Next JS vs React

Next JS vs React: Which Framework Should You Choose For Web Development?

6 min

Technical advancement in the web development industry has completely transformed how we build websites and web applications.

Next JS vs React is the battle between two popular frameworks!

Choosing the right framework for your website development can be challenging. However, analyzing your business requirements will help you make the right decisions. Therefore, it’s important to uncover the differentiating factors of both JavaScript frameworks.

Let’s dive deeper into the React and Next JS framework features, use cases, and benefits to better understand their differences and which one to choose in different scenarios. We will also discover how both frameworks differ from each other and how beneficial they can be for web development.

What is Next JS?

Next JS is a React framework developed by Vercel and released in 2016. It is an open-source framework with superpowers like Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG). Plus, it enables developers to create lightning-fast websites with SEO-friendly functionalities. Developers generally use it to build blogs and landing pages.

The Next JS framework helps with fast search engine optimization for React applications with zero configuration. It also helps with production-ready applications and offers the best experience through server-side rendering, route prefetching, smart building, and many others. Well-known companies that have adopted the Next JS Framework in their business are The Washington Post, Netflix, Yahoo, Uber, Nike, GitHub, Binance, Twitch, and many more.

What is React?

Created by Facebook, React is an open-source front-end JavaScript library. It helps in developing simple user interfaces, interactive websites, and web applications. It provides support for iOS and Android application development with React Native.

React Framework focuses on client-side rendering through DOM for creating and debugging UI components. It also helps with server-side rendering to provide performance-based solutions to users. With React Framework, users will get additional tools like React Router and Redux that are used for building interactive and complex UI components. Some top companies that use React JS web development services are the New York Times, Instagram, Dropbox, Airbnb, Pinterest, and many others.

Next JS vs React: Features Comparison

In the battleground of Next JS and React, it’s time to look at their features and functionalities.

NextJS Features

Here are the significant features of NextJS that you need to know.

  • Hot Code Reloading 

If you hire next.js developers, they will help you to look at the immediate effects of code changes without using a full page refresh, which is also known as fast refresh. As a result, the development process becomes faster and more efficient. 

 

Hot Code Reloading can analyze real-time updates in the browser whenever you modify the code. And it helps to improve the overall development experience. 

 

  • Automatic Code Splitting 

Code Splitting is a method to break down a large JavaScript code into smaller and more manageable components. It helps with every import in the code to get bundled and served with each page.

 

  • Ecosystem Compatibility

Next JS can easily integrate with the React or Node ecosystem. With a better understanding of React, users can get the maximum advantage of NextJS features. As a result, it helps with a smoother transition for React development.

 

  • Server Rendering

It is one of the best features of Next JS that helps to improve performance and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Instead of Client-side rendering, the initial rendering of pages is done on the server. It also helps with faster page loading and improved search engine indexing.

 

  • Automatic Routing

Another Next JS feature simplifies the process of defining routes in React applications. Automatic Routing feature enables users to build pages in the pages directory. The framework automatically generates the routes based on these files. It offers routing within the application, a simpler way to eliminate the need for explicit route configurations.

 

  • Server-Side Rendering

It helps to pre-render the HTML on the server and send it to the client. It explains that users who visit a website developed by Next JS can see fully rendered content immediately without waiting for JavaScript to load.

 

  • Static-Site Generation (SSG)

With this feature of NextJS, users can generate files during the development phase. After that, they are ready to send to the client as static files. This showcases that every page is pre-rendered and can be sent quickly without the help of server-side rendering.

 

Static-site generation (SSG) is beneficial for content that doesn’t change often, such as blogs and documentation. Plus, NextJS pre-renders pages using SSG by default.

React Features

  • One-Way Data Binding

With React libraries, users can easily handle state management and immutable data. As a result, it helps to get an unidirectional data flow.

 

  • Virtual Document Object Model (DOM)

The virtual DOM helps to optimize the rendering process and provides faster updates.

 

  • Declarative Views With Context APIs

With a view-oriented framework, users get access to share data across components and manage desired UI states in a declarative manner.

 

  • Isomorphic JavaScript

When you hire React JS developers, they will keep adding isomorphic features and help React with an extensive JavaScript library. Moreover, they will execute JavaScript code both on the server and the client.

 

  • Building Blocks Flexibility

React features also offer the ability to control the flow of colossal applications flexibly, resulting in improved scalability.

 

  • Faster Development Time

React simplifies and accelerates the debugging process through its modular and coherent components.

 

  • XSS Protection

With React, Users get built-in protection against XSS attacks. Strong community support will also help them stay secure and updated with the latest trends.

Next JS vs React: Comparison On Use Cases

Let’s discover the different scenarios where you can use Next JS and React.

Next.js Use Cases

  • Marketing Websites
  • E-commerce Stores Landing Pages
  • Blogs
  • News Websites
  • Media Publications

React Use Cases

  • Social Media Platforms: For example, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and others.
  • Economy Platforms: For example, Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, and many others.
  • Online Video Streaming Platforms: For example, Netflix, YouTube, and many more.
  • SaaS Tools: For example, Slack, Zoom, Asana, SendGrid, Figma, Zapier, and others.

Difference Between Next JS vs React

Now, it’s the time to begin a battle and discuss the differences.

Next JS vs React: Comparison on Performance

Next JS

1. Static destinations and server-side rendering help to run faster.

2. Performance enhancement features like image optimization make it viable.

3. Automatic server rendering and code splitting improve the development performance.

4. Better app performance via SSR.

React

1. Support for client-side rendering.

2. Runs slow as compared to Next JS.

Next JS vs React: Comparison on SEO-friendliness

Next JS

1. Next.js web development offers higher search engine visibility.

2. It uses Server-Side Rendering, which helps search engine crawlers better understand page content and index it properly.

React

1. Search engine visibility is challenging because it uses client-side rendering.

2. Bots and web crawlers index empty HTML shells in the first pass, showing a low SERP ranking.

Next JS vs React: Comparison on Optimization Features

Next JS

1. It uses React’s optimization features, which are available in its built-in tools. These include code splitting, prefetching, and optimization for images, fonts, and third-party scripts.

2. Lowers the dependency on third-party optimization tools and libraries.

React

It has built-in optimization features, including the useMemo hook, memo function, lazy function, and suspense.

Next JS vs React: Comparison on Routing

Next JS

1. It offers a built-in file-based routing system.

2. Link component is the part of navigation system for prefetching routes.

React

1. Need integration of third-party libraries like React Router for navigation.

2. It does not offer a built-in tool for page navigation and routing.

Next JS vs React : Comparison on Configuration

Next JS

1. It enables users to configure anything.

2. For example, NextJS templates can configure files such as babelrc, jest.config, etc.

React

1. It doesn’t provide much support for configuration.

2. If users want to change the setup, they need to disconnect from the standard Create React App.

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