Next.js is an incredible framework, and we use it for almost everything. But for one of our internal dashboards, the overhead was becoming a problem.
The Problem
The dashboard was a heavy client-side application that didn't need SEO. We were battling with hydration mismatches, complex server-component boundaries, and slow hot-reloading during development because of the sheer size of the data visualization libraries we were using.
The Solution
We decided to rewrite the dashboard using raw React + Vite. We removed Server-Side Rendering completely and opted for a traditional SPA (Single Page Application) architecture.
The Impact
Our development build times dropped from 12 seconds to under 500ms. Production build sizes shrank by 40%. While this approach isn't right for public-facing landing pages, it was the perfect pivot for an internal tool where developer velocity and raw client-side performance mattered most.