// Comparativo

VTEX IO Store Framework vs FastStore: Migrate or Stay?

VTEX IO's Store Framework is the foundation of thousands of stores in Brazil and Latin America. Mature, with a robust app ecosystem and active community, it serves well operations that prioritize delivery speed over raw performance. However, with the arrival of FastStore, VTEX itself signaled that the future of frontend is in another direction. FastStore is VTEX's answer for the Core Web Vitals era. Built from scratch with React Server Components and Next.js, it delivers Lighthouse scores between 80 and 95 compared to the typical 50-70 of Store Framework. But migrating is not trivial. In this comparison, we analyze when it's worth staying, when it's worth migrating and how to make the transition gradually and safely.

Technical comparison

When to stay on Store Framework

If your store runs well on Store Framework, has Lighthouse above 60, stable conversion and your team deeply knows the blocks and apps ecosystem, migrating may be a disproportionate effort to the gain. Operations that depend on VTEX marketplace apps like wishlist, reviews, regional sellers and ERP integration via native apps find everything ready in Store Framework. Rebuilding each feature in FastStore requires development investment. Additionally, if your priority is delivery speed of new features rather than absolute performance, Store Framework still offers competitive time-to-market. The community is large, problems have been solved and documentation covers practically all scenarios. The recommendation is clear: if performance is not measurably impacting conversion, optimize Store Framework before considering migration.

When to migrate to FastStore

Migration to FastStore is justified when performance is directly correlated with business results. If your store has high mobile traffic, load time above 3 seconds, high bounce rate or organic positioning compromised by Core Web Vitals, the gain is concrete. Operations planning internationalization also benefit. FastStore with well-configured CDN delivers consistent response times globally. If you need impeccable technical SEO, complete server-side rendering and semantic HTML without bloat, FastStore is superior. For teams that already master React and Next.js, the curve is nearly non-existent. The mental model is closer to modern web development and less dependent on VTEX proprietary concepts.

How to migrate gradually

Migration doesn't need to be big-bang. The recommended strategy is page-by-page migration: start with the pages that have the highest SEO impact, such as home, PLPs and PDPs. Keep checkout and account pages on Store Framework while rebuilding the content and catalog frontend. Use feature flags and split traffic to validate performance in production before migrating 100% of traffic. Monitor Core Web Vitals in the field (CrUX) to confirm gains. For each marketplace app you use, evaluate: can it be replaced by a custom component? Is the app's maintenance cost higher than the cost of rebuilding? Often, simple features like breadcrumbs, menus and filters are easier to build from scratch in React than to maintain via legacy apps.

FAQ