Why I build small-business sites in Next.js.

Next.js is a free, open-source framework for building fast websites and web applications. It sits on top of React and is maintained by Vercel. Developers write the site in code rather than assembling it in a visual editor, which produces pages that load in under a second and rank well in search. Next.js powers Netflix, TikTok, Nike, Notion, and a large share of the best-performing sites on the modern web. For a small business, it delivers a site you own outright, costs roughly £0–£10 a month to run, and stays maintainable for five years or more.

What Next.js actually is (without the jargon)

Think of a website like a house. The framework is the construction method — timber frame, steel, brick. You don’t see the framework once the house is built, but it decides how long the house stands, how warm it is, and how easy it is to extend later.

A WordPress site is a house made from pre-made panels bolted together. A Squarespace site is a park-home that’s delivered on a truck — you can’t move it off the site or modify the structure. A Next.js site is a custom-built timber-frame house — built to last, insulated properly, and yours outright.

That’s the whole analogy. What follows is what it means in practice.

What you actually gain

1. Speed

A Next.js site typically loads in 0.6–1.2 seconds on a decent mobile connection. A WordPress site on mid-tier hosting loads in 2–5 seconds. A Squarespace site loads in 3–6 seconds. Webflow sites sit roughly with Squarespace.

The difference isn’t marginal. Google’s own research says every extra second of load time costs around 12% of conversions and Google ranks faster sites higher. For a business where the site is a lead-generation tool, a three-second load time isn’t a minor flaw — it’s a tax on every visitor.

2. Ownership

A Next.js site is yours. The code lives on your GitHub. The hosting is on your Vercel or Netlify account. The domain stays on your registrar. If I disappeared tomorrow, any competent React developer in the UK could pick up the project and keep working on it — the code is standard.

That isn’t true of a Squarespace, Wix, or Webflow site. The moment you stop paying the platform, the site goes offline. A Next.js site keeps running as long as the hosting bill is paid, which is usually £0–£10 a month.

3. Longevity

WordPress sites typically need visible maintenance within 18–24 months — a plugin stops being updated, a theme goes deprecated, the hosting panel changes. Squarespace sites age because the template library rotates; a 2019 template looks dated in 2026 and the fix is starting over.

A Next.js site built well in 2026 will still look and work the same in 2031, provided the underlying framework version is bumped once or twice (which is a small job for a developer, not a full rebuild). The code is standard and the dependencies are well-maintained.

4. SEO and accessibility out of the box

Next.js renders every page on the server by default, which means Google sees a fully-formed HTML page instead of a JavaScript shell. That’s a meaningful SEO advantage over React sites that aren’t server-rendered, and it means AI crawlers (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude) can read your content — they don’t run JavaScript.

Accessibility — WCAG 2.2 AA, keyboard navigation, screen-reader compatibility — is easier to get right when you’re writing semantic HTML yourself than when you’re fighting a page builder that wraps everything in generic divs.

The honest trade-offs

Next.js isn’t universally better. Three real downsides.

1. You can’t edit the layout yourself

The biggest one. On Squarespace or Wix, you open the editor and drag things around. On a Next.js site, layout changes need a developer. A good Next.js build mitigates this by connecting a CMS (Sanity, Contentful, or a simple config file) so you can edit copy without code — but moving a section from top to bottom needs a developer.

2. Upfront cost is higher

A DIY Squarespace template costs £0 and can go live in a weekend. A bespoke Next.js site starts at £1,000 in 2026 from a solo studio and usually takes a week or more. The Squarespace tax is roughly £25/month in subscription; the Next.js cost is concentrated upfront. The three-year TCO favours Next.js; the three-month TCO usually favours Squarespace.

3. Overkill for the truly stationary

If your site is a single page of contact details that never changes and never needs to rank in search, Next.js is technically overkill. A free Carrd page would do. For anything more ambitious — a service business, a portfolio with regular updates, an ecommerce catalogue, a content site — Next.js pays back quickly.

How it stacks up, briefly

For a fuller platform-by-platform breakdown with honest trade-offs, the Squarespace vs Wix vs bespoke piece goes deeper, and each individual comparison lives at /compare.

Why I pick Next.js specifically

Next.js isn’t the only good framework. Astro, SvelteKit, and Remix (now React Router 7) all produce similarly fast sites. I pick Next.js for three non-technical reasons.

1. Developer availability.More React developers exist in the UK than for any other framework, so if a client ever moves the project to another studio, they won’t struggle to find someone.
2. Ecosystem maturity. Next.js has first-class integrations for almost every common small-business need: Stripe for payments, Sanity for content, Resend for email, Vercel Analytics for traffic. That means less custom wiring, fewer bugs, faster delivery.
3. Stability. Next.js ships a new major version every 12–18 months and the upgrade path is well-documented. A site built in Next.js 15 in 2025 ports cleanly to Next.js 16 in 2026 with a few hours of work, not a rebuild.

Common objections, answered honestly

“It’s overkill for five pages.”

Next.js scales down as cleanly as it scales up. A five-page site runs on free-tier Vercel hosting and takes a developer no longer to build than a five-page WordPress site. The framework isn’t what makes it expensive — the custom design is. And that’s true of any stack.

“I won’t be able to change things myself.”

You won’t be able to drag sections around, no. But you can edit copy, swap images, update prices, publish blog posts — if the developer wires up a CMS when they build it. Ask for it at the brief stage. If the developer refuses or charges absurd extra for it, find another developer.

“What if my developer disappears?”

Legitimate concern, and the main reason I use standard, widely-used tech like Next.js and not an obscure framework. Any React developer in the UK can pick up a Next.js project. The code on your GitHub is readable — no proprietary export format, no locked editor. You aren’t stranded if I get hit by a bus.

The honest conclusion

Next.js isn’t a magic tool. It’s a professional framework that produces fast, owned, maintainable sites for people who want those three things. If your priority is editing the layout yourself on a Sunday evening, Squarespace is a better fit — and that’s not a criticism, just a different set of priorities.

For everyone else — service businesses, shops, content sites, anyone who cares about speed and search and still wanting the site to work in 2031 — Next.js is the default I’d pick every time. Not because it’s fashionable, but because the alternatives ask you to rent something you could own.