Astro is adding (optional) client-side routing. I’m excited about that.

Doesn’t NextJS do that with client-side JS though?

I recently moved from Gatsby, which did that — and the transitions sure are instantaneous — to Astro, which outputs plain HTML pages. Each navigation is a request to the server. Yeah, they take a touch longer. But the response is tiny.

You could always `preload`?

I tried preload, it doesn't work as well as with NextJS which, yes, uses client side JS. But critically, the pages still work without JS if one so chooses. It's progressive enhancement which Astro does not yet have.

Could you explain a bit what you do like/don't like about Gatsby compared to Astro?

I used to use Gatsby, but the non standard plugin system as well as forcing GraphQL (I use GQL in my own projects but it's just not necessary for a blog site for example, which Gatsby markets itself as being for) put me off Gatsby and onto NextJS, especially when NextJS introduced their static site rendering features. Now with server components, there doesn't seem to be a real need to use Gatsby anymore.

Gatsby felt like it had grown in to a monster. Astro was a lot simpler which suits my needs and, frankly, skill.

I worry that Astro is adding too many features and trying to become Gatsby. No thanks!