How Next.js Makes Websites Faster (And Why It Matters)

Website speed matters. A slow site loses visitors, hurts your search rankings and costs you money.

Next.js is one way to build faster websites. This guide covers what it is and how it makes sites faster than traditional platforms like WordPress.

What Is Next.js?

Next.js is a modern web development framework built on React. Sites built with it tend to load faster than sites built the traditional way.

Unlike WordPress, which generates pages when visitors request them, Next.js can pre-build pages or generate them instantly. This flexibility is what makes it so fast.

How Next.js Delivers Speed

Pre-rendering Pages

Most websites, including WordPress sites, build pages when you visit them. The server scrambles to gather content, apply styling, and send everything to your browser.

Next.js can pre-render pages at build time. When someone visits your site, the page is already built and ready to send.

For a Cardiff restaurant, this means your menu loads instantly instead of making hungry customers wait while the server processes the request.

Smart Code Splitting

Traditional websites often load everything at once, even parts you don't need. Next.js automatically splits code into smaller chunks and only loads what's necessary for each page.

If you visit the homepage, you get the homepage code. Go to the contact page and it loads the contact page code then. This keeps initial load times short.

Automatic Image Optimisation

Images are usually the biggest speed killers on websites. Next.js automatically optimises images by:

• Serving the right format (WebP for modern browsers, JPEG for older ones)
• Resizing images based on device screen size
• Lazy loading images that aren't visible yet

A gym website with lots of photos benefits a lot from this automatic optimisation.

Built-in Performance Features

Next.js includes performance optimisations that would take hours to implement manually:

• Prefetching links you're likely to click
• Optimising fonts to prevent layout shift
• Minifying CSS and JavaScript automatically
• Generating efficient server responses

Next.js vs WordPress Speed

WordPress powers 43% of the web, but it wasn't built for modern performance standards. Here's how they compare:

WordPress:

• Generates pages on demand
• Relies on plugins for optimisation
• Can become slow with multiple plugins
• Requires caching plugins for decent speed

Next.js:

• Pre-renders pages for instant loading
• Built-in optimisation features
• Consistent performance regardless of complexity
• Fast by default, not by configuration

That doesn't mean WordPress is bad. For content-heavy sites or when you need extensive customisation options, WordPress remains excellent. But for pure speed, Next.js has the advantage.

Real-World Speed Benefits

Better Search Rankings

Google considers page speed a ranking factor. Faster sites appear higher in search results.

Moving a slow WordPress site to Next.js can cut page load times a lot, which helps both visitors and rankings.

Lower Bounce Rates

Visitors abandon slow sites quickly.

Fast Next.js sites keep visitors engaged longer, leading to more enquiries and sales.

Improved Mobile Experience

Mobile users expect instant loading. Next.js's automatic optimisations help your site perform well on slower mobile connections.

Better Core Web Vitals

Google's Core Web Vitals measure real user experience metrics. Next.js sites typically score higher on:

• Largest Contentful Paint (how quickly main content loads)
• Interaction to Next Paint (how quickly the site responds to interactions; it replaced First Input Delay in 2024)
• Cumulative Layout Shift (how stable the page is while loading)

Technical Features That Matter to Business

Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

Next.js can generate pages on the server before sending them to browsers. This means:

• Faster initial page loads
• Better SEO (search engines see full content immediately)
• Improved social media sharing (proper preview images and descriptions)

Static Site Generation (SSG)

For content that doesn't change often, Next.js can pre-build everything as static files. These load very fast because there's no server processing needed.

Perfect for solicitor websites where most content is relatively stable.

Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR)

Pages are pre-built but can update automatically when content changes, so you get the speed of a static site and can still change content easily.

Should You Switch to Next.js?

Next.js isn't right for every business. Here's when it makes sense:

Choose Next.js if:

• Speed is your top priority
• You want excellent mobile performance
• Your content doesn't change frequently
• You're building a business site with clear goals

Stick with WordPress if:

• You need extensive content management features
• Multiple people will be updating content regularly
• You want access to thousands of plugins
• Your team is already comfortable with WordPress

Budget considerations: Next.js is often assumed to cost more upfront than WordPress because it's custom development, but it doesn't have to: my custom-built Next.js sites are £600 and my WordPress sites are £800, plus hosting from £10 a month. You can also save on hosting and maintenance over time.

Use my website cost calculator to estimate costs for both approaches.

Next.js at Web Cardiff

I build Next.js sites for businesses that care most about speed. My Next.js websites typically score 90+ on Google PageSpeed Insights. You can see some of them in my case studies.

Summary

Next.js is fast because it pre-renders pages and optimises code and images automatically. It's not right for every project, but if speed is your priority it's worth considering.

If you're not sure whether it suits your business, get in touch. I'll recommend whatever fits, whether that's Next.js, WordPress or something else.