None of the answers/comments below even come close to answering the simple question that started this thread. This looks like an overly complex solution looking for a problem to me.
True. The article has a decent answer though. Incremental builds are necessary because:
> [Slow builds] can be annoying if your site has 1,000 pages and one content editor. But if you have say 100,000 pages and a dozen content contributors constantly triggering new builds it becomes just straight up impossible.
Gatsby needs a cloud to host this build server. They also apparently host a nice content editing UI.
If you don't need a content editing UI, and/or are fine maintaining your own static builds, you presumably wouldn't subscribe to the cloud service.
They don't host a content editing UI, only a "dynamic" version of the site that you can embed or link in a CMS for draft previews etc.
I use and like gatsby a lot and don't think it is generally overcomplicated for what it does. They are really pushing static at all costs though, and these cloud solutions are needed because of that.
When seriously evaluting a 100.000 pages / dozens of editors project, if you ask what the benefits and the costs of static really are, I think you might come up with a different answer than Gatsby Inc. I think Zeit+Next actually has a better story there, because its not "static at all costs".
