asked 3 months ago
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I'm starting a new project and I'm torn between the App Router and the legacy Pages Router in Next.js 14.
My requirements:
Which router would you recommend and why? Are there known gotchas I should be aware of?
One concrete gotcha I hit with App Router + NextAuth: useSession() from next-auth/react requires 'use client', which means you can't use it in a Server Component. You have to use auth() from next-auth instead for server-side session access. This tripped up my whole team initially.
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For new projects in 2024: use the App Router. It's now the recommended approach and Next.js is investing all new features there.
Key practical points for your use case:
getServerSideProps.The main gotchas: don't reach for 'use client' too eagerly, and learn the cache() API early — it'll save you from redundant DB calls.
Agreeing with the above, but worth adding: if your team is unfamiliar with RSC (React Server Components), the mental model shift is significant. The Pages Router is still fully supported and production-ready.
If you have a deadline, go with Pages Router and migrate later. If you're building for the long term and the team has time to learn, App Router is the better investment.
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