React vs Next.js: When I Stopped Building SPAs and Started Shipping Faster

Source: Dev.to

Where React Starts to Hurt

In production projects, I repeatedly ran into the same challenges:

• SEO limitations with client‑side rendering
• Manual routing setup
• Performance optimizations that required extra tooling
• Repeating architectural decisions across projects

None of these are deal‑breakers, but together they slow you down — especially when shipping real‑world applications.

Why I Moved to Next.js

Next.js didn’t replace React for me — it completed it.

What changed immediately:

• Server‑Side Rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG) out of the box
• File‑based routing (no more routing boilerplate)
• Built‑in performance optimizations
• API routes when needed
• A clear production‑ready structure

Instead of wiring things together, I could focus on building features.

The Real Difference

In simple terms:

• React teaches you how things work
• Next.js helps you ship faster

That difference matters a lot when deadlines, SEO, and performance are real concerns.

Final Thoughts

If you’re learning frontend fundamentals — React is an amazing place to start.

But if you’re building:

• content‑heavy platforms
• SEO‑focused tools
• production‑grade applications

Next.js is hard to ignore.

Curious to hear from others — when did you decide to move beyond plain React, and why?

Tags: react nextjs frontend webdev javascript