Olaf Minkowicz / STOP USING GATSBY, GATSBY IS DEAD

Created Thu, 02 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Modified Sun, 08 Feb 2026 15:54:47 -0800
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STOP USING GATSBY, GATSBY IS DEAD

STOP USING GATSBY, GATSBY IS DEAD

Catchy Title, Eh?: Why the Problems Gatsby Solved Are Now Solved Better by Everyone Else

Table of Contents

TL;DR

Gatsby was revolutionary in 2017 with GraphQL-powered static sites and image optimization. Now? The problems it solved are better handled by Next.js, Astro, and basically every modern framework. BRUTALITY: 45% drop in downloads 1, lowest retention rate among all meta-frameworks 2, and only 1 minor update in all of 2024 3. Just don’t start new projects with Gatsby.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

I’ve been meaning to create this blog since 2020, back then planning a shiny new site powered by Gatsby for my small buisness, RookTKO, which I honestlt gave up on after weeks of configs to get everything up and running. Gatsby was legitimately revolutionary when it launched in 2017: GraphQL data layer unifying multiple sources, automatic image optimization (WebP, AVIF), code-splitting, prefetching, PWA features by default, was the framework for ambitious static sites.

I got hooked on it after seeing some of the SYNTAX podact guys use it, Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski, and I thought, “Ooooh, shiny”. And honestly, had a real bad experience with it at a company that was using it as a overcomplicated solution to a problem that really made me spazz out, so, with that in mind, I might not be the best person, as I am biased, to argue this case (Well, RIP Gatsby 2023. After Netlify swooped in, things went quiet, and the community started feeling majorly abandoned 4.), but the data is pretty clear. Or whatever, you can decide for yourself after reading the rest of this post, because honestly don’t ever believe me. But I did add links and made it concise.

NPM Downloads: 45% Decline

Meanwhile, Next.js added 1.6 million weekly downloads in the same period, hitting 3.95 million 1.

State of JavaScript: Lowest Retention

Check the 2024 State of JS meta-frameworks data 2. Gatsby’s retention collapsed:

The survey notes: “If not for Gatsby, Next.js would be dead last” in retention, meaning Gatsby is now the least loved meta-framework 2.

State of JavaScript 2024: Gatsby retention at 27% with only 2,464 users Gatsby sits at the bottom of the retention chart with just 27% of developers wanting to use it again.

State of JavaScript 2024: Framework satisfaction rankings Gatsby ranks in the lowest tier (C) with just 27% satisfaction, below even legacy frameworks like Angular.

Development Activity: Flatlined

  • 2024: Only 1 minor update in the 5.x branch (mostly dependency bumps) 3
  • January 2025: gatsby-starter-blog-theme repository archived and made read-only
  • Mid-2024: Zero commits for 24-day periods 5

A Netlify maintainer confirmed: “the current level of limited development (security fixes, limited dependency updates, low-hanging-fruit bug fixes)” is all we’re getting 4.

From GitHub discussions: “The whole staff is gone except one person” and “it would most likely NOT be supported anymore” 4.

My Gatsby Woes (And Why You’ll Have Them Too)

Upgrading Hurt

Moving from one version to another practically felt like a root canal with messy dependency conflicts everywhere. Gatsby ships with 168 dependencies compared to Next.js’s 16 6. One Reddit user 7 commented,

“I didn’t realize how many issues I’d face with Gatsby plugins until the jump from v3 to v4. It’s not worth it anymore.”

Plugin Graveyard

Many plugins went dormant. I ended up either scrapping them or writing my own from scratch. The gatsby-source-shopify plugin (10,000+ weekly downloads) was set to break in January 2025 due to Shopify API deprecation, with no timely updates 4. Another Reddit user 8 chimed in,

“Maintainers are moving on. I had to fork a few plugins just to keep them alive.”

Template 404s

So many templates have dropped off the face of the Earth, it’s like a ghost town.

Build Times That Make You Age

For a 40-page site, Gatsby takes 2 minutes 45 seconds to build. Astro? Under 50 seconds, 3.3x faster 9. Some sites reported build times of 4.8 hours before optimization 10.

Dev server startup: Gatsby 30+ seconds 6 vs Vite 500ms 6.

React Upgrades?

Gatsby v5 doesn’t even support the latest React 19 11, and the main branch commits are mostly fixes or doc updates, not real development 3. It wasn’t until v5.16 in late 2024 that React 19 got added, with caveats: document metadata hoisting disabled, Partial Hydration incompatible, community plugins not updated. Next.js and Remix had React 19 support much earlier.

What Killed Gatsby

Netlify Acquisition (February 2023)

Netlify acquired Gatsby Inc. for an undisclosed price 12. Gatsby had raised $46.8 million total. But the acquisition focused on Gatsby’s plugin ecosystem and Valhalla Content Hub, not the framework itself 12.

Post-acquisition: Gatsby Cloud sunset, mass layoffs “substantially reduced the headcount” 4, 2024 roadmap promised but never delivered, community formed Gatsby User Collective to maintain critical plugins 4.

GraphQL: From Feature to Liability

Gatsby’s GraphQL data layer was innovative in 2017. In 2024? Overhead without benefit.

Problems: “Every content change triggers GraphQL re-execution, pushing build times from seconds to minutes” 9. Type inference is “quite time-consuming” and “does not scale very well” 13. If field values are different types, “Gatsby cannot decide which one is the correct one” and schema generation fails 13.

Modern alternatives are simpler: Astro Content Collections (type-safe, no GraphQL), Next.js Server Components (direct async data fetching). Result: Developers report builds dropping “from several minutes to under a minute” after migrating 9.

Better Alternatives Emerged

Every problem Gatsby solved in 2017 is now solved better:

FeatureGatsbyModern Alternative
Image optimizationgatsby-plugin-image, Sharp libraryNext.js/Astro: Same Sharp library, no GraphQL overhead 149
Data fetchingGraphQL layer for all sourcesNext.js: Server Components, async/await
Astro: Content Collections 149
PerformanceFull React hydration, 200+ KB JSAstro: Island architecture, 5 KB JS (40x less) 9
Build times (40-page site)2m 45sAstro: 50s
Next.js: 50s 914
Dev experience168 dependencies, 30+ sec startupNext.js: 16 dependencies
Vite: 500ms startup 6

Where Everyone’s Going

Next.js: The Dominant Successor

Usage: 3.95 million weekly downloads vs Gatsby’s 269k 1 State of JS 2024: “Leads with steady growth, ~60% adoption” 2 Why: Multiple rendering modes (SSG, SSR, ISR), massive ecosystem, active development.

Astro: The Performance Champion

Build speed: 3x faster than Gatsby 9 JavaScript: 40x less (5 KB vs 200+ KB) 9 Why: Island architecture, Content Collections (no GraphQL), framework flexibility. Migration: Official Astro guide: “Migrating from Gatsby” 15

Also Consider

  • Remix: Full-stack SSR, progressive enhancement, route-based data loading (no GraphQL)
  • Vite + React: 500ms startup 6, minimal dependencies, no SSG/SSR overhead
  • Hydrogen: For e-commerce (gatsby-source-shopify broke in Jan 2025 4)

Industry Consensus: Hard Pass

Stackademic (2024): “The short answer to whether you should use Gatsby.js in 2024/2025 is: No, not unless you’re already invested in it” 5

Smashing Magazine (2024): “Starting a new project? Gatsby should be off your radar” 6

“I’m switching away from Gatsby because it’s basically on life support,” (Reddit user) 7

The Verdict

Gatsby led GraphQL-powered static sites and image optimization between 2017-2020.

But here’s the brutal truth: Every problem Gatsby solved is now solved better by Next.js, Astro, Remix, or Vite. The data is unambiguous:

  • 45% drop in downloads 1
  • Lowest retention rate (27%) among all meta-frameworks 2
  • 3.3x slower builds than Astro 9
  • 40x more JavaScript than Astro 9
  • 10.5x more dependencies than Next.js 6
  • Only 1 minor update in 2024 3

For new projects: Gatsby is inadvisable. Choose Next.js for versatility, Astro for content sites, or Remix for full-stack apps.

For existing projects: If it works, keep it running, but plan your exit strategy.

Don’t just take my word for it (seriously, don’t): check the State of JS 2024 data 2, poke around Reddit 7, and read the GitHub discussions 4 yourself. Once you see how the alternatives perform (and how quiet Gatsby’s development has become), you’ll probably never look back.

Further Reading

Want to dive deeper? Here are additional perspectives on Gatsby’s decline and migration guides:

Critical Analysis

Technical Comparisons

Real Migration Stories

Developers who actually made the switch:

Podcast & Video Discussions

References

  1. NPM Trends: Gatsby vs Next.js. (2024). Download Statistics ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. State of JavaScript 2024: Meta-Frameworks. (2024). Survey Results ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. Gatsby Master Branch. (2024). Commit History. GitHub ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. Gatsby Discussion #39062. (2023). Is GatsbyJS Officially Dead? GitHub ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. Stackademic. (2024). Should I Use Gatsby.js in 2024/2025? Medium ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. Smashing Magazine. (2024). The End Of My Gatsby Journey. Article ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. Reddit Thread. (2023). Is Gatsby Dying? r/gatsbyjs ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. Reddit Thread. (2023). Netlify Acquired Gatsby, What’s Next? r/gatsbyjs ↩︎

  9. Strapi. (2025). Astro vs Gatsby in 2025 for Developers. Article ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  10. Gatsby Documentation. Improving Build Performance. Docs ↩︎

  11. Gatsby Issue #39180. (2024). React 19 not supported by Gatsby v5. GitHub ↩︎

  12. TechCrunch. (2023). Netlify acquires Gatsby. Article ↩︎ ↩︎

  13. Gatsby Documentation. GraphQL Concepts. Docs ↩︎ ↩︎

  14. Pagepro. (2024). Next.js vs Gatsby. Article ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  15. Astro Documentation. Migrating from Gatsby. Guide ↩︎

  16. Bejamas. (2025). Gatsby is going down, and it’s taking your website along. Article ↩︎

  17. BCMS. (2024). Why developers love to hate Gatsby.js instead of using it. Article ↩︎

  18. ikius. (2024). Is Gatsby.js dead and is this the end for them? Article ↩︎

  19. elpuas. (2024). Is GatsbyJS Still Relevant in 2024? Article ↩︎

  20. caisy. (2024). Astro vs Gatsby: An In-Depth Comparison. Article ↩︎

  21. Sapegin, A. (2024). Migrating my blog from Gatsby to Astro. Blog ↩︎

  22. Wenger, J. (2024). From Gatsby gridlock to Astro bliss: my personal site redesign. Blog ↩︎

  23. loige.co. (2024). Migrating from Gatsby to Astro. Blog ↩︎

  24. ButterCMS. (2024). Migrating a Marketing Site from Gatsby to Next.js: A Technical Guide. Article ↩︎

  25. Syntax Podcast (Wes Bos & Scott Tolinski). Gatsby Framework Discussion. YouTube ↩︎