NextJs pre-rendering (from NextJS)
What is pre-rendering in NextJs?
Next.js pre-renders every page. This means that Next.js generates HTML for each page in advance, instead of having it all done by client-side JavaScript. Pre-rendering can result in better performance and SEO.
Two Forms of Pre-rendering
Next.js has two forms of pre-rendering: Static Generation and Server-side Rendering. The difference is in when it generates the HTML for a page.
Static Generation is the pre-rendering method that generates the HTML at build time. The pre-rendered HTML is then reused on each request.
Server-side Rendering is the pre-rendering method that generates the HTML on each request.
Per-page Basis
Importantly, Next.js lets you choose which pre-rendering form to use for each page. You can create a “hybrid” Next.js app by using Static Generation for most pages and using Server-side Rendering for others.
When to Use Static Generation v.s. Server-side Rendering
We recommend using Static Generation (with and without data) whenever possible because your page can be built once and served by CDN, which makes it much faster than having a server render the page on every request.
On the other hand, Static Generation is not a good idea if you cannot pre-render a page ahead of a user’s request. Maybe your page shows frequently updated data, and the page content changes on every request.
In that case, you can use Server-side Rendering. It will be slower, but the pre-rendered page will always be up-to-date. Or you can skip pre-rendering and use client-side JavaScript to populate frequently updated data.