Why I Ditched Next.js and Rebuilt My Site with Astro

canonical_url: https://www.waseemrajashaik.me/blog/why-i-switched-from-nextjs-to-astro Sometimes the best code is the code you don't ship to the browser. // package.json diff - " next " : " 15.3.5 " , - " react " : " 19.0.0 " , - " framer-motion " : " 12.23.0 " , - " gsap " : " 3.13.0 " , + " astro " : " 6.x " , + // that's... kind of it Let me be clear upfront: I still love Next.js . I spent months building my v1 portfolio with it. React 19, Tailwind v4, Framer Motion, GSAP, dual design modes with smooth morphing animations, the whole nine yards. It was a flex. It looked great. I was proud of it. But then I asked myself a simple question: "What am I actually building here?" The Realization My v1 site was a portfolio . It had an about section, experience timeline, skills grid, project cards, a writing section, and social links, all on one page with fancy animations. The blog was there, but it was secondary. When I decided to pivot to weekly blogging , I looked at my Next.js setup and t