We build on Next.js because it's the best default for 95% of web applications. Here's why.
Custom frameworks and bespoke stacks are exciting engineering exercises. They're also harder to hire for, harder to maintain, and harder to deploy than Next.js, which has solved most of the infrastructure problems that custom frameworks are attempting to solve. We make our stack choice explicit so you know what you're buying.
A previous development agency built your application on a custom framework or an obscure stack. You can't find developers who know it. You want to understand what you're switching to and why.
Technology choice in software development is frequently influenced by what a developer is excited about rather than what's optimal for the client's long-term ownership of the software. A developer who has been building on a novel framework will build your application on that framework — which means you now own an application that only developers experienced with that specific framework can maintain.
The practical consequence: the developer who built the application is the only person who can maintain it. Hiring for it is difficult. The documentation is sparse. The community is small. When the framework is deprecated or abandoned (and novel frameworks are deprecated regularly), you're stuck.
The case for a mainstream framework is straightforward: large hiring pool (more developers can work on it), extensive documentation (answers to common problems are available), active community (bugs are fixed quickly, security issues are addressed), production-proven performance (deployed at scale by many organisations), and ecosystem integration (authentication libraries, payment libraries, ORM integrations, deployment platforms all support the framework).
Next.js is the dominant choice for production React applications in 2024. It's used by Vercel (its creator), as well as Notion, TikTok, Nike, The Washington Post, and thousands of other production applications. It has a large hiring pool, excellent documentation, active development, and first-class support from every major deployment platform.
A clear explanation of why Next.js is the right default for production web applications — and the specific cases where a different choice would be correct.
Next.js is the right choice for
marketing websites, SaaS web applications, e-commerce frontends, admin dashboards, customer portals, API-backed single-page applications. Any application where a server-rendered or statically-generated React application is the appropriate architecture.
A different choice might be right for
real-time multiplayer applications (might need a different architecture for the real-time component); applications requiring desktop client binaries (Tauri, Electron); mobile applications (React Native); applications where the backend is the product and the frontend is minimal (FastAPI or similar).
Key comparison vs alternatives
Express.js (more low-level, requires more configuration, better for pure API servers without a frontend). Remix (similar philosophy to Next.js, smaller ecosystem). SvelteKit (smaller ecosystem, steeper learning curve for most teams). Django/Rails (appropriate if the team is Python/Ruby, but different hiring pool than JavaScript).
One honest number to start.
Fixed-scope, fixed-price. The number below is the starting point — final scope is built from your brief.
A clear explanation of why Next.js is the right default for production web applications — and the specific cases where a different choice would be correct.
Three steps, every time.
The same repeatable engagement on every project. No surprises, no mystery, no billable ambiguity.
Brief & discovery.
We send you questions, then get on a call. Output: a written scope with every step, feature, and integration listed.
Build & ship.
Fixed schedule, weekly reviews. No scope creep unless you change the scope — and if you do, we reprice it transparently.
Warranty & retainer.
30-day warranty on every launch. Most clients stay on a monthly retainer for ongoing features and maintenance.
Why Fixed-Price Matters Here
The technology choice is part of what a fixed-price engagement commits to. RCB Software builds on Next.js, TypeScript, Postgres, and Clerk — a documented stack with a large hiring pool. If the project is delivered, you own a codebase that any qualified Next.js developer can extend.
Related engagements.
Agencies have 15 people on a project. Only 3 of them touch your code.
Read more02No-code tools are the right starting point. Custom development is the right endpoint.
Read more03The application works. The codebase is holding the business back. Here's how to modernize it without a big-bang rewrite.
Read moreQuestions, answered.
Existing code on other frameworks doesn't require an immediate migration to Next.js. The migration decision is made based on the cost-benefit: is the productivity improvement and hiring pool benefit of Next.js worth the migration cost for your specific codebase? For well-maintained modern frameworks (SvelteKit, Remix), migration is often not justified. For legacy frameworks (AngularJS, old Backbone.js), the benefit typically justifies the cost.
Postgres is the default choice — the most reliable, most widely deployed relational database with excellent performance and a rich ecosystem. Convex is used when real-time data sync is a core product requirement (the real-time database's advantages are worth the architectural complexity when real-time is genuinely needed). The database choice is determined by the application's specific requirements.
Next.js is open source and not locked to Vercel for deployment. Next.js applications can be deployed to AWS (via Lambda), Google Cloud (via Cloud Run), Cloudflare Workers, self-hosted Node.js servers, or Docker containers. Vercel is the simplest deployment option and the recommended default, but it's not mandatory.
Next.js has a strong track record of backward compatibility and migration guides for breaking changes. The App Router migration (from Pages Router) in 2023 was the largest change in recent years and was handled with clear documentation and migration tools. The risk of a framework change that's incompatible with existing code is lower for Next.js than for most alternatives.
Yes — any developer proficient in Next.js and TypeScript can extend the codebase. Architecture documentation and a handoff session are included in every project, ensuring a smooth transition to in-house or independent development.
Tell Ryel about your project.
Describe what you’re building and what outcome you need. You’ll have a written, fixed-price scope within the week.