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Static vs. Dynamic Websites: Understanding the Key Differences

A website is an interactive way to promote a brand’s product or service, communicate with the audience, and make sales. This can also excellent way to establish brand awareness and build trust among the target audience. However, the answer to the question of which is better static vs. dynamic website development remains controversial. Each of these websites has its own set of advantages and limitations, so the answer to this question is purely subjective.

Updated On

Jan 04, 2025

Published On

Jan 04, 2025

Time To Read

7 Mins

To help you understand the differences better, we have created a simple and streamlined structure, a step-by-step guide. In this blog, let us understand in detail about these two websites, their advantages, limitations, and differences, and which one is better for which kind of business. This is a comprehensive guide to help you understand these two types of websites better and help you choose the best one for your business, in case you are planning on building a website for your brand. Read this blog till the end as this will be your first step in building your own website, to choose between static and dynamic websites to create a web page.

The basic context of a website

No matter which website you visit, despite all the complexity involved, a webpage is just an HTML file displayed on a web browser. This is applicable to both static and dynamic websites, when a user visits a website, the browser sends a default request to the host server and if everything works fine, the server responds back with an HTML file, a webpage. So what makes website design examples, the static and dynamic websites different? It is the information that is displayed on them.

Static websites vs. dynamic websites

In simple terms, a static website keeps all the information of a webpage the same for every user that accesses it, until and unless it is updated or modified by the developer. Whereas, a dynamic website offers the ability to deliver different information to different visitors, based on their behaviour, preferences, and interactions.

What is a static website?

When people hear static, they misunderstand that these websites do not respond to any user interactions. However, a static website keeps the content similar for all the users and this information cannot be modified on the server, people can still interact with these websites. In these websites, the webpages returned by the servers are prebuilt source code files that are built using simple languages. This means the web pages that are returned by the server undergo no processing as there is no interaction with the databases.

Classic static business website examples

  1. Blog pages website
  2. Portfolio website
  3. Brochure website
  4. Landing pages
  5. One-off landing web pages
  6. Other read-only web pages

Behind the scenes of a static website

  1. User types a URL into a browser.
  2. Browser requests HTML from a server.
  3. Server delivers HTML to the browser.
  4. Browser renders HTML into the webpage.

Advantages of static website

  1. Since the content is same for every browser and user, the loading times are significantly faster.
  2. Since there is no server side processing involved, developing and maintaining static websites is easier.
  3. Hosting these websites are generally cheaper because they require little or no server resources.
  4. The performance of these websites is consistent, since the content do not change constantly.

Disadvantages of static website

  1. Static web design and development do not offer any kind of personalization whatsoever, they display the same information to every user. This may impact the overall user experience.
  2. The information on these websites needs to be updated manually everytime there are any kind of changes.
  3. The websites are harder to scale for extensively larger websites.
  4. Brands cannot display real-time data or user specific content, which can make content outdated if not updated regularly.

What is a dynamic website?

Unlike static websites, the web pages returned by the server in dynamic websites are processed. The content displayed on these websites varies based on multiple factors including location, time, settings, preferences, and the behaviour of the user. Now this helps in delivering personalized web experiences for various users.

Classic Dynamic Website Examples

  1. E-commerce websites
  2. Social media platforms
  3. Web applications
  4. Content management systems
  5. Content platforms
  6. News websites
  7. Financial websites or websites that involve payment and transactions

Note: Netflix is the classic web page example dynamic website. It displays different content to different users based on location, preferences, and other factors.

Behind the scenes of a dynamic website

  1. User types a URL into a browser.
  2. Browser requests HTML from the server.
  3. Server processes the request using server-side scripts
  4. Server-side scripts query a database.
  5. Database returns data to server-side scripts.
  6. Server-side scripts generate HTML with the retrieved data.
  7. Server delivers HTML to the browser.
  8. Browser renders HTML into the webpage.

Advantages of dynamic website

  1. Brands can deliver personalized content to audience based on various parameters including their interactions and preferences. This helps in offering customized user experience that can improve the conversion rate.
  2. Dynamic websites support user interaction such as forms, comments, and many other real time updates, which can help gather customer feedback.
  3. Brands can also schedule automatic updates based on the user input or any other customized criteria.
  4. These websites are easily scalable for managing the content across the large websites.
  5. Brands can also showcase live data and dynamic content for specific occasions or events.

Disadvantages of dynamic website

  1. Since the content is dynamic and involves server-side processing, they might have slower loading times if the website is not optimized properly.
  2. Developing these websites require advanced programming skills and server side scripting knowledge.
  3. The hosting costs are also high, making it not an ideal solution for small businesses.
  4. Since there is lot of server side processing involved, these websites are more prone to vulnerabilities.
  5. These websites require continuous updates and management for smooth operation.

Difference between static and dynamic websites

To help you understand the difference between these websites in a simplistic and more efficient way, let us split them into multiple sections such as technologies used, content delivery, etc.

Content Delivery

Static Website: Delivers the same content to every user that visits the webpage.

Dynamic Website: Delivers personalized content based on user’s interactions and preferences.

Technology Used

Static Website: Built using HTML, CSS, and occasionally JavaScript.

Dynamic Website: Built using server-side languages like PHP, ASP.NET, or Node.js, since it's built on the server side, it also has databases like MySQL or MongoDB.

Development Complexity

Static Website: Since there is no server-side programming involved, static websites are usually simpler to develop.

Dynamic Website: More complex, requires advanced programming skills and server-side processing.

User Interaction

Static Website: Limited to no interaction; mainly for displaying information(eg: blogs).

Dynamic Website: Dynamic website design facilitates ample user interaction such as forms, comments, and personalized experiences.

Content Updates

Static Website: Content must be manually updated by the developer.

Dynamic Website: Content can be automatically updated based on user input or other criteria.

Load Times

Static Website: Typically loads faster due to the fixed content.

Dynamic Website: This may have slower load times due to server-side processing, if not optimized properly.

Scalability

Static Website: Easier to scale in terms of handling more users, but difficult to scale content updates.

Dynamic Website: Dynamic websites can be scaled in terms of both user handling and content updates.

Hosting Costs

Static Website: Generally lower hosting costs.

Dynamic Website: Higher hosting costs compared to static websites due to the need for more server resources.

Security

Static Website: Usually more secure due to fewer server-side vulnerabilities.

Dynamic Website: Requires more security measures due to database and server-side interactions.

Best platforms for building static websites

  1. Hugo
  2. Gridsome
  3. Elevebty
  4. Pelican
  5. Gatsby
  6. Next.js

Best platforms for building dynamic websites

  1. PHP
  2. WordPress
  3. Magento
  4. Shopify
  5. Joomla

Which is better for what kind of businesses?

So finally, this brings us to the question, which form of website is ideal for which kinds of businesses. We recommend

  1. Static websites is ideal for developing basic website for small businesses, personal blogs and portfolios.
  2. Dynamic websites for e-commerce sites, social media platforms, or any brand that requires frequent content updates or user interaction.