Next.js

Full-featured React framework supporting pure static site exports (output: 'export') alongside modern routing and TypeScript tooling.

• Official Website: nextjs.org
• Category: Static Site Generators
• Type: React Web Framework & Static Exporter
• Pricing / License: Open Source (MIT)

Overview

Next.js is the most widely adopted React framework for production web development. While it supports hybrid server rendering, Next.js also includes a dedicated Static Exports mode (output: 'export') that pre-renders your entire React application into standalone static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files inside an out/ directory.

A statically exported Next.js site requires zero Node.js servers at runtime and can be deployed to any static host such as GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, or Amazon S3.

Key Highlights & Features

• Pure Static Export (output: 'export'): Generates self-contained .html files for every route at build time with zero server runtime required.
• File-System App Router: Define pages, nested layouts, and dynamic routes (generateStaticParams) naturally using folders and React Server Components.
• Built-in TypeScript & CSS Support: Out-of-the-box support for TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, CSS Modules, and Sass without manual bundler configuration.
• Automatic Code Splitting & Prefetching: Only loads the JavaScript needed for the current page and prefetches linked routes in the background.

How It Works with Static Websites

Enable static HTML export in next.config.mjs:

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  output: 'export',
  // Optional: output /about/index.html instead of /about.html
  trailingSlash: true,
  images: {
    unoptimized: true,
  },
};

export default nextConfig;

Build the static site:

# Create a new Next.js project
npx create-next-app@latest my-static-app

# Run the production build (outputs static files to out/)
npm run build

When to Use It

• React teams who want to build interactive static websites, dashboards, documentation, or marketing sites using React and TypeScript.
• Projects that start as pure static HTML exports (out/) and want the flexibility to adopt edge or server features in the future.
• Developers looking for the largest ecosystem of React UI component libraries and templates.