Next.js is a framework built on top of React, providing additional features like server-side rendering, static site generation, and routing, while React is a JavaScript library focused on building user interfaces. Next.js controls the application flow and offers production-ready tools, whereas React gives developers more flexibility but requires additional setup for features like routing and SSR.
No, Next.js is not a replacement for React. Instead, it extends React by adding features such as server-side rendering, static site generation, and routing. You still use React components within a Next.js application.
Next.js offers fast performance through server-side rendering and static generation, native image optimization, easy page creation, Typescript support, and simple deployment via Vercel. It also improves SEO with enhanced crawlability and provides a logical approach to data management.
Next.js uses a file-based routing system, which may be insufficient for some advanced routing needs. Developers need familiarity with Node.js for dynamic routes. The talent pool for Next.js is smaller compared to React, but it is growing rapidly.
React is easy to learn for JavaScript developers, has extensive documentation and tutorials, a large community, and a wide range of tools and extensions. It is highly flexible and can be used for web, mobile, and desktop applications.
React is focused solely on building user interfaces, so developers need to add other libraries for routing, state management, and SSR. Its rapid development cycle can make documentation outdated quickly, requiring ongoing learning.
Next.js offers better SEO out of the box due to server-side rendering and static generation, which allow search engines to crawl fully rendered pages. React, by default, renders content on the client side, which can make SEO more challenging unless additional SSR solutions are implemented.
Next.js is ideal for landing pages, SEO-friendly websites, eCommerce platforms, and web applications that require fast load times and high performance. Major platforms like Twitch.tv, TikTok, Hulu, and Binance use Next.js for their web applications.
React is used for building dynamic web pages, mobile apps, single-page applications, dashboards, and visualization tools. It powers platforms like Facebook, Netflix, BBC.com, and Airbnb.
The choice depends on your project needs. If you require built-in SSR, static site generation, and SEO optimization, Next.js is a strong choice. If you want maximum flexibility and control over your tech stack, React may be preferable. Both are easy to get started with and have strong community support.
Server-side rendering (SSR) in Next.js means that pages are rendered on the server at request time, delivering fully drawn pages to clients for faster load times and better SEO. This is a key feature that distinguishes Next.js from client-side-only frameworks.
Static generation in Next.js pre-renders pages at build time using available data, resulting in fast load times and improved SEO. This is especially useful for content that doesn't change frequently and can be cached.
Hygraph provides a GraphQL-based headless CMS that works seamlessly with Next.js. You can create an account, select a plan, and create a project to get a GraphQL API, which can be queried from your Next.js app for dynamic content delivery. See Hygraph Next.js CMS integration for more details.
To use Hygraph with React, you can install Apollo Client or use the Hygraph React SDK to query GraphQL and REST endpoints. Hygraph provides tutorials and example projects for integrating with React. See React CMS integration guide for more information.
Next.js powers platforms like Twitch.tv, TikTok, Hulu, and Binance, while React is used by Facebook, Netflix, BBC.com, and Airbnb. Both are widely adopted for high-traffic, dynamic web applications.
A framework, like Next.js, provides structure and controls the flow of an application, offering built-in features and conventions. A library, like React, offers reusable components and leaves the application flow to the developer. This distinction affects how much setup and flexibility you have in your project.
React has a much larger talent pool and community, with over 183k stars on GitHub, while Next.js has a smaller but rapidly growing community with over 82.1k stars. Both communities are friendly and offer extensive resources.
Both Next.js and React have comprehensive documentation, guides, tutorials, and community support. Developers can find resources on their official websites, GitHub repositories, and community forums.
Hygraph provides a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, enterprise-grade security, user-friendly tools, Smart Edge Cache, localization, asset management, and cost efficiency. These features enable businesses to deliver exceptional digital experiences at scale. Learn more.
Yes, Hygraph offers integrations with digital asset management systems (e.g., Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Imgix, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot), Adminix, Plasmic, and supports custom integrations via SDKs and APIs. Explore the Hygraph Marketplace for more options.
Hygraph offers multiple APIs: Content API (read/write), High Performance Content API (low latency, high throughput), MCP Server API (AI assistant integration), Asset Upload API, and Management API. See the API Reference Documentation for details.
Hygraph delivers high performance through optimized endpoints for low latency and high read-throughput, active performance measurement of its GraphQL APIs, and practical optimization advice. See the performance improvements blog and GraphQL Report 2024 for more.
Hygraph provides extensive documentation, including API references, schema components, references, webhooks, and AI integrations. Access all resources at the Hygraph Documentation portal.
Hygraph is praised for its intuitive user interface, easy setup, and ability for non-technical users to manage content independently. Real-time changes and custom app integrations further enhance usability. Some users note a learning curve for complex features. (Source)
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (since August 3, 2022), ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. It offers granular permissions, audit logs, SSO, encryption, regular backups, and dedicated hosting options. Learn more.
Hygraph performs regular data backups and offers instant one-click backup recovery for enterprise customers, ensuring data safety and quick recovery in case of incidents.
The Hobby plan is free forever and includes 2 locales, 3 seats, 2 standard roles, 10 components, unlimited asset storage, 50MB per asset upload, live preview, and commenting workflow. Sign up here.
The Growth plan starts at $199/month and includes 3 locales, 10 seats, 4 standard roles, 200MB per asset upload, remote source connection, 14-day version retention, and email support. Get started.
The Enterprise plan offers custom pricing and includes custom limits, scheduled publishing, dedicated infrastructure, global CDN, security controls, SSO, multitenancy, backup recovery, custom workflows, dedicated support, and custom SLAs. Try for 30 days or request a demo.
Visit the Hygraph pricing page for a full breakdown of plans, features, and costs.
Hygraph is ideal for developers, product managers, content creators, marketers, and solutions architects in enterprises, agencies, eCommerce, media, technology, healthcare, and global brands. Its flexibility supports a wide range of industries. (See case studies)
Hygraph serves SaaS, marketplace, edtech, media, healthcare, consumer goods, automotive, technology, fintech, travel, food & beverage, eCommerce, agencies, gaming, events, government, consumer electronics, engineering, and construction. See all industries.
Yes. Samsung built a scalable API-first app, Dr. Oetker enhanced digital experience, Komax achieved 3x faster time to market, AutoWeb increased monetization by 20%, BioCentury accelerated publishing, Voi scaled multilingual content, and HolidayCheck reduced developer bottlenecks. Read more.
Customers report improved operational efficiency, faster speed-to-market, cost savings, enhanced scalability, and better customer engagement. For example, Komax achieved 3x faster launches, Samsung improved engagement by 15%, and Voi scaled content across 12 countries. (Source)
Implementation time varies by project. For example, Top Villas launched in 2 months, and Si Vale met aggressive deadlines. Hygraph offers a structured onboarding process, free API playground, and extensive training resources for fast adoption. (Source)
Hygraph addresses operational inefficiencies (reducing developer dependency), modernizes legacy tech stacks, ensures content consistency, improves workflows, reduces costs, accelerates launches, simplifies schema evolution, and enhances localization and asset management. (See case studies)
Hygraph is the first GraphQL-native Headless CMS, offers content federation, enterprise-grade features, user-friendly tools, and proven ROI. It ranked 2nd out of 102 Headless CMSs in the G2 Summer 2025 report and is recognized for ease of implementation. (Source)
HolidayCheck reduced developer bottlenecks, Komax achieved faster launches and lower costs, Samsung scaled globally with reduced maintenance, and Voi improved multilingual workflows. See more examples.
Notable customers include Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Komax, AutoWeb, BioCentury, Vision Healthcare, HolidayCheck, and Voi. See all customer stories.
One of the first decisions a developer or CTO makes before starting a project is deciding which technology to utilize, as this is critical to the project's success. When choosing a software library or framework, what it's like for developers to complete a certain project (the developer experience) is usually taken into account.
Libraries or frameworks that are exciting and straightforward to use are frequently selected by developers. This is one of the primary reasons why some libraries and frameworks become so famous and extensively utilized by so many developers. As a result, React and Next.js have become two of the most popular front-end web development technologies today, responsible for shaping our online experience as the standard tools used to construct user interfaces.
In this blog post, we will examine these two technologies to understand what they do, their pros and cons, the key differences between them, and then explore their use cases, so you can eventually decide which one to utilize for your projects.
Next.js is a framework created by Vercel (formerly Zeit). It is open-source, built using Node.js and Babel, and connects with React to create single-page apps. This allows you to create static web apps and makes server-side rendering incredibly simple, regardless of where your data comes from.
It is a React framework, which means it works on top of React.js or it makes use of the many popular React library’s capabilities to quickly construct software applications. It has a lot of important features, such as a preview mode, building size optimization, static export, and pre-rendering.
Next.js has two types of pre-rendering to manage how data is fetched for optimal speed, these are:
Server-side Rendering (SSR) enables the retrieval and rendering of data at the time of the request, resulting in clients receiving a completely drawn page on demand rather than having to wait several seconds for individual elements to load.
Static generation uses data that is already available at build time before the request is performed; this is especially useful when data is publicly cached or pre-rendered for SEO purposes.
You can read more on Server-side Rendering (SSR) and Static-site Generation (SSG) here.
Overall, the current version of Next.js is something that React has long lacked, as it is largely focused on integration and performance. It also includes a Rust compiler for quicker builds, improved image management, increased SEO crawlability functions, and operational tools to make it even more production-friendly.
Next.js apps are fast and give a more logical approach to data management due to Server-side Rendering and Static Generation. Native image optimization features improve performance as well.
Next.js, applications are easy to create. To build pages, for example, simply add the page to the pages folder and the necessary header component link. This simplifies your life since you write less code, and the project is easier to follow, resulting in better project management.
Images are scaled and sent in the best, latest formats, such as WebP, and are tailored to fit into smaller viewports.
Vercel, the startup behind Next.js, wanted to make it as simple as possible to deploy React projects. And they succeeded, which means you're only a few clicks away from being ready for deployment.
One of the reasons Next.js is so popular among developers is that it supports Typescript.
Next.js routing system is just a file system, which is insufficient for some tasks but not all. Node.js is the technology to have on hand for creating dynamic routes, therefore developers must be familiar with it.
It is modest but expanding by the day as Next.js becomes one of the most popular online building pieces. The skill pool and demand for Next.js developers is growing, which means there are more options for individuals wishing to make a name for themselves in modern application development.
React is a free and open-source JavaScript frontend library for creating user interfaces. Meta (formerly Facebook) and a community of individual developers and organizations manage it. It became open-source in 2013 and is now one of the most used front-end libraries.
According to the 2021 Stack Overflow developer survey, React.js surpassed jQuery as the most frequently used web framework with around 40.14 percent and the most sought, with one in every four developers desiring it. Over, 8000 industry leaders utilize React.
Among the many important capabilities given by React are routing and state management methods with Redux (for enterprise-grade mobile apps) and other libraries/frameworks such as React Native. React Hooks is another React-based utility that is frequently used to handle component behavior and logic.
React includes a range of extensions for overall application architectural support, such as Flux and React Native, in addition to UI. It provides a unique extension that accelerates and simplifies the debugging of React web projects in practically all browsers. Its main rivals are Angular and Vue.js, although according to npm trends, it has been the most popular library of the three in recent years.
It includes a comprehensive set of manuals, tutorials, and training materials. Any developer with JavaScript skills can quickly grasp and begin creating web apps using React.
You'll need to design your process in React. This is a more difficult road than just utilizing what other JavaScript frameworks provide: a plethora of ready-made capabilities integrated into the framework.
React has also grown in popularity as a result of its useful collection of tools that make the developer's job more straightforward.
React is a library that specializes in the creation of user interfaces. As a result, you will still need to select other technologies to have a comprehensive set of development tools for your project.
Because its development cycles are so short, the existing documentation is quickly out of date. The robust community responds quickly to any inquiries or concerns, but it also necessitates regular re-learning of its aspects.
It is critical to distinguish between a framework and a library, as we previously stated that Next.js is a React framework (as it calls itself "The React Framework for Production"), and React is a JavaScript library.
Frameworks help get started on projects more quickly, as frameworks provide low-level Frameworks that make it easier to get started on projects faster since they provide low-level functionality, leaving only the high-level functionality of an app to develop. Frameworks give some fundamental code to start developing an application faster and with less effort.
Libraries are collections of resources that developers may utilize to streamline the application development process. Libraries may be quite useful while working on complex projects since they allow you to utilize different applications, even if they are unrelated in any manner.
In general, when you use a library, you control the flow of an application, however, when you use a framework, the flow is controlled by the framework, which is one of the most significant distinctions between a framework and a library. The following is a summary of the differences between Next.js and React:
| Next.js | React |
|---|---|
| You write less code and the project is easy to follow, resulting in better project management. | Coding is fast with the help of Create-React-App (CRA). |
| Because of Server-side Rendering and Static Generation, Next.js applications are incredibly fast. | Decent, but the lack of code splitting results in poor performance. |
| Next.js supports static export, pre-rendering and has many more nice features like automatic building size optimization, faster developer compilation, and a preview mode. | React is easily extensible and can include features like routing as well as state management patterns with libraries like Redux. |
| In terms of SEO, Next.js has increased SEO crawlability functions as applications go through the proper information, such as the meta and headers and, catalog those details. | When a search engine crawls through a React project, it will not get the necessary data it needs, as it will only retrieve a JavaScript file, making it poor in terms of SEO. |
| Well-written documentation. | Well-written documentation. |
| Has a smaller community but is very friendly with over 82.1k stars on GitHub. | Has a huge community and is very friendly, with over 183k stars on GitHub. |
| Very narrow talent pool. | Has a huge talent pool. |
| Very easy to learn with lots of resources, guides, videos, and courses. | Very easy to learn with lots of resources, guides, videos, and courses. |
| Low cost of development. | Low cost of development. |
Next.js is used to create landing pages, SEO-friendly websites, eCommerce businesses, and other web applications that require rapid, high-performance load times. Twitch.tv, TikTok, Hulu, Binance, and many more websites and platforms that involve many people interacting with complicated data influxes are some of the most amazing instances of Next.js in action.
You can check out hundreds of beautiful websites built with Next.js by Vercel here.
Hygraph is a GraphQL-based headless CMS that works well with Next.js apps and webpages. All you have to do to get started with Hygraph is to create an account, select a plan and then create a project. This will provide us with an API that we can query with GraphQL. GraphQL is a query language that allows you to get exactly what you want from many resources in a single request.
Querying resources and data using GraphQL is very simple and could look like this:
{posts {id,title}}
You can check some querries commands and how they work with GraphQL here.
Hygraph has a robust and versatile administration API for managing your content and schema, as well as a lightning-fast content API. Combine the power of Next.js with a headless CMS for your Progressive Web Software, eCommerce store, or desktop app project.
React is used to build SEO-friendly dynamic webpages, mobile apps, single-page apps, dashboards, and visualization tools. It is used to develop some of the most well-known platforms and services we use every day, like Facebook, Netflix, BBC.com, and Airbnb.
You can check out **hundreds of beautiful websites made with React here.
Making use of GraphQL in your React app would need you to first install Apollo Client, this will help you configure Apollo Client and then allow you to retrieve data from graphQL and REST endpoints. To work with React in Hygraph you can make use of the React SDK.
This example shows how to query from Hygraph using graphql-request in React.js. You can also read this tutorial on how to work with React.js and why a React Headless CMS with GraphQL would be the best choice for your next project.
This should not be the issue because there is no conclusive answer as to which is superior, but rather it depends. It all boils down to the type and aims of the project, whether you're operating as a developer or a CTO.
In their ways, both React and Next.js present excellent options for developers. React allows you to construct things exactly as you want them to be and is backed by a large community. Next.js makes your life simpler by providing several tools and standards out of the box, and it is also backed by a thriving open source community. They're simple to get started with and easy to obtain support with, whether through documentation or community resources.
React is a wonderful complement to any project. What's more, if, given the chance, it can scale as well. React is more adaptable than Next.js simply because it is a library. It is up to the engineer to decide whether to implement it.
We hope the contrasts and explanations offered here help you understand how to utilize them in your projects and which one to use based on the project.
Blog Author
Discover 7 top CMS options for Angular apps, with tips on choosing a headless CMS that delivers performance, flexibility, and a great developer experience.
Choosing the right CMS for Astro can make or break your site's performance and workflow. We've narrowed down the best CMS options based on scalability, price and how well they integrate with Astro, so you can find the perfect fit for your project.
Discover the ten best content management systems (CMSs) for Next.js in 2025.