Why We Switched from Next.js to React Router 7 (And Don’t Regret It)

Over the past few years, our platform evolved from a fast-moving startup stack into a performance- and infrastructure-sensitive system. We started with Next.js — like many teams do. It’s powerful, mature, and incredibly productive. But as our requirements grew more specific, we increasingly felt constrained by framework assumptions around rendering, deployment, and infrastructure. Eventually, we made the switch to React Router 7. Here’s why — and what changed for us. 1. We Use React Server Components — Without Traditional Page SSR Leaving Next.js doesn’t mean abandoning advanced rendering. With React Router 7, we use React Server Components (RSC) — but without being tied to a page-based SSR architecture. What this gives us: Server-rendered components where it makes sense Streaming support Reduced client hydration overhead More granular server/client boundaries Traditional SSR often means rendering entire pages on the server and hydrating everything on the client. With RSC and React Rou