Gatsby.js Vs. Next.js: Choosing the perfect technology for React-based projects

With the Internet becoming more accessible and easy to work with, every business is busy creating their digital footprint online to take their business to the next level by increasing its visibility and accessibility. To aid businesses in achieving this, frontend development with React.js has become a pioneer in the field of web development. With the aid of React.js, developers can easily create amazing and out of the box websites for their business and expand it to even a global scale. However, with the rise in demand, adopting new frameworks for creating unique Progressive web apps and applications using React.js has become a must.

For this, two of the most common frameworks are Next.js and Gatsby.js. These two are quite similar in nature, however, when we do an in-depth study for each of these, there’s a lot that needs to be in the public eye regarding these two popular technologies. With this article, today we will analyze the major differences between Gatsby.js and Next.js and decide which one is the right choice for what situation. But before we dive into that, let us take a look into the major similarities between these two frameworks.

Major similarities in Gatsby.js and Next.js

Both Gatsby.js and Next.js have the following similarities between them:

Both Gatsby.js and Next.js help you in laying the foundation of your React project and aid you in traversing through the development process.

Both of these frameworks help developers in creating fast, functional, and out of the box website with ease.

Gatsby.js and Next.js make the web application faster, easy to analyze for the crawler, and SEO friendly.

These two can aid hire React.js developers in creating amazing single page web applications.

They make the development process easy for developers with their functional APIs.

Major differences between Gatsby.js and Next.js

Although Gatsby and Next.js have a number of visible similarities. When it comes to providing functionality, there are a number of differences that developers must be aware of. These differences make them suitable for catering to different user requirements, and a wrong choice regarding them can lead to a number of unforeseen problems during the process of project development. Below is a list of major differences in the Gatsby.js and Next.js:

Gatsby.js generates static sites, whereas Next.js performs server-side rendering. As a result, Next.js requires a server for execution. The code execution in the Next.js takes place in the run time and during each execution HTML page is generated dynamically. However, with Gatsby.js the code execution takes place during the build time.

Gatsby.js aids its users in data handling, whereas Next.js leaves it entirely up to the user’s choice. For this purpose, Gatsby.js uses GraphQl for creating queries. This makes Gatsby.js more structured and convenient. However, it also constricts its flexibility.

In the end, choosing between Gatsby.js and Next.js is entirely a matter of personal preference. For creating a fast and single-page application Gatsby.js is a perfect choice. However, If your web application has scope for expansion, using Next.js might be a better choice.

To wrap up

Both Gatsby.js and Next.js are individually prolific technologies for creating amazing and unique frontend. However, their difference in nature makes them suitable for catering to different development needs.

About This Author

Anuj Joined: October 16th, 2019