In the early years of the World Wide Web, most websites were pretty straightforward. They consisted of blocks of text, a few images, and maybe some hyperlinks. While there’s still a place for these static sites, more complex, feature-rich dynamic websites can provide a deeper user experience.
Deciding between a static vs. dynamic website depends on the specific needs of the site owner. Learn to distinguish between these two types of websites, what they do (and don’t do) best, and how to weigh the factors when choosing a website type to best fit your requirements.
What is a static website?
A static website remains unchanged, meaning all site visitors see the same content. It’s the simplest kind of website to build and only changes when you manually intervene to add, edit, and update pages.
To make a static website, you can use a template, design it using HTML or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), or a website builder (like Shopify, Squarespace, or Wix) if you don’t have coding experience. After you add text, images, and hyperlinks, you upload your static design to the server where it’s ready to go whenever a user accesses the page.
Static websites can include interactive elements like videos, but they work best for simple, informational purposes. Some common examples include réesumé and brochure websites.
What is a dynamic website?
Dynamic websites are always changing. Pages have interactive elements and update in real-time to provide a custom experience for each client browser. For example, accessing a weather website in Miami will generate a different temperature than if you were in Eugene, Oregon.
Elements of the website’s content are stored and indexed in a back-end database, and a content management system (CMS) handles the publishing templates and the traffic moving into and out of the database. A server-side scripting language (like Ruby or Python) running on the web servers processes the user interactions, cookie data, location data, and other identifying information. Then it fishes dynamic content from the database and presents a dynamically generated web page.
Dynamic websites work best for content-heavy websites that update frequently and when personalization is a priority. Examples include news websites and online stores.
Key differences between static and dynamic websites
There are a few ways to distinguish between static vs. dynamic websites:
Functionality
Static websites have limited functionality. Static pages present visitors with stable information that only occasionally needs refreshing.
Dynamic websites have more dynamic features. Visitors can view customized page content, place items in shopping carts, pay for items, and fill out forms.
Coding
You can create both static and dynamic websites using a website builder like Shopify, Squarespace, or Wix, but if you want to build your own website from scratch, it’s useful to know how the coding differs.
Source code is the foundation for both static and dynamic websites, although it plays a slightly different role in each. Static websites work by combining HTML files with CSS and JavaScript scripting—known as client-side languages, because the web visitor’s browser processes the code instead of the web server. The fixed code of a static website means that each visitor sees the exact same thing no matter where they’re visiting from.
Dynamic website design takes a different approach, separating content from presentation. The content lives in a database or CMS, while the website layout and design are part of the code (HTML, CSS). You can store the content in various formats, including full HTML pages, text, images, or database entries in the content management system. Dynamic sites also rely on server-side scripts written in computer languages like JavaScript, PHP, ASP.Net, Ruby, and Python to retrieve and assemble the bits and pieces into a dynamically composed page.
Complexity
Dynamic websites are more complex than static sites. Dynamic web pages have several moving parts: chunks of content, scripts coded in a programming language, databases, and web applications to handle added functionality. Static pages simply contain fixed, pre-built pages that load and do little else.
Security
In theory, static websites are harder to hack into. Static web pages sit on a server until an HTML request fetches the page and presents it in the browser. There’s no real interactivity happening on static web pages otherwise, so unless there’s a breach with the web server, the files remain safe.
To serve individual pages, dynamic websites have more touchpoints, increasing vulnerabilities. With dynamic websites, you need to monitor security at several levels: database access, scripts, and plug-ins.
Pros and cons of a static website
The fundamental component of static website design is a document (a coded HTML file). While these files are easy to make and tend to be secure, they can be difficult to scale and have limited functionality.
Pros of static websites
- Errors are easier to troubleshoot. Mistakes on static websites are generally spelling and formatting errors and broken links, which you can identify by proofreading the published web page and fix by editing the pages.
- Shorter development time. Static website development doesn’t require technical expertise. You select a template or edit a CSS for the look and feel, then write and format the content using a website builder application.
- More affordable. Since you can plug in text and images and develop a static page fairly easily, you’re unlikely to need to hire an expensive web developer with programming knowledge.
- Better performance. A web server delivers a web page to the browser, and that’s it. Text and images transfer quickly (unless the images aren’t optimized for the web), so with no other background processes running, the website speed is likely to be fast.
Cons of static websites
- Poor scalability. Although editing an individual HTML file on a static site is straightforward, edits to multiple pages can be more cumbersome, because static websites require opening each file to make edits.
- Less personalized. Static websites consist of a one-size-fits-all way of presenting information; visitors don’t get a customized user experience.
- Limited functionality. Static websites don’t rely on server-side scripting languages, which limits what they can do. That means no ecommerce and no responsiveness to user engagement.
Pros and cons of a dynamic website
The dynamic website difference hinges on its ability to easily integrate and display user-generated content, resulting in heightened engagement. Such a site can pull content from various sources, including databases or user submissions, and assemble it into the final webpage on the fly.
Pros of dynamic websites
- Scalability. Dynamic websites use content management systems to control what goes into the site and how it looks, making it easier to make sweeping changes across the site. You can change the exact same content once in a site template and it will apply to all dynamic pages as they get generated.
- Greater personalization. Dynamic websites excel at delivering customized user experiences, thanks to the scripting languages. This code can understand user behavior and process the visitor’s actions and identifying markers (like the location of IP address, browser type, and cookies).
- Increased functionality. You can accomplish more with a dynamic website. For example, if you want an online store with a catalog of products to search and purchase, you’ll need a dynamic website.
Cons of dynamic websites
- They’re more complicated. Dynamic websites require the technical expertise of developers and web designers with coding skills to assemble and maintain the necessary components and scripts. Bugs can also be harder to stamp out.
- They cost more. It’s more expensive to build and maintain a dynamic website than a static one. Other than developers and designers, you’ll need to pay more for robust web hosting features and regular audits.
- They have slower load times. Dynamic websites may be responding to user input, delivering search results, processing transactions, and assembling a customized page view—all in real-time. Because of this, load times can be slower and pages can lag.
Static vs. dynamic website FAQ
How do you know if a website is static or dynamic?
To tell whether it’s a static or dynamic website, examine the site URL. If it consists of a simple path with forward slashes and no other characters, it’s probably a static site. A URL with special characters like question marks and equal signs is a sign of a dynamic site. Another way to know is by examining functionality. If a website has personalized recommendations, ecommerce capabilities, and real-time updates, it’s a dynamic site.
What is an example of a dynamic website?
In the ecommerce realm, good dynamic website examples are Amazon and eBay. Visitors can sign into their user accounts and see customized product suggestions. Product listings and shopping carts constantly update, and customers can personalize their searches using filters and facets.
Can you have a static and dynamic website?
Yes, hybrid websites are common. Some parts of the hybrid website may be stable (like a portfolio on a résumé website), but there will also be interactive features, such as a contact form or ecommerce functionality.
