SSR/SSG Advisor

Choose the optimal rendering strategy for Next.js pages based on requirements.

Quick Start

Decision criteria:

• SSG: Static content, pre-render at build → Best performance
• ISR: Static with updates, revalidate periodically → Balance of both
• SSR: Dynamic per-request, personalized → Fresh data
• CSR: Client-side only, highly interactive → User-specific

Instructions

Step 1: Analyze Content Requirements

Ask these questions:

1. Does content change per user? (personalization)
2. How frequently does content update?
3. Is SEO critical?
4. What's the acceptable data freshness?
5. How many pages need to be generated?

Step 2: Choose Rendering Strategy

Static Site Generation (SSG):

// pages/products/[id].tsx
export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  const product = await fetchProduct(params.id);
  
  return {
    props: { product },
    // Optional: revalidate for ISR
    // revalidate: 60, // seconds
  };
}

export async function getStaticPaths() {
  const products = await fetchAllProducts();
  
  return {
    paths: products.map(p => ({ params: { id: p.id } })),
    fallback: 'blocking', // or false, or true
  };
}

When to use SSG:

• Marketing pages
• Blog posts
• Documentation
• Product catalogs (if manageable size)
• Any content that doesn't change often

Server-Side Rendering (SSR):

// pages/dashboard.tsx
export async function getServerSideProps(context) {
  const session = await getSession(context);
  const data = await fetchUserData(session.userId);
  
  return {
    props: { data },
  };
}

When to use SSR:

• User dashboards
• Personalized content
• Real-time data
• Content requiring authentication
• Frequently changing data

Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR):

// pages/blog/[slug].tsx
export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  const post = await fetchPost(params.slug);
  
  return {
    props: { post },
    revalidate: 60, // Regenerate every 60 seconds
  };
}

When to use ISR:

• Blog with frequent updates
• Product pages with price changes
• News sites
• Content that updates periodically
• Large sites where full rebuild is slow

Client-Side Rendering (CSR):

'use client'; // App Router

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

function Dashboard() {
  const [data, setData] = useState(null);
  
  useEffect(() => {
    fetch('/api/user-data')
      .then(res => res.json())
      .then(setData);
  }, []);
  
  return <div>{data ? <Content data={data} /> : <Loading />}</div>;
}

When to use CSR:

• Highly interactive UIs
• User-specific data (after auth)
• Real-time updates
• SEO not required
• Data behind authentication

Step 3: Implement Data Fetching

App Router (Next.js 13+):

// app/products/page.tsx
async function ProductsPage() {
  // SSG: cached by default
  const products = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products');
  
  // ISR: revalidate periodically
  const products = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products', {
    next: { revalidate: 3600 } // 1 hour
  });
  
  // SSR: no caching
  const products = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products', {
    cache: 'no-store'
  });
  
  return <ProductList products={products} />;
}

Pages Router:

// getStaticProps: SSG/ISR
// getServerSideProps: SSR
// useEffect + fetch: CSR

Step 4: Configure Caching and Revalidation

On-demand revalidation:

// app/api/revalidate/route.ts
import { revalidatePath, revalidateTag } from 'next/cache';

export async function POST(request) {
  const path = request.nextUrl.searchParams.get('path');
  
  if (path) {
    revalidatePath(path);
    return Response.json({ revalidated: true });
  }
  
  return Response.json({ revalidated: false });
}

Tagged caching:

// Fetch with tags
const data = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products', {
  next: { tags: ['products'] }
});

// Revalidate by tag
revalidateTag('products');

Step 5: Handle Fallback Strategies

getStaticPaths fallback options:

export async function getStaticPaths() {
  return {
    paths: [...],
    fallback: false,    // 404 for non-pre-rendered paths
    // fallback: true,  // Generate on-demand, show loading
    // fallback: 'blocking', // Generate on-demand, wait for page
  };
}

Common Patterns

Hybrid Approach

// Mix strategies in same app
// - SSG for marketing pages
// - ISR for blog posts
// - SSR for user dashboard
// - CSR for interactive features

// app/layout.tsx (SSG)
export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
  return <html><body>{children}</body></html>;
}

// app/blog/[slug]/page.tsx (ISR)
async function BlogPost({ params }) {
  const post = await fetch(`/api/posts/${params.slug}`, {
    next: { revalidate: 60 }
  });
  return <Article post={post} />;
}

// app/dashboard/page.tsx (SSR)
async function Dashboard() {
  const data = await fetch('/api/user', { cache: 'no-store' });
  return <DashboardContent data={data} />;
}

Optimistic UI with ISR

// Show stale data immediately, revalidate in background
export async function getStaticProps() {
  const data = await fetchData();
  
  return {
    props: { data },
    revalidate: 1, // Revalidate every second
  };
}

Conditional Rendering

// Different rendering based on route
export async function getServerSideProps(context) {
  const { preview } = context;
  
  if (preview) {
    // SSR for preview mode
    const data = await fetchDraftContent();
    return { props: { data, preview: true } };
  }
  
  // Redirect to SSG version
  return {
    redirect: {
      destination: '/static-version',
      permanent: false,
    },
  };
}

Decision Matrix

✅ = Excellent, ⚠️ = Acceptable, ❌ = Poor

Performance Considerations

SSG:

• Fastest: Pre-rendered at build time
• Best for CDN caching
• Long build times for large sites
• Stale data until next build

ISR:

• Fast initial load (cached)
• Automatic updates
• Best of both worlds
• Slight delay for revalidation

SSR:

• Always fresh data
• Slower TTFB
• Higher server load
• Can't be cached at CDN edge

CSR:

• Slow initial load
• No SEO benefits
• Reduces server load
• Best for authenticated content

Troubleshooting

Build taking too long:

• Use ISR instead of SSG
• Reduce number of pre-rendered paths
• Use fallback: 'blocking'

Stale data showing:

• Reduce revalidate time
• Implement on-demand revalidation
• Consider SSR for critical data

High server costs:

• Move from SSR to ISR where possible
• Implement proper caching
• Use CDN for static assets

SEO issues:

• Avoid CSR for public content
• Use SSG or SSR
• Implement proper metadata

Best Practices

1. Start with SSG: Default to static, move to dynamic only when needed
2. Use ISR for updates: Better than full SSR for most cases
3. Combine strategies: Different pages can use different methods
4. Cache aggressively: Use CDN and browser caching
5. Monitor performance: Track TTFB, build times, server load
6. Implement fallbacks: Handle errors and loading states
7. Test thoroughly: Verify behavior in production