state management, real-time features, or complex dashboards, use Next.js or SvelteKit. The ecosystem is newer and smaller. And the "Other" license (custom Astro license) isn't standard MIT/Apache — read it before building commercial products.