Changes from Store Framework
Main differences​
| FASTSTORE | STORE FRAMEWORK |
|---|---|
| Closed Beta: essential features for ecommerce are still lacking. | General Availability: a large variety of features are already available for all customers. |
| Decoupled solution: integrates with any CMS and deployment platform. | Coupled solution: integrates with the Site Editor only. |
| Open-source: freely available for possible modification and redistribution. | Mix of proprietary and open-source: available for possible modification and redistribution inside the VTEX environment. |
| Extensible via external plugins and libraries. | Extensible via IO apps. |
| No native support for cross-border and multi-language stores yet. | Native support for cross-border and multi-language stores. |
| Performance-focused: easier to add customizations without degrading performance. | Composability-focused: flexible and easily customizable, but with a performance price. |
| Jamstack architecture: serves pre-rendered content to a CDN using Git workflows and modern build tools. It is made dynamic through APIs and serverless functions. | Server-side rendered: generates the full HTML for a page on the server in response to a URL request. |
| CMS integration: Compatible with VTEX Headless CMS and other market Headless CMS solutions. | Site Editor: Compatible with Site Editor only. |
| Deployment platforms: Deployed on WebOps. | IO deployment: Deployed as a VTEX IO app. |
| Improved deployment observability: by connecting with a Git provider, it's possible to track historical changes and diagnose when and why regressions happened. | Limited deployment observability. |
Both Store Framework and FastStore performance are above Google's Core Web Vitals baseline metric for high-performing websites.
FastStore​
Based on the Jamstack architecture, FastStore is an open-source toolkit for developing headless storefronts. It can therefore be integrated by anyone with any CMS and deployment platform. However, in order to benefit from the VTEX guarantee and support, enrollment in the FastStore, Webops, and Headless CMS Beta Program is required.
FastStore was built with performance in mind. It leverages the Jamstack architecture to deliver fast, secure and reliable storefronts by default. In addition, it comes with several tools and resources designed for this purpose, including the WebOps pipeline and Starter packs optimized for performance.
However, because FatsStore, WebOps and Headless CMS are still in beta, several essential features, such as My Account customizations and full integration with IO apps and Intelligent Search, are still lacking.
Store Framework​
Built on top of the VTEX IO platform, Store Framework is an opinionated React-based storefront framework and the most modern solution in General Availability for building storefronts at VTEX.
Store Framework was designed with composability in mind and is extensible via globally available IO apps. In addition, Store Framework has native support for multi-language and cross-border stores.
The two main drawbacks of Store Framework are the requirement for understanding a VTEX proprietary technology and the risk of harming performance while adding customizations without deliberation.