Products · Product
Next.js
Raised as a usability problem by 103 people on Hacker News over 8 years (2019–2026), in 65 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Builds and reloads take seconds for a simple appUnreviewed
20192026- Local dev compile and hot refresh times are very slow at scale2026-02-25
- Local dev on cold start is very slow, making every navigation agonizing2025-07-11
- Slow refreshes when running the project locally2025-03-27
Mixed router examples make documentation outdated and hard to useUnreviewed
20192026- Docs for app and pages routers are easy to confuse, leading to reading the wrong one2025-01-06
- Mixed app and pages router examples make documentation hard to use and outdated2024-07-05
- Transition to app router is incredibly complex with undocumented edge cases2024-02-13
Docs leave unclear what server and client meanUnreviewed
20192026- Confusing errors when using client libraries in server pages2024-06-29
- Confusing what "server" and "client" mean in its docs2023-09-07
- Mix of server and client rendering is confusing to write and reason about2023-06-23
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Can't build a coherent mental model of how the framework behaves2026-10-10
- SSR adds complexity, requiring magic file-first-line incantations and isomorphic environment2026-04-19
- Clicking internal links takes about five seconds to respond, and the network tab is bloated with unnecessary RSC calls.2026-04-14
- API routes need manual string paths and shared response types, getting messy at scale2026-03-13
- Local dev compile and hot refresh times are very slow at scale2026-02-25
- Struggled for days with an inflexible, bloated framework that blocked custom features2026-02-24
- Confusing, footgun-heavy; hard to get data between server and client components2025-12-05
- Confusing abstraction with footguns; many developers repeatedly confused about how it works2025-10-26
- Directory-based routing has many weird gotchas and breaks through major migrations2025-10-09
- Config makes no sense and translation keys are hard to manage2025-10-01
- Router silently breaks after deploy with no console errors, works only in dev2025-09-15
- Pages stutter on scroll and mobile scrolls open the context menu2025-09-03
- Docs list what APIs exist but not how to use them, execution context, or pitfalls2025-09-02
- Client/server divide is inscrutable; modal dialogs hard to get working on client2025-09-02
- Bracket filenames for route params are implicit, confusing, and easy to get lost with2025-09-02
- Error messages are often unintelligible, leaving developers unsure what went wrong2025-09-02
- Docs say what exists but not how to use it or its gotchas2025-09-02
- API changes make things more complex and confusing for developers2025-09-02
- Text is very light on light background, nearly unreadable2025-09-02
- Setting up telemetry needs undocumented steps, import-order quirks, and experimental packages2025-09-02
- React and Next.js setup feels like a confusing maze to the developer2025-09-02
- Impenetrable docs and constant breaking changes make behavior unpredictable2025-09-02
- Repeatedly struggles to get simple logging to show output2025-09-02
- Pages show a blank screen or redirect error when cookies or local storage are disabled2025-09-02
- Client-side env variables are hard to handle; secrets must be kept off the client, forcing costly re-architecture2025-07-27
- Adding proper page transitions in Next.js is extremely difficult because of how routes load2025-07-25
- Content disappears and an application error appears when the user moves the mouse or scrolls2025-07-24
- Local dev on cold start is very slow, making every navigation agonizing2025-07-11
- Next.js and RSCs are frustrating to work with, with magic that is hard to wrestle2025-06-12
- Docs are vague and hard to navigate2025-06-12
- Developer experience is so poor the commenter loathes using it2025-06-12
- Confusing overly aggressive caching and bad error messages make development hard2025-05-08
- Pages show placeholder elements with loading animations before content appears2025-05-06
- 1s+ delays with no spinners make interactions feel unresponsive2025-05-04
- Server actions are hard to inspect and hydration errors were inscrutable, with laggy page transitions2025-05-04
- Pictures load randomly, scrolling to reviews is unpredictable, and the back button behaves inconsistently2025-05-04
- Every route change triggers a backend request and complex routing becomes trial-and-error2025-05-04
- Pressing Home takes nearly two seconds with no feedback except the icon changing2025-05-04
- Two identical back buttons that do different things confuse users2025-05-04
- Hard to do anything outside its built-in conventions, and slow and complicated to work with2025-04-13
- Slow refreshes when running the project locally2025-03-27
- Hard to debug 404s and redirects because you must dig through nested middleware2025-03-24
- No official way to chain middlewares; hard to share data with route handlers2025-03-23
- Build times are horrendously slow, making the build process frustrating to wait through2025-03-09
- Endless undocumented pitfalls when deploying outside Vercel2025-03-09
- Feels overengineered and unintuitive to use, with unnecessary complexity2025-01-23
- Inscrutable build errors when it fails, with no clear fix available2025-01-23
- Docs for app and pages routers are easy to confuse, leading to reading the wrong one2025-01-06
- Dev server takes 12 seconds for first page and 2-3 seconds for others2025-01-01
- Constantly runs into problems and must dig through docs to find what applies2024-12-05