Next.js vs Nuxt: React or Vue for Your Web Project?

Next.js vs Nuxt: The Ultimate Framework Comparison

Next.js and Nuxt are the dominant meta-frameworks for modern web development. Both offer Server-Side Rendering, Static Site Generation, and many other features. But which one fits your project better?

The Basics

Next.js

• Base: React
• Developer: Vercel
• Initial Release: 2016
• Current Version: Next.js 14
• Philosophy: The React Framework for Production

Nuxt

• Base: Vue.js
• Developer: Nuxt Labs
• Initial Release: 2016
• Current Version: Nuxt 3
• Philosophy: The Intuitive Vue Framework

Rendering Strategies Compared

Both frameworks support all modern rendering strategies:

Strategy	Next.js	Nuxt
Server-Side Rendering (SSR)	✓	✓
Static Site Generation (SSG)	✓	✓
Client-Side Rendering (CSR)	✓	✓
Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR)	✓	✓ (experimental)
Hybrid Rendering	✓	✓

Next.js App Router vs Pages Router

Next.js offers two routing systems:

// App Router (recommended, since Next.js 13)
// app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
export default async function BlogPost({ params }) {
  const post = await getPost(params.slug);
  return <article>{post.content}</article>;
}

// With Server Components (default)
// No "use client" = automatically Server Component

Nuxt File-Based Routing

<!-- pages/blog/[slug].vue -->
<script setup>
const route = useRoute();
const { data: post } = await useFetch(`/api/posts/${route.params.slug}`);
</script>

<template>
  <article>{{ post.content }}</article>
</template>

Developer Experience

Project Setup

Next.js:

npx create-next-app@latest my-app
# TypeScript, ESLint, Tailwind automatically configurable

Nuxt:

npx nuxi@latest init my-app
# Minimal setup, add modules as needed

File Structure

Next.js (App Router):

app/
├── layout.tsx
├── page.tsx
├── blog/
│   ├── page.tsx
│   └── [slug]/
│       └── page.tsx
├── api/
│   └── posts/
│       └── route.ts
components/
lib/
public/

Nuxt:

pages/
├── index.vue
├── blog/
│   ├── index.vue
│   └── [slug].vue
server/
├── api/
│   └── posts/
│       └── [slug].ts
components/
composables/
public/

Auto-Imports

Nuxt automatically imports:

• All components from /components
• All composables from /composables
• Vue APIs (ref, computed, etc.)
• Nuxt utilities (useFetch, useRoute, etc.)

<!-- No import needed! -->
<script setup>
const count = ref(0);
const { data } = await useFetch('/api/data');
</script>

<template>
  <MyComponent :count="count" />
</template>

Next.js requires explicit imports:

import { useState } from 'react';
import MyComponent from '@/components/MyComponent';

export default function Page() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
  return <MyComponent count={count} />;
}

State Management

Next.js with React

// Context for simple state management
'use client';
import { createContext, useContext, useState } from 'react';

const AppContext = createContext();

export function AppProvider({ children }) {
  const [user, setUser] = useState(null);
  return (
    <AppContext.Provider value={{ user, setUser }}>
      {children}
    </AppContext.Provider>
  );
}

// For complex cases: Zustand, Jotai, Redux Toolkit

Nuxt with Pinia

// stores/user.ts
export const useUserStore = defineStore('user', () => {
  const user = ref(null);

  async function login(credentials) {
    user.value = await $fetch('/api/login', {
      method: 'POST',
      body: credentials
    });
  }

  return { user, login };
});

// In components
const userStore = useUserStore();
await userStore.login({ email, password });

API Routes

Next.js Route Handlers

// app/api/posts/route.ts
import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';

export async function GET() {
  const posts = await db.posts.findMany();
  return NextResponse.json(posts);
}

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const body = await request.json();
  const post = await db.posts.create({ data: body });
  return NextResponse.json(post, { status: 201 });
}

Nuxt Server Routes

// server/api/posts/index.ts
export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
  if (event.method === 'GET') {
    return await db.posts.findMany();
  }

  if (event.method === 'POST') {
    const body = await readBody(event);
    return await db.posts.create({ data: body });
  }
});

Performance

Bundle Size

Metric	Next.js	Nuxt
Minimal JS Bundle	~85 KB	~50 KB
First Load JS	~90-100 KB	~55-70 KB
React/Vue Runtime	~42 KB	~33 KB

Vue's smaller runtime gives Nuxt a slight advantage in initial bundle size.

Build Time

Both use:

• Next.js: SWC (Rust-based, very fast)
• Nuxt: Vite + Rollup (also very fast)

In practice, build times are comparable.

Core Web Vitals

Both frameworks are optimized for good Core Web Vitals. Actual performance depends more on implementation than the framework.

TypeScript Support

Next.js

TypeScript is a first-class citizen:

// Strongly typed Server Actions
async function createPost(formData: FormData): Promise<Post> {
  'use server';
  const title = formData.get('title') as string;
  return await db.posts.create({ data: { title } });
}

// Typed components
interface Props {
  post: Post;
}

export default function PostCard({ post }: Props) {
  return <article>{post.title}</article>;
}

Nuxt

Full TypeScript support with auto-generation:

// Automatic types for useFetch
const { data: posts } = await useFetch('/api/posts');
// posts is automatically typed based on API response

// Component props
interface Props {
  post: Post;
}

const props = defineProps<Props>();

Ecosystem and Modules

Next.js Ecosystem

• Vercel Platform: Optimized hosting
• next/image: Image optimization
• next/font: Font optimization
• Auth.js: Authentication
• Contentlayer: Content management
• Prisma, Drizzle: Database ORMs

Nuxt Modules

Nuxt has an extensive module system:

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: [
    '@nuxtjs/tailwindcss',
    '@pinia/nuxt',
    '@nuxt/content',
    '@nuxt/image',
    '@sidebase/nuxt-auth',
    '@vueuse/nuxt',
  ]
});

When to Choose Next.js?

1. React expertise: Your team already knows React
2. Vercel hosting: You want the best integration
3. Server Components: You need the latest React ecosystem
4. Enterprise: Large teams, many React developers available
5. E-commerce: Vercel's Commerce templates are excellent

When to Choose Nuxt?

1. Vue expertise: Your team prefers Vue
2. Quick start: Auto-imports and conventions save time
3. Smaller bundles: Critical for mobile-first projects
4. Content-focused: @nuxt/content is very powerful
5. Intuitive API: Vue's Options API can be simpler

Migration Between Frameworks

Migration is extensive since React and Vue are fundamentally different. However:

• Both use similar concepts (Components, Composables/Hooks)
• API routes can often be transferred 1:1
• Styling (Tailwind, CSS) is identical
• Business logic can often be extracted

Conclusion

There's no clear winner. The choice depends on:

• Your team and their experience
• Your existing tech stack
• Specific project requirements
• Hosting preferences

Our experience at Balane Tech: We use both frameworks – Next.js for React projects and complex enterprise applications, Nuxt for rapid development and content-heavy websites.

Both are excellent choices for modern web development.