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Websites · 7 min read · 4 June 2026

Choosing a website tech stack in 2026 without regrets

Webflow, Next.js, TanStack, headless WordPress, Shopify. A senior engineer's view on what to pick when.

The honest framework\n\nPick the stack that matches your team, not your aspirations.\n\n### If your team can't code\n\n- Webflow for marketing sites under 100 pages.\n- Shopify for ecommerce, full stop.\n- Framer for landing-page-heavy work.\n\n### If you have one part-time developer\n\n- Next.js + Sanity for content-driven sites.\n- Astro + a headless CMS for content-first sites that prize performance.\n\n### If you have a real engineering team\n\n- TanStack Start for typed, server-rendered, modern React.\n- Next.js App Router if the team already knows it.\n- Custom Node + Postgres when the business logic justifies it.\n\n## What to avoid\n\nWordPress for new builds unless content workflow demands it. Gatsby. Anything still bundling Webpack.\n\n## The one rule\n\nYour stack should let you ship a copy change in 10 minutes and a new page in an afternoon. If it doesn't, you picked wrong.

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