Update (2021): Are you interested in pushing the boundaries of your Jamstack websites? Browse our new curated lists of Jamstack tools, and compare the features that matter to you.
Think you need a backend? Think again. With the huge number of plugins, apps and services you can drop into static sites, there’s not a lot you can’t do.
There’s no hiding it, we love static websites. They’re simple, easy to maintain and super fast. Not everyone shares our slightly obsessive point of view though. The main reasons we hear for not using static websites are:
Non-technical users can’t update static websites easily. This is a problem we’re working hard to solve at CloudCannon.
I can’t do this without a backend. With the huge number of apps and services you can drop into static websites there’s actually not a lot you can’t do with static websites.
Today I’m rounding up the best of these services.
Capture email addresses and send periodic newsletters.
Build communities by allowing your visitors to post comments on your website.
Add contact forms without having to do any backend coding.
Chat directly with visitors.
Simple e-commerce is possible on static websites.
Get feedback by adding a survey to your site.
Full search capability for static websites.
Even full backends with authentication are available for static websites.
Analyse what visitors are doing on your website.
Content you can drop into your static websites.
As you add more JavaScript to your website it's worth tracking any errors that arise.
This is only scratching the surface of the apps and services available for static websites. Recently, we’ve created the Jamstack Ecosystem, a curated list of tools and services for Jamstack projects so that you can compare the features that matter to you.