Best 24 Gatsby websites to draw inspiration from in 2024 and beyond

By Ikius Team

21st November, 2022

When it comes to modern web development, Gatsby always comes to mind. According to the 2022 Jamstack Survey, 28% of developers use Gatsby for some or many projects. This positions Gatsby in the same tier as other tools and meta-frameworks like Next.js, React, and Remix.

Not to mention, since it uses React (which has been rising in popularity), it allows you to use modern frontend technologies and frameworks to create amazing user interfaces.

But this alone may not be enough for you to get hyped about Gatsby, so I wanted to show you the coolest, better-functioning Gatsby sites I could find. I'll highlight some of my favorite gatsby websites from the past year and share some exciting new projects that I think will take the web by storm in 2024. Let's get started!

Just take a look at these 24 inspiring examples of Gatsby.js websites.

In this post:

What is Gatsby.js?

Gatsby is a free and open source framework based on React that helps developers create blazing-fast websites and apps. Not only is Gatsby.js easy to use, but it also produces amazing results.

It uses modern technologies and web standards such as CSS modules, Babel, and webpack. Its focus on performance, scalability, and security sets it apart from other frameworks.

When building with Gatsby, you access your data through a query language named GraphQL. GraphQL allows you to express your data needs declaratively. This is done with queries; queries represent the data you need. A CMS can read that database in JSON format and then use Gatsby to build a breathtaking frontend.

Using Gatsby, developers can create amazing user experiences without sacrificing any of these key aspects. Let's take a closer look at some of the benefits of using Gatsby.js.

Read More: What is Gatsby.js?

The anatomy of a Gatsby website

Gatsby is a content mesh. This means that it connects different data sources using external APIs. For example, you can pull data from sources as disparate as a headless CMS, a CSV file, and a Notion page. Gatsby’s data-agnostic stance makes it an incredibly flexible framework to build front-ends with.

Gatsby’s approach to web development makes it a great choice to build Jamstack websites because it allows granular control over the front-end, leaving database provisioning and server maintenance to other parts of your tech stack.

So, a typical Gatsby site has the following parts:

• A database –a headless CMS, a CSV file, or even a Notion page

• A GraphQL data layer that can query data from your CMS and present it as a website

• A deployment tool like Vercel, Netlify, or Heroku

Most inspiring Gatsby websites in 2024

Blog

Gatsby.js is a great tool for creating blogs. Gatsby.js is a static site generator that uses React and GraphQL. This means that Gatsby.js can create fast, secure, and highly customizable pages.

Gatsby.js also has many plugins available that can be used to add features to your blogs, such as social media integration, comments, and forms. In addition, Gatsby.js is open source and free to use.

Patreon Blog’s site comes off as friendly. Users can quickly move from one post to another with fast page loading and a great layout. The integrated social media buttons on each blog post make it simple for users to follow Patreon on Facebook or Twitter and email them. Plus, each post has an added tag making it very easy to find what you want.

Let’s Do Dish!’s site helps users quickly find their new favorite dish. The front page houses hundreds of dishes yet scrolls through seamlessly. Thanks to Gatsby, each recipe page loads fast and contains bright, bold pictures of food that don’t lose clarity with decreased size.  

Unique and clever, Overreacted.io provides an incredible experience. Users can customize their experience through a night or day color contrast slider at the top when first jumping on. Additionally, the front page contains a rich design full of short memos that users can scroll through smoothly.

Business

Gatsby.js is a static site generator that uses React and GraphQL. It is a good tool for businesses because it is fast, SEO friendly, and can be used to create business sites.

Gatsby.js is faster than other static site generators because it can easily fetch data from various sources, including Markdown files, headless CMS, and other sources.

Linktree’s website is nothing short of engaging. Not only are images clear and bright, but they are interactive with the user’s mouse. As users go from one page to the next, images load quickly on pages filled with content or pop up with animated scrolling. Add this to efficient, intuitive navigation, and you have a site that keeps customers returning.

SendGrid is a site that does it all. It features many pages, but navigating through them is as easy as a few clicks. Users will find the gifs and seamless scrolling encouraging them to keep moving. Not to forget that the color choices on the site have great contrast, making the website accessible to all users.

Phoneclaim’s site is unique and customized to the user’s cellular plan provider. Although it needs to fetch data from many sources, users experience a seamless, millisecond page load. Each of these pages has an easy-to-learn layout and great image optimization. They also have large text, making it easy for users to read and utilize.

Documentation

Gatsby.js is a fantastic tool for creating documentation websites. One of the key advantages of Gatsby.js is that it allows you to use React components to create your content. This means you can easily reuse or create new components for your documentation site.

Gatsby.js also has a strong plugin ecosystem, making adding additional features to your site easy. For example, you could use the animate on scroll plugin to add animation to your website or the Disqus plugin to add comments to your documentation pages.

Amplify’s website has dozens of pages featuring guides, articles, and more. Yet, it doesn’t slow down. It still loads all content, including interactive content, quickly. Users will find the interactive content fun and helpful as it allows them to interact with actual code.  

Users will find Typescript’s site to be very welcoming. It has lots of interactive and customizable elements. Thanks to Gatsby’s plugins, users can interact with several code examples. At the bottom of the page, there is an option to customize the site’s color contrast and font-increasing its personalization.

ReactJS has incredible navigation. On each page, there is a side table of contents that doesn’t move with scrolling. This allows users to move from one page to the next as needed. The blog posts also have a near integration. In them, users can see the code behind the posts along with insights, contributors, security history, and more.

eCommerce

There are many reasons why Gatsby.js is a good choice for eCommerce websites. First, Gatsby.js sites are fast and responsive, which is important for providing a good user experience on eCommerce websites.

Gatsby.js provides built-in support for handling payments and transactions and integration with third-party tools like Stripe and PayPal. Finally, Gatsby.js sites can be easily deployed to static hosting platforms like Netlify, making it easy to launch and scale an eCommerce website without worrying about server administration or complex deployments.

Little Caesar's website is a popular pizza restaurant with thousands of customers daily. It finds local restaurants near the user in a flash. This, alongside the large text and buttons, makes it quick and accessible. When ordering, the user experiences a smooth and secure payment process.

Prima’s site is stunning. Each item has pictures, gifs, and a comment and review section to give customers as much information as possible. Notably, Prima has an excellent payment process. It is quick and has the payment option of Sezzle (a buy now, pay later system) integrated.

The moment you scroll through Ecobee, you are hooked. Ecobee’s front page contains animated scrolling with bright images and a graph. Each page is responsive, and when users finally order, they’ll experience an efficient payment process with both Shoppay and Klarna integrated.

Education

Gatsby.js uses aggressive caching and code splitting to ensure your site loads quickly. This is important for educational websites because you want students to be able to access the content as quickly as possible.

Gatsby.js sites are statically generated, meaning there are no dynamic servers to hack into.  This is vital for educational websites because they’re prone to be hacked by disgruntled students or malicious actors.

Students using the University of Bristol website will find it as quick as a click to get where they need to go. The site’s layout is perfect for finding last-minute information during finals season. The footer even has a helpful alphabetical page list that users can reference.

Visitors to the Science Museum of Minnesota are certain not to get lost on the site. Its charming, adorable layout keeps users engaged. It features large buttons and great content for an accessible site that all users can use. With static generation, pages load fast, even under high traffic.

Shaw Academy is a popular online course site. Gatsby allows it to maintain speed under pressure. Users can find their courses quickly with the error-tolerant search bar. It finds the best dozen or so results for unrelated search topics to help the user not fall behind.

Finance

Gatsby.js is a modern JavaScript-based static site generator. One of its main advantages is that it enables finance websites to be easily built with React. Gatsby.js also has built-in GraphQL support, making data management very straightforward.

Gatsby.js offers many plugins that can add extra functionality to finance websites. For example, some plugins enable social media integration and Google Analytics support. Gatsby.js is an excellent choice for building finance websites due to its ease of use and flexibility.

When going on Wealthsimple, it’ll feel geared for you. It keeps users engaged with animated scrolling and headers but also with its added functionalities for personalization. Several pages feature tax and other financial calculators that can be customized depending on the user’s location.

Bitcoin’s site has many functionalities. Users will appreciate interactive front page investments, integrated Moonpay, and real-time market data on the front page. Its mobile site also keeps all these functionalities while having a great, easy-to-learn layout. Don't forget that the site is awesome for accessibility with stark color contrast.

Right on the front page, Paybright shows several pages filled with sites it is integrated with. Each site includes a photo that remains clear even with decreased size. Users will find that the site fetches data quickly from these sites while remaining responsive.

Health

Gatsby.js is perfect for healthcare websites because it helps to keep the code organized and makes it easy to add new content. For example, if you want to add a new page to your healthcare website, you can create a new React component, and Gatsby.js will take care of the rest.

Gatsby.js is also great for managing large amounts of data. If you have a lot of content on your healthcare website, Gatsby.js can help you keep it organized and easily retrieve the information you need.

 Headspace creates an awesome experience. It features a lot of information and a lot of pages. Yet, it isn’t weighed down. The navigation bar is simple to learn, loads quickly, and shows off intuitive organization. Additionally, the mobile site has great optimization. It includes added features to keep the same information as the desktop one.

Policygenius

The colors and images jump out when you get onto Policygenius’ site. Their clear, bright images attract users forward. What keeps users moving is their organization. Although it has dozens and dozens of pages and information, it doesn’t feel like it. Their varying layouts and page speeds help the website feel lightweight.

OnCallogy’s website is an effective one. As a healthcare site, it has amazing accessibility with color contrast, alt text, and intuitive navigation. With easy navigation, providers will find it simple to discover more information about it and how to sign up in seconds upon arrival.  

Media

Gatsby.js is a popular JavaScript framework that is often used for media websites. For example, Gatsby.js has a great image optimization plugin that can help you speed up loading times.

Gatsby.js has various tools and other plugins to improve performance and add new features. Gatsby.js is an excellent choice for media websites due to its ease of use and high performance.

Showing off its image optimization, Girlboss is every bit aesthetically pleasing. Images are bright and bold and don’t lose clarity with decreased size. Every page has multiple images, but with lazy loading, pages load quickly and don’t lose speed. It’s entertaining and engaging.

edX site faces high traffic but doesn’t lose any performance. Their front page includes a great section that includes their pages, helping users find their way around. Plus, their page load speeds are blazingly fast. Even pages with a ton of content load in milliseconds.

Scrolling through National Geographic UK’s site, you’ll see a lot of high-performance integrations and customizations. Each post has social media buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Flipboard, and email. You can also view privacy options to manage how your data is used even if you're not signed in.

If you stuck around after the website round, got all hyped about Gatsby, and want to read more about how it makes your sites great, let’s continue.  

Benefits of Gatsby

Ease of use

One of the best things about Gatsby.js is its simplicity. This tool was designed to simplify developers' lives by streamlining the development process. With Gatsby.js, you don't need to worry about configuring complex build systems or managing dependencies –everything is taken care of for you. This means you can spend more time developing your application and less time worrying about the technical details.

Fast performance

Gatsby.js applications are fast by default. They are statically generated, load faster, and use fewer resources. Static Generation is also more secure because there is no way for attackers to inject malicious code into your application. Users will experience your website or application better, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

High scalability

Scaling a Gatsby website to receive more users and requests is fairly easy. You can start with a small website and gradually add more content and features as your traffic grows. The generated HTML files are lightweight, so they can be served quickly from a CDN without using much bandwidth. This also makes your website more resilient to traffic spikes.

Superior security

Static site generation makes your Gatsby site secure by default. This means that there is no way for attackers to inject malicious code into your website. Your website will also be served over HTTPS, adding an extra security layer.  If you're concerned about data breaches, you can rest assured that Gatsby websites are less likely to be hacked due to their static nature.

Flexibility

One of the great things about Gatsby is its flexibility - it can be used for anything from simple static websites to complex enterprise-level applications. Thanks to its plugin system, Gatsby is highly customizable and can be adapted to fit any project's needs. And if you need a plugin that doesn't exist yet, you can easily create your own and share it with the community via npm (the node package manager).

Closing thoughts

As you can see, there are many benefits to using Gatsby.js for your next web development project. Focusing on performance, scalability, and security makes it a great choice for businesses of all sizes who want to provide their users with a fast, responsive, secure experience.

The fact that it is free and open source makes it an even more appealing option for budget-conscious developers. So, if you're looking for a JavaScript framework to help you create amazing user experiences, let's give Gatsby a try!