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CakePHP vs Next.js: What are the differences?
Introduction: CakePHP and Next.js are two popular frameworks used for web development. While both frameworks are used to build dynamic web applications, they have several key differences that set them apart.
Language: CakePHP is written in PHP, a popular server-side scripting language, while Next.js is written in JavaScript, which is a versatile and widely-used programming language. This difference in language affects the syntax and coding style used in each framework.
Backend vs Frontend: CakePHP is primarily a backend framework, focused on server-side development and providing a robust foundation for building web applications. In contrast, Next.js is primarily a frontend framework that allows developers to build and render React components on the server-side. It is commonly used for building single-page applications (SPAs) and progressive web applications (PWAs).
Routing: CakePHP uses a convention-based routing system, where URLs map directly to controller actions. This simplifies the routing setup but can be less flexible for complex routing requirements. On the other hand, Next.js uses file-based routing, where every file in the pages directory corresponds to a route. This gives developers more control and flexibility over routing, allowing for custom routes and dynamic routes.
Rendering: CakePHP uses server-side rendering (SSR), where the server generates the HTML content that is sent to the client. This approach ensures that the user receives a fully-rendered page, but it may result in slower initial load times. Next.js, on the other hand, supports both server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG). This enables pre-rendering of pages during build time, leading to faster initial load times and improved performance.
Ecosystem and Community: CakePHP has a long-standing history and a large community of developers. It has a mature ecosystem with a wide range of plugins, extensions, and community support. Next.js, on the other hand, has gained popularity more recently, but it has a rapidly growing community and an active ecosystem. It benefits from the wider JavaScript ecosystem and the popularity of React.
Learning Curve and Complexity: CakePHP follows the convention over configuration principle, which means it provides a set of predefined conventions that simplify development but may limit flexibility in some cases. Next.js, on the other hand, requires more knowledge of JavaScript, React, and the Next.js framework itself. It offers more flexibility but also comes with a steeper learning curve and increased complexity.
In summary, CakePHP and Next.js differ in the programming language used, their primary focus on backend or frontend development, the routing system they employ, the rendering approach they support, the size and maturity of their ecosystems, and the learning curve and complexity involved in using them.
We choose Next.js for our React framework because it's very minimal and has a very organized file structure. Also, it offers key features like zero setups, automatic server rendering and code splitting, typescript support. Our app requires some loading time to process the video, server-side rendering will allow our website to display faster than client-side rending.
We’re a new startup so we need to be able to deliver quick changes as we find our product market fit. We’ve also got to ensure that we’re moving money safely, and keeping perfect records. The technologies we’ve chosen mix mature but well maintained frameworks like Django, with modern web-first and api-first front ends like GraphQL, NextJS, and Chakra. We use a little Golang sparingly in our backend to ensure that when we interact with financial services, we do so with statically compiled, strongly typed, and strictly limited and reviewed code.
You can read all about it in our linked blog post.
Next.js is probably the most enjoyable React framework our team could have picked. The development is an extremely smooth process, the file structure is beautiful and organized, and the speed is no joke. Our work with Next.js comes out much faster than if it was built on pure React or frameworks alike. We were previously developing all of our projects in Meteor before making the switch. We left Meteor due to the slow compiler and website speed. We deploy all of our Next.js projects on Vercel.
Hey guys,
My backend set up is Prisma / GraphQL-Yoga at the moment, and I love it. It's so intuitive to learn and is really neat on the frontend too, however, there were a few gotchas when I was learning! Especially around understanding how it all pieces together (the stack). There isn't a great deal of information out there on exactly how to put into production my set up, which is a backend set up on a Digital Ocean droplet with Prisma/GraphQL Yoga in a Docker Container using Next & Apollo Client on the frontend somewhere else. It's such a niche subject, so I bet only a few hundred people have got a website with this stack in production. Anyway, I wrote a blog post to help those who might need help understanding it. Here it is, hope it helps!
Pros of CakePHP
- Open source35
- Really rapid framework25
- Good code organization19
- Flexibility13
- Security best practices10
- Clean architecture7
- ORM5
- Less code5
- Composer friendly4
- Convention Over Configuration4
- CakePhp Book2
- Cake Bake2
- Built-in Validation2
- Ctp view File extension1
- CakePhp inflector1
- Quickly develop1
- Rest Full Apis1
Pros of Next.js
- Automatic server rendering and code splitting49
- Built with React43
- Easy setup33
- TypeScript26
- Universal JavaScript24
- Zero setup22
- Static site generator21
- Simple deployment12
- Just JavaScript12
- Incremental static regeneration12
- Filesystem as an API10
- Frictionless development10
- Everything is a function9
- Well Documented9
- Has many examples and integrations8
- Testing8
- Isomorphic React applications7
- File based routing + hooks built in4
- Deployment2
- SEO1
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Cons of CakePHP
- Robust Baking Tool1
- Follows Good Programming Practices1
Cons of Next.js
- Structure is weak compared to Angular(2+)9