Static vs SSG in next build

[ngmaibulat]

Hi Everyone,

When using next build

What is the real difference between:
○ (Static) prerendered as static content
● (SSG) prerendered as static HTML (uses generateStaticParams)

I know that the later was generated by using generateStaticParams (in addition to other things). And potentially can support additional dynamic routes, if export const dynamicParams = true;

But - are there any other differences in terms of Output?

I tried to review docs/google and consult with chatGPT.
But I all get is the difference is How the result was done. And not What was the result. Is that correct?

I also tried to invent/guess another explanation:

I could say that static content is rendered by standard React Server Components. And SSG uses some nextjs-specific features. Can we say that is the difference?
`

I got the following reply from AI:
`Yes, that's a very insightful way to put it!

Here’s how that distinction works:

Static Content (○):
    These pages can be rendered by standard React Server Components and do not require any Next.js-specific data fetching functions like getStaticProps.
    They are "pure" React in that they don’t depend on Next.js's prerendering helpers to fetch data—they simply render whatever content is provided directly or fetched in component-level code without creating multiple versions or parameterized paths.

SSG (●):
    SSG uses Next.js-specific functions like getStaticProps to fetch data at build time, allowing data-driven pre-rendering for individual paths, which is a unique feature of Next.js.
    This is where Next.js adds its own layer of functionality beyond what React Server Components offer, enabling features like generateStaticParams and Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR). SSG allows you to create different versions of a page for multiple data-driven paths, which is more than standard React pre-rendering.

So, Static Content is more aligned with native React Server Components, whereas SSG leverages Next.js-specific build-time data fetching and optimization features. This difference explains why SSG feels more dynamic and versatile while still delivering static files at runtime.`

Can you validate that?

Thank you for your time!
Cheers!

[ashoshari]

you don't need to worry about that, both Static and SSG result in statically generated HTML that gets served to users, but the difference comes down to how the static content is generated

Static is for simple static pages or pages where you don’t need dynamic routing.
SSG is for more complex scenarios where you need to statically generate pages based on dynamic paths (like blog posts, product pages, etc.).

they are both lead to same result, extremely fast website and effective for SEO