Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
.NET vs Next.js: What are the differences?
Introduction:
In this article, we will discuss the key differences between .NET and Next.js. Both .NET and Next.js are popular frameworks used in web development, but they differ in various aspects. Let's explore the differences between them.
Development Language and Ecosystem: .NET is a framework developed by Microsoft using languages like C#, F#, and VB.NET. It has a vast ecosystem including various libraries and tools. On the other hand, Next.js is a framework built on top of JavaScript and React. It leverages the Node.js ecosystem and provides a rich set of features specifically for server-side rendering and static site generation.
Deployment and Hosting: .NET applications can be deployed on Windows servers using Internet Information Services (IIS). It is also possible to host .NET applications on Linux servers using reverse proxy servers like NGINX. Next.js applications, on the other hand, can be deployed on any server that supports Node.js, including both Windows and Linux servers. Next.js applications are commonly deployed on cloud platforms like Vercel, Netlify, or AWS Amplify.
Client-side vs Server-side Rendering: .NET primarily focuses on server-side rendering (SSR) where the HTML is generated on the server and then sent to the client. It supports client-side rendering (CSR) as well, but SSR is the default approach. Next.js, on the other hand, specializes in hybrid rendering where both SSR and client-side rendering (CSR) are used together. Next.js allows developers to choose the rendering strategy based on their specific needs for each page of the application.
Routing: In .NET, routing is typically done using the ASP.NET routing system, which provides a flexible way to define URL patterns and map them to specific handlers or controllers. Next.js uses a file-based routing system where the file structure of the pages directory determines the routes. Each file inside the pages directory represents a route in the application.
Serverless Support: .NET supports serverless deployment through Azure Functions, AWS Lambda, or other serverless platforms. Developers can write serverless functions using .NET languages. Next.js also provides serverless deployment options using platforms like Vercel, which allows developers to deploy Next.js applications as serverless functions. This can be beneficial in terms of scalability and cost-efficiency.
Backend Capabilities: .NET is a full-stack framework that provides extensive backend capabilities. It offers built-in support for various data access technologies, ORM frameworks, authentication, and authorization mechanisms, as well as integration with different databases and services. Next.js, being primarily a frontend framework, does not provide these backend capabilities out of the box. Developers need to integrate with backend services separately for database access, authentication, etc.
In summary, .NET is a mature and feature-rich framework primarily focused on server-side rendering with strong backend capabilities, while Next.js is a modern JavaScript framework specialized in hybrid rendering with a focus on frontend development and easy deployment options using serverless architectures.
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.
I was considering focusing on learning RoR and looking for a work that uses those techs.
After some investigation, I decided to stay with C# .NET:
It is more requested on job positions (7 to 1 in my personal searches average).
It's been around for longer.
it has better documentation and community.
One of Ruby advantages (its amazing community gems, that allows to quickly build parts of your systems by merely putting together third party components) gets quite complicated to use and maintain in huge applications, where building and reusing your own components may become a better approach.
Rail's front end support is starting to waver.
C# .NET code is far easier to understand, debug and maintain. Although certainly not easier to learn from scratch.
Though Rails has an excellent programming speed, C# tends to get the upper hand in long term projects.
I would avise to stick to rails when building small projects, and switching to C# for more long term ones.
Opinions are welcome!
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.
Decided to change all my stack to microsoft technologies for they behave just great together. It is very easy to set up and deploy projects using visual studio and azure. Visual studio is also an amazing IDE, if not the best, when used for C#, it allows you to work in every aspect of your software.
Visual studio templates for ASP.NET MVC are the best I've found compared to django, rails, laravel, and others.
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 .NET
- Tight integration with visual studio272
- Stable code261
- Great community190
- Reliable and strongly typed server side language.182
- Microsoft140
- Fantastic documentation119
- Great 3rd party libraries89
- Speedy80
- Great azure integration71
- Great support63
- Highly productive34
- Linq34
- C#34
- High Performance31
- Great programming languages (C#, VB)28
- Open source26
- Powerful Web application framework (ASP.NET MVC)19
- Fast16
- Clean markup with razor16
- Powerful ORM (EntityFramework)15
- Dependency injection14
- Visual studio + Resharper = <310
- Constantly improving to keep up with new trends10
- High-Performance9
- TFS8
- Security8
- Job opportunities7
- Integrated and Reliable7
- Huge ecosystem and communities7
- Light-weight6
- Lovely6
- {get; set;}5
- Variations5
- Asynchrony5
- Scaffolding4
- Support and SImplicity4
- Default Debuging tools4
- Concurrent4
- Useful IoC4
- Entity framework4
- Nuget package manager3
- Blazor3
- F♯2
Pros of Next.js
- Automatic server rendering and code splitting51
- Built with React44
- Easy setup34
- TypeScript26
- Universal JavaScript24
- Zero setup22
- Static site generator21
- Just JavaScript12
- Simple deployment12
- 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
Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions
Cons of .NET
- C#13
- Too expensive to deploy and maintain12
- Microsoft dependable systems8
- Microsoft itself8
- Hard learning curve5
- Tight integration with visual studio3
- Not have a full fledged visual studio for linux3
- Microsoft itself 🤡🥲1
Cons of Next.js
- Structure is weak compared to Angular(2+)9