What Is NextJS? Best Features, Applications, Pros & Cons

Looking to understand what is NextJS? Know the key features, common uses, and advantages and disadvantages of NextJS in this informative overview.

15 min read·UI Frameworks

What Is NextJS? Best Features, Applications, Pros & Cons

Whether you're a developer or just starting on your journey in the UI frameworks, understanding what is NextJS can be a transformative breakthrough. Imagine having a tool that streamlines your development process, offering a blend of efficiency and flexibility. You'll discover more about NextJS, including its features, applications, pros, and cons.

Looking to learn about NextJS, its features, applications, pros, and cons? MagicUI's React component library fits the bill, providing an intuitive solution that simplifies your development process.

What Is NextJS?

What Is NextJS

Next.js, a React-based web development framework, serves as both a front-end and a back-end. Its primary advantage is the ability to expedite the building of fully-fledged websites, thereby saving developers valuable time and effort.

Next.js stands out with its unique feature of allowing developers to select a different page rendering method for each page. This flexibility empowers developers to cater to a wide range of website types, whether:

Server-side
Static
Client-side
Incremental static regeneration
On-demand revalidation

Next.js provides an amazing developer experience with features like:

TypeScript and ESLing integrations
Fast refreshing when developing your website

When deployed, Next.js does:

Automatic compiling
Bundling
Minifying

What Functionalities Does NextJS Offer?

What Is NextJS

Image optimizations

Next.js provides automatic image optimizations with instant builds. Image optimization is a powerful feature prebuilt into Next.js because managing and optimizing images requires many configurations, and manually optimizing images can take a toll on your productive time.

Internationalization

Another great feature added to Next.js is internationalization. Creating an enterprise application can be easily translated into different languages worldwide. This feature is an addition to Next.js and makes Next.js internationally recognized because it takes less configuration to set up internalization.

Next.js analytics

Next.js provides an analytical dashboard configured to show accurate visitor data and page insights from out of the box. With this feature, you can quickly build an analytical dashboard and gain valuable insights into your visitors and page insights without extra coding or configuration.

Zero config

Next.js compiles and builds automatically with hot refresh without any extra configuration from you, and it automatically scales and optimizes your production application. Achieving hot or automatic refresh on a traditional frontend application has many problems. It requires choosing and installing the right libraries and carrying out the configurations for each library to work correctly. Next.js solves this problem by providing a hot refresh right out of the box with zero installation and configuration from you.

Prebuilt SSR, SSG, and CSR support

With Next.js, you can support server-side rendering, static generation, and client-side rendering in one application. You can decide the type of application you want to build and how you intend to compile it to best suit your use case. Server-side rendering makes Next.js suitable for large-scale SEO-oriented production-ready applications, and configuring it is a breeze.

Free and Customizable UI Library

MagicUI is a free and open-source UI library that we designed specifically for design engineers. It offers a collection of over 20 animated components built with React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and Framer Motion. We provide a range of visually appealing and interactive elements that can be easily integrated into web applications, allowing us to create stunning user interfaces with minimal effort.

MagicUI components are highly customizable, enabling seamless adaptation to match our desired branding and design requirements. With our focus on animation and a design-centric approach, MagicUI aims to bridge the gap between design and development, empowering us to craft captivating digital experiences. Along with our free component library, with MagicUI Pro, you can save thousands of hours creating a beautiful landing page and converting your visitors into customers with our website templates.

Use our React component library for free today at https://magicui.design/docs.

What Makes NextJS Unique?

What Is NextJS

Next.js has gathered a lot of buzz around tech communities as it makes building highly customizable websites easy. Next.js cleverly abstracts the data loading methods into their own serverless or server functions, making loading data into your pages incredibly simple. This simplifies your website architecture significantly.

Simplified Data Fetching

Next.js, unlike traditional React applications, Next.js allows you to query your CMS or a database directly on your pages. This eliminates the need for a proxy backend service, allowing developers to focus on integrating the front end with their preferred data source without the burden of backend web development.

Next.js comes with a comprehensive set of utilities commonly used in web applications. These include:

Dynamic page routes
Redirects
Rewrites
Middleware
i18n

These features make Next.js a versatile and powerful solution for a wide range of web development needs right out of the box.

Developers can build features with these utilities to help businesses achieve their goals.
Marketers will love the A/B content split testing and autonomy to create pages through a CMS.
Search engine optimizers will love the fast page load speed and fully customizable metadata, such as Open Graph tags and structured data.
Developers love the freedom to create new features using all the tools in the React ecosystem.

What Can You Build With NextJS?

What Is NextJS

Next.js is a versatile tool that allows you to build a wide range of applications, from dynamic websites to static sites and web applications. Some of the key applications of Next.js include:

Dynamic, user-friendly websites

Next.js offers features like dynamic routes, client-side navigation, and server-side rendering, enabling the creation of truly dynamic and intuitive websites.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Getting started with Next.js is as easy as running two commands. This helps you quickly build MVPs for different use cases.

Run npx create-next-app@latest to create a new application.
Run npm run dev to start the app server on localhost:3000.

You can view your website by opening http://localhost:3000 on the browser. Edit the pages/index.js file and see your website change on the browser.

Web applications

Next.js lets you build performant web applications for the cloud. Next.js is the way to go, whether you are:

Building a streaming platform like Hulu
Real estate website like Realtor
Food ordering application like Doordash

Static websites

By using the next export command, you can convert your Next.js application into static HTML, making it easy to run without a Node.js server. Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) allows you to create or edit static pages after building your website without regenerating the entire site.

SaaS tools

Next.js's ease of development, maintainability, and integration make it a top choice for building software as a service (SaaS) tools.

Big e-commerce websites

Next.js can meet the high scalability, performance, and rendering demands of large e-commerce websites with millions of users.

Client-side rendered websites and single-page applications

Next.js excels at building single-page applications that offer fast transitions, high performance, and an intuitive user experience without reloading the page.

When Should You Use NextJS For Development?

What Is NextJS

Next.js can help you in a variety of scenarios. If your application demands server-side rendering to enhance performance, SEO, or quicker initial page loads, Next.js is a perfect pick. It provides built-in support for server-side rendering and a static site generator, which can benefit:

Content-heavy websites
Blogs
E-commerce platforms

Pre-rendering and Faster Load Times

If you wish to boost your app's performance by pre-rendering pages at build time or server-side, Next.js can help reduce the amount of JavaScript that needs to be downloaded and executed by the client. This can lead to quicker load times and an improved user experience, especially on slower networks or devices.

Streamlined Development

Next.js comes with a host of built-in features like:

Automatic code splitting
CSS and Sass support
API routes

These features help you save time and effort, making your development process more efficient. So, if you need these features and prefer not to set them up manually, Next.js can be a valuable ally in your development journey.

NextJ And User Experience

What Is NextJS

User experience plays a pivotal role in the success of digital businesses. If ignored, it can lead to losing customers, abandoned carts, and a high bounce rate. The design also plays a significant role—utilizing themes or templates can limit the ability to create a unique customer experience in the long run. Next.js helps build a fully customized user experience, offering numerous benefits that significantly enhance the overall user experience.

UX Freedom

Next.js provides the freedom to avoid restrictions typically imposed by CMS platforms, plugins, or templates. Flexible file-system routing and support for various CSS-in-JS libraries allow high degrees of front-end design customization. This results in a unique user experience that can be tailored precisely to the business's and its audience's needs.

Adaptability and Responsiveness

Next.js facilitates the creation of adaptable web applications that adjust to any screen size or resolution. User experience is seamless across different devices and platforms using features like:

Automatic image optimization
Responsive loading
Smooth integration with modern CSS frameworks

Short Page Load Time

The capability for static site generation (SSG) and incremental static regeneration (ISR) in Next.js significantly improves page load times. Pre-rendered pages are served to users, reducing the time to the first byte (TTFB) and enhancing overall site speed. This leads to a better user experience, as users can access content quickly without facing long loading times.

Data Security

The lack of a direct database connection improves data security for static websites built using Next.js. Minimizing exposure to sensitive data and dependencies makes these sites more secure against common web vulnerabilities, ensuring a safe and reliable user experience.

NextJS And SEO

What Is NextJS

Easily add a robots.txt file

Next.js supports static file serving, allowing developers to create a robots.txt file in the public folder of the root directory. This file instructs search engine bots which parts of the website to crawl and index.

Generate dynamic sitemaps

With Next.js, you can dynamically generate an XML sitemap using the getServerSideProps function. This dynamic approach ensures that search engines can easily discover and index all pages on the website.

Add metadata to pages

Adding metadata to pages is crucial for SEO, and in Next.js, you can achieve this with the head component. This component allows developers to essential SEO elements like setting:

Page titles
Meta descriptions and others

Robots and Googlebot tags

Next.js allows you to control how search engines index and follow links on your website using the robots tag. Developers can also use the Googlebot tag to issue specific instructions to Google's search bot.

Monitor core web vitals with Analytics

With Next.js, developers can monitor core web vitals through the Analytics dashboard. This feature helps measure a website's performance based on key user experience metrics. Developers can log web vitals in real time and send the data to custom services or application logs.

Pros And Cons Of NextJS

What Is NextJS

In UI frameworks, you must stay current with the latest advancements in the field. Next.js is a popular UI framework offering various benefits and drawbacks.

Improved Search Engine Optimization

One of Next.js's standout benefits is that it optimizes your site for search engines, which is critical for your online visibility. By incorporating server-side rendering (SSR) into your web application, Next.js gives you a competitive edge in SEO. Search engines prioritize text-based websites over client-rendered JavaScript, making Next.js a valuable tool for enhancing search engine rankings.

Customized Open Graph

Next.js allows you to programmatically customize your Open Graph meta titles for each page. This feature is essential for improving your site's appearance on social media platforms and boosting your SEO efforts. With Next.js, you can easily optimize your metadata for each URL, enhancing your site's visibility in search results.

Enhanced Performance

Next.js significantly improves your website's performance by reducing the JavaScript code browsers need to download and execute. By leveraging SSR, Next.js enhances metrics like time first to draw (TTFD), making your site load faster and more user-friendly. A quick-loading website improves user experience, decreases bounce rates, and boosts your SEO.

Part of the React Ecosystem

Next.js is an integral part of the React ecosystem, the most popular frontend framework among developers. Since Next.js was designed to address the SSR challenge for React applications, it seamlessly integrates with React, making it a convenient choice for developers who prefer using React as their front-end framework.

Learning Curve

Despite its numerous advantages, Next.js has a learning curve, especially for beginners. Developers need a solid understanding of React and JavaScript to leverage Next.js effectively. While the API is intuitive, new developers may find it challenging to work with Next.js without prior knowledge of React and JavaScript.

Complex Routing

Next.js offers a powerful routing system, but configuring and customizing it can be complex. Developers may need to invest additional time understanding and working with Next.js's routing features to achieve their desired outcomes.

4 Alternatives To NextJS

What Is NextJS

1. Magic

Use our React component library for free today at https://magicui.design/docs.

2. Gatsby

Gatsby is a static site generator that leverages React to build fast, optimized, and highly customizable websites. It focuses on performance and supports content-driven sites, blogs, and e-commerce applications. Gatsby offers features like server-side rendering, image optimization, and data sourcing from various content management systems.

3. Nuxt.js

Nuxt.js is a framework for building server-side rendered (SSR) and static-generated Vue.js applications. It provides an opinionated project structure and simplifies the development process by automatically handling routing, server-side rendering, and bundling. Nuxt.js is known for its simplicity and ease of use.

4. Angular Universal

Angular Universal is a server-side rendering solution for Angular applications. It allows developers to render Angular applications on the server and deliver fully rendered pages to the client. Angular Universal helps improve performance, SEO, and initial page load times by generating static HTML on the server.

Check Out Our React Component Library for Design Engineers

MagicUI is a free and open-source UI library designed specifically for design engineers. It offers a collection of over 20 animated components built with:

React
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS
Framer Motion

The library provides a range of visually appealing and interactive elements that can be easily integrated into web applications, allowing developers to create stunning user interfaces with minimal effort. MagicUI components are highly customizable, enabling seamless adaptation to match desired branding and design requirements. With a focus on animation and a design-centric approach, MagicUI aims to bridge the gap between design and development, empowering users to craft captivating digital experiences.

Save Time with MagicUI Pro

Along with the free component library, MagicUI offers a Pro version that can save users thousands of hours. Through MagicUI Pro, users can create beautiful landing pages and convert visitors into customers using the provided website templates. The Pro version of MagicUI extends the library's capabilities, allowing for efficient and effective design and development processes. The seamless integration of MagicUI Pro into projects ensures that users can work more efficiently and deliver exceptional digital experiences to their audiences.

Get Started with MagicUI Today

Use the MagicUI React component library for free today at magicui.design/docs

What Is NextJS? Best Features, Applications, Pros & Cons

Looking to understand what is NextJS? Know the key features, common uses, and advantages and disadvantages of NextJS in this informative overview.

15 min read·UI Frameworks

Looking to learn about NextJS, its features, applications, pros, and cons? MagicUI's React component library fits the bill, providing an intuitive solution that simplifies your development process.

What Is NextJS?

What Is NextJS

Server-side
Static
Client-side
Incremental static regeneration
On-demand revalidation

Next.js provides an amazing developer experience with features like:

TypeScript and ESLing integrations
Fast refreshing when developing your website

When deployed, Next.js does:

Automatic compiling
Bundling
Minifying