[derefr]

This is really an approach that should get more attention.

People know all about database-backed websites (with an AJAX/REST server), and static-generated sites (with no server at all.)

But there's a middle-ground where you statically generate precomputed AJAX/REST responses to any query you could make, shove them in an S3 bucket and maybe put a CDN (e.g. Cloudflare) in front of it, and then treat that as your "server", building a traditional AJAXy frontend to talk to it. Scales nigh-on infinitely.

The best part is, it's not necessarily read-only! You can write a "real" server, too, that just handles updates. When it receives a request, GET the old version of the object it's modifying from S3 (no need for a database!), patch it up with the AJAXed-in data, and PUT it back. (And follow it up with a CDN single-file-purge API call, if it's relevant.)