ISR vs SSR vs SSG: Which Rendering Strategy for Your Blog?
Three rendering strategies. Different trade-offs. Learn which one fits your blog based on content update frequency and performance needs.
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The Three Strategies
| Strategy | Build time | Load speed | Content freshness | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSG | At build | Fastest | Stale until rebuild | Blogs with infrequent updates |
| ISR | At build + revalidation | Fast | Fresh within revalidation window | Most blogs (recommended) |
| SSR | On every request | Slower | Always fresh | Personalized/real-time content |
SSG (Static Site Generation)
All pages generated at build time. Lightning fast but requires a rebuild to update content. Best for documentation sites and blogs that publish weekly.
ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration)
Pages generated at build time BUT can be revalidated on a schedule (e.g., every 60 seconds) or on-demand via webhooks. Best of both worlds: static speed with near-real-time updates. This is the recommended strategy for most blogs.
SSR (Server-Side Rendering)
Pages rendered on every request. Always fresh but slower and more expensive. Only needed when content is personalized per user or changes every minute.
Recommendation
For 95% of blogs: use ISR with a 60-second revalidation window and webhook-triggered on-demand revalidation when content changes. This gives you static-site performance with CMS-level content freshness.