If you are looking forward to building the UI of your web applications, Vite and Next.js might be among the frameworks you can consider. The two frameworks share some similarities and differ in many ways, and knowing which is the best may not be easy.
This article will compare Vite and Next.js, explore their features, similarities, and differences, and help you make an informed decision.
What is Vite?
Vite is a build tool that seeks to provide a fast and leaner development experience in the web development space. It is an opinionated framework that features sensible defaults. You can also integrate Vite with other tools and frameworks through plugins.
Features of Vite
- Lighting fast HMR: The Hot Module Replacement (HMR) feature ensures that a Vite app remains fast regardless of size.
- Instant server start: A Vite app does not require bundling due to the on-demand file serving over native ESM.
- Optimized build: Vite comes with a pre-configured rollup build. This tool also supports library mode and multi-pages.
- Fully typed APIs: You can use Vite with JavaScript and TypeScript. Its APIs are flexible and programmatic.
- Universal plugins: Vite has a rollup-superset plugin interface shared between dev and build environments.
Pros of using Vite
- Fast build times: Vite introduced a new approach that does not demand a bundler at development. The developers thus get enough time to focus on development, especially when dealing with large projects.
- Seamless integration: You can integrate Vite with modern front-end development tools and frameworks through its extensive plugin ecosystem.
- Live development: Vite starts a live server, allowing you to see the changes you make to your code in real-time. This approach makes it easy to debug and catch errors early.
- Supports modern web standards: Vite utilizes modern browsers’ APIs and native ES modules. This approach makes it easy to build projects based on modern practices and makes it easy to maintain codebases.
Cons of using Vite
- Smaller community: Vite is still young and does not have a big community compared to its competitors like Next.js.
- Browser compatibility: Vite is limited to modern browsers’ standards. Thus, users of old browsers may fail to use this tool.
- Focuses on client-side rendering: Vite lacks the built-in server-side rendering (SSR) available in its alternatives like Next.js. However, you can configure some apps generated using Vite for SSR.
What is Next.js?
Next.js is a React web framework. Next.js allows developers to build full-stack web apps utilizing the latest React features.
This framework is built on React (the most popular JavaScript library), Turbopack (a bundler written in Rust and optimized for JavaScript), and Speedy Web Compiler (an extensible Rust-based tool that can be used for minification and compilation).
Features of Next.js
- Dynamic HTML streaming: Next.js lets you instantly stream the user interface from the server, which is integrated with React Suspense and the App Router.
- Built-in optimizations: You can enjoy the automatic image, script, and font optimizations for a better UX experience when dealing with Next.js.
- React server components: Next.js is built on the latest React features. You can also add components to your Next.js app without sending additional client-side JavaScript, which means increased speed.
- Advanced routing and nested layouts: This framework allows you to create new routes using the file system. Next.js also supports advanced UI layouts and routing patterns.
- Route handlers: Next.js allows developers to create API endpoints that integrate with 3rd party services and consume from the UI.
Pros of using Next.js
- Shallow learning curve: Next.js is an easy-to-learn framework, especially if you are coming from React or plain JavaScript.
- Pre-rendering: Next.js supports server-side rendering. The SSR technique prefetches the data during build time, which means that the user does not have to wait for the data to be loaded every time data changes. This approach makes Next.js faster than some frameworks that rely on client-side rendering.
- Modular architecture and code reusability: A Next.js application can be split into small code blocks grouped into components. This modular architecture makes it easy to maintain and reuse code across different application pages.
- Extensive ecosystem: Next.js has a big community and tools that you can use to expand the functionality of your application. The framework is also built on React, making using React tools and libraries possible.
Cons of using Next.js
- Opinionated: Next.js offers a structured way of doing things. It thus may not be a good choice for developers who want to exercise complete control over the entire development process.
- State management: State management is a big challenge when building an app that serves dynamic content. Next.js lacks built-in state management features and relies on third-party libraries like Redux and MobX.
Vite vs. Next.js: Deep-Dive Comparison
Vite and Next.js share some similarities, like modern JavaScript support, being open-source, offering build optimizations, and availability of development servers. Even though both can be used in front-end development, they vary in the following ways;
#1. Development experience
Vite is designed to offer an efficient and fast development environment. You can use Vite to generate apps for frameworks like React, Svelte, Vue.js, and Preact. This tool has an intuitive configuration system and is known for fast rebuilds. Vite also has awesome debugging and testing tools to make developers more productive.
Next.js is a comprehensive solution for building React applications. The built-in features like static site generation and code splitting make maintaining code and building fast apps easy. It is easy to debug a Next.js app, especially if you select TypeScript as your language. Automatic route generation is an awesome feature that can improve developers’ productivity.
#2. Rendering
Next.js allows developers to choose whether to render their pages on the server or the client at the component level. The app router, by default, renders components on the server. Next.js offers ‘Static’ and ‘Dynamic’ rendering options.
In Static Rendering, a Next.js app renders server and client components differently. On the other hand, Dynamic Rendering renders Server and Client components on the server at the request time.
Vite can be used to set up apps for different frameworks. The choice of the framework will determine the rendering approach that Vite will take. This tool offers built-in support for server-side rendering for Vue 3 and React. When using Vite in the production environment, using it as a middleware is wise.
#3. Performance
Vite has a fast build process and development server. This build tool relies on the native ES modules, which brings Hot Module Replacement (HMR). These features give Vite a responsive development experience.
Next.js uses server-side rendering, which pre-renders pages, thus improving initial load times. This framework proves to be fast on web apps serving dynamic content due to the SSR feature.
#4. Flexibility
Vite as a build tool can be used with Vue.js, React, and Svelte. However, this framework is designed to be lightweight but provides a fast development environment.
Vite is highly modular and allows developers to pick only the parts or components they need in their application. You can improve a Vite-generated application by integrating it with other tools.
Next.js is designed as a complete solution for React applications. This framework features flexible caching and rendering options. Next.js allows you to choose the rendering environment (client or server-side) at the component level.
#5. Deployment
Vite supports static and serverless hosting. Setting up a web application with Vite generates static files with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that you can host on static hosting services like Vercel, Netlfiy, or GitHub Pages.
Next.js apps support static, server, and serverless deployments. You can use Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub pages for static deployments. Next.js also supports self-hosting, and you can use Docker or Node.js. Serverless options available for deploying Next.js apps include Azure Static Web Apps, AWS Amplify, Firebase, and Cloudfare Pages.
#6. Community
Vite is a newer framework, as it was released in 2020. As such, its community is small but still growing.
Next.js was created in 2016. It has a big community and an extensive ecosystem of libraries and tools. Next.js also enjoys support from the larger React community.
When to use Vite and when to use Next.js
As you can see, both Vite and Next.js have strengths and weaknesses. However, there are some instances where Vite might be better than Next.js and vice versa;
When to use Vite
- Want a fast tool: Vite generates projects fast as it does not require bundling. The Hot Module Replacement (HMR) feature allows developers to see the changes to their code without manual reloading.
- Want a diverse tool: You can use Vite to generate React, Vue.js, Svelte, and Preact applications. Just select the template you need and Vite, and will set up your app in minutes.
When to use Next.js
- You want a framework with a big ecosystem: Next.js has been around for over seven years and has gained a big following. You can bank on the many resources, tools, and plugins you can use to integrate with third-party tools and libraries.
- Want to benefit from SEO: The server-side rendering feature on Next.js makes it easy for web crawlers to discover and index your site. Pre-rendering HTML on the server improves loading speed, which affects the user experience.
- You want a flexible framework: Next.js allows you to switch from Static Site Generation (SSG) and Server-Side Rendering (SSR). The SSR feature unleashes the pre-load feature, which suits your pages serving dynamic data. You can also select the SSG rendering for your static pages.
Conclusion
We have covered everything you need to know in the Vite vs Next.js debate. The two frameworks are not direct competitors as Vite is a build tool while Next.js is a React framework.
The ultimate choice of the framework to select will depend on the nature of the project you need to build and your preferences.
Check out our article on the best JavaScript frameworks that you should know.