Next.js vs React for Enterprise Applications
Choose Next.js when you need SEO, SSR/ISR, unified full-stack routes, or edge deployment for marketing plus authenticated product surfaces. Choose React SPA (Vite) when the app is login-walled with no indexable pages and maximum client flexibility matters.
Decision matrix
- Public catalog or docs → Next.js
- Internal admin only → React SPA may suffice
- Same team owns API + UI → Next.js route handlers
- Micro-frontends → React hosts with Module Federation
- AEM or headless CMS → Often Next.js consumer
Frequently asked questions
Incremental — marketing and SEO pages first, keep dashboard SPA until App Router patterns are proven.
React components portable; routing and data patterns need refactor — we document escape hatches.
Vercel enterprise or self-host on AWS — both supported.