The advantages of a website made from scratch with Next.js vs WordPress or similar platforms

In today's digital age, choosing the right platform for website development can significantly influence the success of an online project. While WordPress and other similar platforms are popular for their simplicity and speed in creating a website, building a website from scratch with Next.js offers numerous advantages for more complex and customized projects. In this article, we will explore the major advantages of using Next.js compared to WordPress and other similar platforms.

1. Superior performance

One of the main advantages of using Next.js is the improved performance. Next.js allows pre-rendering of pages, which means that pages can be generated at build time (Static Generation) or on demand, on the server (Server-Side Rendering). This reduces page load times and improves the user experience. On the other hand, WordPress, although it can be optimized for performance, depends on many plugins that can slow down the website.

2. Flexibility and customization

Next.js gives developers more flexibility in website architecture and design. Since it is a React-based development platform, it allows the use of reusable components and modern development tools. In contrast, WordPress, while highly customizable through themes and plugins, can be limited by its initial structure and plugin dependencies that sometimes don't provide exactly what the developer needs.

3. Security

Security is a major concern for any website. Next.js provides full control over application security as developers can implement custom security measures. WordPress, being a popular platform, is a frequent target for cyber attacks. Although there are plugins and solutions for securing WordPress websites, relying on these plugins can add points of vulnerability.

4. SEO and content control

Next.js provides native SEO support by pre-rendering pages and allows full control over meta tags, URLs, and other SEO-important elements. In WordPress, although there are many SEO plugins, they can add complexity and be less effective than custom solutions developed with Next.js.

5. Scalability

For projects that require scalability, Next.js offers a significant advantage. Thanks to its architecture based on microservices and the possibilities to deploy on cloud platforms like Vercel, Next.js allows easy scaling of the application as it grows. WordPress, despite the existence of scalable hosting solutions, can experience performance and stability difficulties with very high traffic.

6. Integration with modern systems and services

Next.js easily integrates with various modern APIs and services, thus providing the ability to build complex and interactive web applications. WordPress, while having integration capabilities, may require additional plugins or workarounds to connect with certain services.

Although WordPress and other similar platforms are ideal for quick projects and websites with standardized requirements, developing a website from scratch with Next.js offers significant advantages in terms of performance, flexibility, security and scalability. The choice between Next.js and WordPress largely depends on the specifics of the project and its long-term needs. For custom and complex projects, Next.js is a robust and efficient solution that can meet modern web development requirements.