Next.js vs. Node.js: Comparison for Modern Web Development

Next.js vs. Node.js: Comparison for Modern Web Development

Next.js and Node.js are two technologies that are heavily used in modern web development.

Although the two technologies have deceptively similar names, they have completely different yet partially related purposes.

  • Next.js is a JavaScript framework based on React for creating static and rendered websites on both client and server sides.
  • Node.js is a server runtime used to run JavaScript applications in various contexts.

The common theme for both technologies is that they are part of a larger JavaScript ecosystem.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the differences between these two technologies and dive deeper into the what and why of Next.js in modern web development.

Next.js vs. Node.js

Next.js is ultimately a framework for creating modern websites, while Node.js is a runtime where you execute JavaScript source code.

Next.js supports static site generation, client-side rendering, and server-side rendering. The two technologies overlap because Node.js is the default engine for server-side rendering in Next.js.

Node.js is based on Google’s V8 open-source high-performance JavaScript engine. While the V8 engine runs in modern browsers, Node.js runs on a server. A typical Next.js website will include both client-side and server-side rendering, using both the V8 and Node.js engines for rendering JavaScript code to HTML.

While Node.js is a JavaScript runtime used to run JavaScript outside of a browser, it has many more features. Using an event-driven and non-blocking I/O model allows Node.js to handle many connections simultaneously with low overhead, making It a great choice for real-time applications.

Since Node.js is used in many different contexts, the community and available support around Node.js is widespread. The development of Node.js benefits from regular feature releases, performance enhancements, security patches, and more.

In summary, Node.js is the engine on which parts of Next.js run,specifically for the server-side rendered part of Next.js. The two technologies work together to bring your website to your end users. However, Next.js has additional features that run directly in the browser and are not covered by Node.js.

Why use Next.js

Why would you use Next.js when you can use React directly? If you have worked with React, you know it is very flexible and allows you to build great websites. However, getting all the pieces in place for a fully functioning website requires a lot of work and tinkering. It’s also worth noting that React is restricted to client-side generated websites.

Next.js comes with features that make it a great tool for modern web development. The ability to use static site generation, client-side rendering, and server-side rendering allows you to build fast, dynamic, and SEO-optimized websites. With these three rendering methods, you can split the generation of your website into three parts:

  • A static part that is ideal for SEO because it allows the content to be indexed by search engines.
  • A server-side generated part where you need to interact with backends, like a database, or where you need to process a lot of data efficiently that would be slow to do on the client side.
  • A client-side generated part for things that require instant feedback for your users. This is for parts your users interact with directly.

Next.js has built-in support for React components, routing, data fetching, styling, and optimizations for images, fonts, and scripts, which can enhance the user experience of your sites. You can adopt Next.js incrementally in your React project to gradually utilize all its features.

Next.js also comes with all the tools required for building, bundling, and compiling, allowing developers to focus on creating content and websites, without needing to set up the tooling to package the project into a working website.

What is Next.js used for?

Next.j’s three generation methods allow it to be used in a variety of contexts.

With static site generation, HTML pages are generated once during build time. They do not have to be regenerated for each request and can be cached by content delivery networks (CDN) to speed up response times. This is ideal for static content like marketing pages, blogs, portfolios, help, and documentation. It is also beneficial for dynamic content with a slow change cadence that can be updated sporadically, such as a product listing page on an e-commerce website.

Server-side rendering is for pages that should be generated for each request. These are typically pages that interact with backends or data stores and need to be queried for fresh data. For example, a product details page that shows live product availability. Server-side pages are better for search-engine optimizations (SEO) since the pages are delivered as rendered HTML and not just JavaScript. This type of content has a faster first-page load performance over client-side rendered content.

Client-side rendering is for pages that do not need to be indexed by search engines, as this approach is not ideal for SEO. A client-side rendered page is dynamically built in the browser through JavaScript and is typically used when live updates and fast response times are needed. The user experience is great because rendering is done in the client browser. Typical examples include views of data that should be updated in real time, like stock trading applications.

Combining these three methods of content generation allows you to build any type of website. Examples include e-commerce sites, dashboards, blogs, and media-rich applications.

How to get started with Next.js

Before you begin, you must make sure that you have Node.js installed.

The recommended approach to creating a new Next.js project is to run the following:

npx create-next-app@latest

You will be asked a series of questions where you can configure details about your project. Once the installation is complete, you can start developing your website while watching your changes live if you run the command.

npm run dev

Open a browser and go to http://localhost:3000 to see your live page:

Next.js

To edit the landing page, open app/page.tsx and add your content as the return value of the Home function:

Next.js

If you are not familiar with how React components work and the specifics of Next.js, you can follow the getting-started documentation or utilize a generative AI coding tool such as Qodo.

Install Qodo in your code editor (see https://www.qodo.ai/install/) to get started.

You can use Qodo to generate tests for your components, enhance existing code, and suggest specific improvements around SEO, usability, and more.

However, as a new Next.js user, you may first use Qodo to explain existing code. To do so, open a file or select a specific piece of code you want to understand and simply ask Qodo to explain it to you:

Next.js

Next.js alternatives

Since Next.js is based on React, you might consider using React directly. However, React is intended to run in a browser and only provides features for client-side rendering, limiting to the types of websites you can create using React alone. In general, you’ll have to build a separate backend service for your React applications to handle things like database connections.

A similar framework to Next.js is Remix. Remix is also based on React, or more specifically, React Router. It provides many of the same features as Next.js, but offers a different approach. Remix claims to be a compiler, a server-side HTTP handler, a server framework, and a browser framework.

If you are interested in alternatives to the static-site generation part of Next.js, you can choose from a few different frameworks. Some of the most popular frameworks are Hugo, Jekyll, and Gatsby.

  • Hugo is written in Go and comes as a single binary that does not require a separate runtime. With Hugo, you write content as Markdown, and Hugo generates static websites from this.
  • Jekyll is written in Ruby and is very similar to Hugo. You write content in Markdown or HTML, and Jekyll generates static websites.
  • Gatsby is different from both Hugo and Jekyll since it is based on React, which is similar to Next.js. Gatsby uses Node.js as a runtime on a server to generate static websites.

Finally, there are frameworks that extend Next.js. Two frameworks for full-stack apps are Blitz.js and RedwoodJS. Both run on Node.js.

Summary

Next.js and Node.js are both key technologies used in modern web development. Next.js is a framework based on React for creating modern websites, while Node.js is a runtime for JavaScript on the server.

Next.js is used for various use cases in modern web development, from blogs to e-commerce websites. The combination of static site generation, client-side, and server-side rendering allows Next.js to be applicable to a wide range of scenarios. Each type of rendering method is optimized for different situations, and the combination of all is beneficial for modern web development.

While there are many alternatives to Next.js, most of them focus on one type of rendering method (static, client-side, or server-side rendering). A major benefit of Next.js is its ability to combine all three methods, to help developers build great websites together with a comprehensive set of tools.

More from our blog