The CMS space is incredibly crowded. The vast majority of WordPress websites would be cheaper, faster, and more secure if they were just moved to SquareSpace, which has the WordPress features that 99% of sites would need.
For more custom projects, I prefer the headless variety[1] because it makes sense to separate the data and presentation layers. That means you have the full ecosystem and flexibility of HTML/CSS/JS.
Ghost[2] was the first serious competitor I saw years ago. Gatsby is among the most popular these days[3].
But honestly, information sites should just use SquareSpace or something like it. There's no reason to maintain static site infrastructure at this point.
If we're starting to compare to hosted offers, then hosted WordPress (WP.org or any other managed host that curates access to plugins/themes) surely needs to be added back to the list?
For more custom projects, I prefer the headless variety[1] because it makes sense to separate the data and presentation layers. That means you have the full ecosystem and flexibility of HTML/CSS/JS.
Ghost[2] was the first serious competitor I saw years ago. Gatsby is among the most popular these days[3].
But honestly, information sites should just use SquareSpace or something like it. There's no reason to maintain static site infrastructure at this point.
1. https://jamstack.org/
2. https://ghost.org/
3. https://www.gatsbyjs.com/