Next.js Has a Free API You Should Know About

Next.js offers powerful built-in API Routes that let you build full-stack applications without a separate backend. Here's what most developers miss about the Next.js API capabilities. What Makes Next.js API Routes Special Next.js API Routes run as serverless functions. You create a file in pages/api/ (Pages Router) or app/api/ (App Router), and it becomes an API endpoint automatically. // app/api/hello/route.js (App Router) export async function GET ( request ) { return Response . json ({ message : ' Hello from Next.js API! ' }) } export async function POST ( request ) { const body = await request . json () return Response . json ({ received : body }) } Route Handlers in App Router The App Router introduced Route Handlers — a cleaner way to define API endpoints: // app/api/users/[id]/route.js export async function GET ( request , { params }) { const { id } = await params const user = await fetchUser ( id ) return Response . json ( user ) } export async function PUT ( request , { params