Static site

What is a Static Site?

A static site is a website composed of pre-built HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that are served directly to the visitor's browser exactly as they are stored — with no server-side processing, database queries, or dynamic content generation happening at request time.

When a visitor loads a static site, the server simply delivers the pre-built file. There's no database query, no template rendering, no PHP execution — just instant file delivery. This makes static sites extremely fast, secure, and scalable.

Static vs Dynamic

Contrast this with a dynamic site like a traditional WordPress site, where every page request triggers a series of server-side processes: query the database, render the template, build the HTML, deliver the response. These are the fundamentals that make Core Web Vitals harder to optimize on dynamic stacks.

Key advantages of static sites include: Speed (pre-built files load instantly from a CDN with no processing delay), Security (no database or server-side code means dramatically fewer attack vectors), Scalability (a CDN can serve millions of requests simultaneously at low cost), and Reliability (fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break).

Webflow generates static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript when you publish a site — making all Webflow sites fundamentally static in their delivery. This is why Webflow Hosting performs so well on Core Web Vitals.