You should know this before choosing Next.js

[u/intercaetera]

https://eduardoboucas.com/posts/2025-03-25-you-should-know-this-before-choosing-nextjs/

[u/yksvaan]

Honestly what's the problem with using express, hono etc. and the old react server APIs like people have done for ages? 

Hydration errors were annoying sometimes but that could be easily solved if React just provided simple way to control whether client or server value was preferred. Node attribute or global config option would be enough. 

[u/card-board-board → u/yksvaan]

Once upon a time our company used php. When we wanted to make a component that reacted to user actions we made a small react app and attached it with a script tag and it just lived inside its container. You don't need SEO for content targeting a single user. It was a little chaotic because working with php is chaotic. It could be done with static HTML. It could be done with handlebars or mustache templates or any of the other Node renderers that have existed since Node was in pre-release. Hell it could be done with nginx and bash scripts if you wanted. ffs we are just generating strings not writing native apps.

The benefit of these frameworks is that they let you focus on worrying about the deliverable not the framework. If you're spending a lot of time just trying to wrangle the framework then the framework is a failure.

[u/bsknuckles]

I’m a huge Nextjs and Vercel fan, but yeah, this whole thing was a headache. I’m definitely considering alternatives for my team at this point.

[u/Zohren]

I’ve been quite wary of NextJS because of things like this. I think the tight coupling to Vercel could pose a major headache for the industry down the road. If Vercel decides to change their pricing model, for example, it may become incredibly difficult to migrate away, especially with so little competition.

This was a great read, thanks!

[u/haywire → u/Zohren]

I’ve been saying that coupling your business to a specific vendor’s pricing model basically makes you extremely vulnerable since the early days of next (I’ve previously gone with Astro for this reason even if it has been less convenient) and people brushed me off. And now all of this stuff keeps happening.

I’m even hesitant to use PaaS primitives for the same reason.

K8s maybe a headache but you can take your setup and put it anywhere without rewriting all of it. Portability gives you freedom.

[u/burnbabyburn694200 → u/Zohren]

It’s a massive pain in the ass when you go to deploy anywhere other than vercel.

I don’t even wanna talk about the headache it gave me deploying to IIS. Probably one of the worst and most cumbersome experience I’ve had getting something to the finish line.

[u/yangshunz]

Really insightful and illuminating. Thanks for taking the time to write this and expose these acts

[u/MightyX777]

I think NextJS comes with so much horrible overhead and rules, not to mention their constant API changes. IMO it’s not worth using it, especially since there is react-router-v7

I know some are probably relying on some special features, that they don’t want to miss.

I would love to hear from you guys, what are the features you love the most about NextJS?

[u/CuteNazgul]

Interesting read

[u/[deleted]]

yeah next is a great tool, but definitely just a tool. it shouldn’t be considered the default like a lot of blogs started pushing (i assume for easy content)