NEXTJS vs Gatsby. Which framework to choose in 2022?

Posted on December 20, 2021 By websitedesignadmin

When developing a React powered and indexed by Google web application, one will either choose between Gatsby JS and NextJS which are the most prominent tools to do this job. Of course, one selects the right tool according to the project requirements, but let’s assume you want to build a Jamstack static site that needs to be:

  • Indexed by Google, because one wants to grow your organic traffic,
  • High Performance, because one wants to give the best user experience possible,
  • Written in React, because of its component-based method for faster building of user interfaces,
  • Integrated with a headless CMS because you need to change content frequently,
  • PWA (progressive web app) ready.

Both these frameworks can be used to achieve these desired results.

The fundamental difference between these two is, while NextJs needs a server for its functioning with enabling SSR features, we can deploy Gatsby even in the absence of a server.

Gatsby JS is a static site generator (SSG). While NextJs initially was a server-side rendering tool, but now it supports static site generation as well.

In the case of data handling, NextJs is much more flexible, cause it enables developers in a website design company to decide themselves. Gatsby enables one to use GraphQL only, which can be an overkill for some projects.

The process of developing a fully working application is faster in Gatsby than in JS. Since Gatsby has many adjustable plugins and provides an extensive suite of themes and templates to choose from.

But with the new NEXTJs version 12, one might want to choose it in the upcoming days rather than Gatsby. The main reasons are

  • With the New Rust compiler, the compilation and build time of a NextJS app is now 5X times faster than what it was before. With keeping this in mind, CI/CD-based apps will be benefiting from this functionality greatly.
  • With new middleware support, one gets full flexibility in NextJs because the developers can run code before a request is completed.
  • With new React 18 support makes NEXTJs more flexible. The new Image optimization system leaves Gatsby’s  GRAPHQL based images optimization far behind.
  • And also many new features like optimization for web crawlers, URL imports make it more robust than Gatsby.

Conclusion

Both Next and Gatsby are strikingly remarkable frameworks. Usually, in a website design company, developers choose the framework according to their choice while keeping the client’s need in mind.

While Gatsby is the standard choice for static websites, NEXTJs is the most logical option for server-side dynamic websites. Gatsby offers a wide offering of themes, plugins, and templates, developers looking to set up a fully functional application or website in minimal time. But with the new NEXTJS 12, became a game-changer in the development community.