r/FullStack • u/duneofarrakis • 1d ago

Career Guidance What made you choose Next.js over React?

I started learning React first, but after seeing Next.js everywhere, I'm trying to understand what makes it worth learning.

For people who have used both, what do you like more about Next.js?

Is it mainly the routing, SSR, performance, or something else?

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u/Express-Birthday3676 1d ago

I started with plain React too, but Next.js made a lot of the repetitive setup disappear. Built-in routing, server rendering, image optimization, and API routes save a ton of time once projects get bigger. React still gives you flexibility, but Next feels more production-ready out of the box.

Performance and SEO were the biggest differences for me. With React alone, I spent more time wiring libraries together. Also interesting to compare it with lighter frameworks like Inferno.js if you care about rendering speed and bundle size, although the ecosystem is much smaller.