Next.js is infuriating

I 100% agree. I've ran into the same issues, and I would never use Next.js for anything, and I will encourage every team at work to use something else.

In general Next.js has so many layers of abstraction that 99.9999% of projects don't need. And the ones that do are probably better off building a bespoke solution from lower level parts.

Next.js is easily the worst technology I've ever used.

I've been running a SaaS on Next.js + GraphQL for 4.5 years now, sticking to Pages router has eliminated most of the complexity.

I recently rewrote my auth to use better-auth (as a separate service), which has allowed me to start moving entirely off Next.js (looking at either React Router 7 or Tanstack Router).

Back when I started, Next.js made server side rendering incredibly easy, but it turns out I didn't need it. My marketing site is entirely static, and my app is entirely client rendered.