Strattic FAQ

Static site generator tools like Gatsby, Hugo and Jekyll have a good end product – a static site. But they are missing all the benefits of WordPress – a system that makes it a pleasure to add and edit new content, and a massive WordPress ecosystem to help you along the way.

Strattic lets you have the best of both worlds – WordPress to manage the site, and a static site for site visitors. Plus extra benefits such as a CDN, server-side functionality, automated security features and support.

Let’s take a look at the features that Strattic offers that aren’t included in static site generator tools.

Easy setup. No developer skills required.

In order to use static site generators, you need to be a somewhat advanced developer and feel comfortable with command line and Markup in order to get everything set up.

Strattic provides free migration and then you can continue using WordPress like you always have.

Continue using WordPress as your CMS (Content Management System)

Jekyll and Hugo are popular static site generators, but they are not Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress. Using a CMS makes adding and editing content straightforward and simple for all team members.

WordPress WYSIWYG Editor + Image Editor

Jekyll or Hugo requires adding content with Markdown in a text editor, and lacks an intuitive WordPress editor. WordPress also lets you upload and edit images, which doesn’t exist in Jekyll/Hugo.

Preview posts and pages

Unlike WordPress, Jekyll and Hugo don’t have an easy way to preview your post before you publish it.

Write content from anywhere

If you want to write new content using a static site generator, you’d need to do it from a computer that has the code and tools needed for rebuilding and publishing the site. With WordPress, you can be anywhere that has internet.

WordPress Themes & Plugins

WordPress lets you add on tons of extra functionality with its massive library of plugins (55,527 and counting!) making it really easy to manage your SEO and other features. With Jekyll or Hugo, while there are some plugins, many features become very manual and time-consuming.

WordPress has thousands of beautiful, professionally-developed themes (aka templates) for free, and thousands more paid themes. It’s easy to pick one and get started.

WordPress community

There is a massive, helpful WordPress community, that can guide you along your website projects. The community for Jekyll or Hugo doesn’t have as big of a following.

Functionality which is needed for contact forms, comments, and search

In order to have contact forms, comments, or search functionality on your site, you’d need to use a third-party solution for each.

Strattic supports WordPress contact form plugins and site search.

Security Headers

In order to protect your site from man-in-the-middle and Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, Strattic automatically adds HSTS eligibility for all sites. This extra security measure would need to be done manually with Jekyll or Hugo.

SSL included. No mixed content errors.

Strattic provides users with a free SSL certificate and makes sure that all sites are immediately https and don’t have any mixed content errors. Your site also gets HTTP/2 support. With Jekyll or Hugo, you’re on your own to configure these items on your server.

CDN included

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a way to serve your site’s static assets (images, CSS, Javascript) from a location closest to your user so that the site loads faster.

If you use a Static generator, you’d need to procure and configure a CDN to serve your content.

Support included 🙂

The issue with any free tool is that if you run into any issues, it may be hard to find support quickly.

At Strattic, we’re here to help you along the way.

Comparison chart

To sum up, here’s a chart of the most important features on Strattic versus static generators.

 

If you’d like to learn more, check out our post on the pros and cons of static site generators, you can read our post about it here.