Reacting to React
2 Jun 2025
i've been bothered by the direction the React framework has been trending, and i wanted to write down this reaction of mine.
for context, i'm just a React developer whose been using React since ~2017. i really liked React's client-side rendering model, pioneering dom diffing, and its "not a framework" stance that made it seem lean.
the gist of react's current trend today in 2025 is that it is becoming a server-side framework, compiler and all, with Next.js being the bastion of this endeavor.
why do i need React on the server to render HTML?
okay so here's the crux of my issue: i still need convincing that i have to have react on the server. or even javascript for that matter!
there are many more frameworks that render html better. i still wonder how well Nextjs stacks up to Elixir or Ruby in practice (with major caveats, like whether or not deploying to Vercel should be pre-requisite). honestly, i'd fancy a setup with htmx + alpine or vanjs. these days i'm more interested in dabbling with web components for truly framework agnostic components.
bUt iTs OpT iN!
except... its not. unless 'opting out' means remaining on React 18 and never updating. but i don't see any speak of "clientside react" or "react without server". almost all the content now focus on the server-rendering path—which I’m still not on board with.
nextjs is good, not great
i hesitate to go deep into this section since i'm not a heavy nextjs user. but i've read up on some popular issues, like how painful it is to upgrade between versions since features seem rushed/incomplete, how difficult it is to deploy outside of Vercel, and how frustrating performance tuning can be.
so dear reader, i can only speak from my own experience now. if nextjs is how the majority of react apps will be built... i kinda want to just walk away now. its fine i guess. i've not had great experiences with Page router, App router is slightly better for me to understand. ultimately it doesn't feel magical like other frameworks seem to. Remix did - and now its dead.
react dev === fullstack dev
here's something else for you to consider... does the CTO of your company really grasp the paradigm shift required when investing in server-side react? more importantly, does your average react dev??
your org now needs "full stack devs" to manage new the Backend for Frontend who are well versed in what Nodejs or edge runtimes that serve this part of the app.
it could require standing up a new server stack to manage OR integrating your infra with Vercel's. your devs will have to understand how to make everything SSR-able (which i still find non-trivial) as well as how to triage perf bottlenecks and SSR incompatible libraries and re-hydration errors... only to have react re-render everything again 🙃
maybe i'm just not the target audience for modern react anymore, but i foresee still being a react user for the next years. i am curious how others are adapting and what they're choosing if they are also no longer on board with the current headwinds of modern react.