Static Site Generation vs Server-Side Rendering – What’s the Difference?

If you’re just getting into web development, you’ve probably heard terms like Static Site Generation (SSG) and Server-Side Rendering (SSR) thrown around. Don’t worry I’ll simplify these for you in a minute.

🧠 Static Site Generation vs Server-Side Rendering – What’s the Difference?

If you’re just getting into web development, you’ve probably heard terms like Static Site Generation (SSG) and Server-Side Rendering (SSR) thrown around. Don’t worry — they sound more complex than they actually are. Let’s break it down simply.

🏗 Static Site Generation (SSG)

Your website pages are built ahead of time, usually when you deploy the site. The result is a bunch of ready-to-go HTML files that can be served super fast.

When to use it:

• Your content doesn’t change often (like a blog or portfolio)
• You want lightning-fast load times
• You care about SEO and performance

Example:

A blog post that’s written and then published. It doesn’t change unless you edit and redeploy it. Just like this website 😉

🌐 Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

Pages are built on the fly when a user requests them. That means the server pulls in the latest data, builds the page, and sends it to the user.

When to use it:

• Your content changes often or depends on user data
• You need to show real-time updates
• SEO is important, but the content is dynamic

Example:

An online shopping site like Amazon. When you visit, it shows products based on your location, recent views, and current deals — all personalized and updated in real-time.

🚀 Learn by Doing: Try It Yourself!

Whether it’s a blog, portfolio, or dashboard — nothing beats hands-on experience. Start small, learn as you go, and watch your skills grow fast.

Here are some top tools to kick things off:

• 🛠 Hugo – A lightning-fast static site generator, great for blogs and documentation. Perfect for learning SSG.
• ⚡ Next.js – A powerful React framework that supports both SSG and SSR. Great for modern, dynamic apps.
• 🐍 Django – A high-level Python web framework that’s fantastic for learning server-side rendering. You can build full-featured, dynamic websites with built-in tools for templates, user accounts, and more.

🥱 TL;DR

• SSG = Fast, great for mostly static sites and blogs
• SSR = Fresh, great for dynamic content that changes often

👋 See you in the next post!