Are There Any Strong Reasons Not to Use Nuxt.js? 7 Issues that Might Discourage You from Choosing It

It helps you boost your SPAs' SEO, it enables you to generate your apps both on the server-side and statically, it "spoils" you with an opinionated structure and setup... so you cannot help wondering: "Are there any reasons at all not to use Nuxt.js?"

Considering its heavy load of too tempting capabilities (and I've briefly outlined just some of them), you ask yourself:
 

• "Why would I not (always) choose it over regular Vue.js for building my PWAs?"
• "Why would I ever bother with a... "Next.js or Nuxt.js" dilemma, for instance?"
   

In short: what are Nuxt.js's limitations (if any), those that could make you at least doubt for a minute or two before choosing it for your future SSR projects?

Well, we've run our investigation and managed to identify its 7 key weaknesses (for there are, indeed, a few).

Weaknesses that we're about to share with you, so you can give yourself a well-founded answer to your question:

"Why should I use Nuxt.js over Vue CLI for building an SPA?"
 

1. But What Is Nuxt.js More Exactly? How Does It Work?

Before we go ahead and expose its weaknesses, it would be only fair to define this framework properly, right?

A concise, yet accurate definition would be:

It's a high-level framework that helps you build SPA and universal Vue.js apps more easily.

While a more detailed one would be:

It's a minimalistic Vue-based framework that simplifies the whole process of creating server-side rendered apps. It'll handle all the UI rendering of your app project, abstracting away the client code distribution and complex details of the server.

From routing to asynchronous data, to middleware, it'll handle all the complex pre-coding configuration, so you can focus solely and entirely on... developing a great Vue.js web app.
 

2. How Can Your Project Benefit from Using Nuxt.js? 5 Strong Benefits

Let's highlight some of the most "irresistible" capabilities of Nuxt.js, those that might have already made you stop and wonder:

"What possibly could determine me not to use Nuxt.js... in all of my future SSR projects?"

• it's great for SEO: it solves all the SEO issues that single-page apps are reputed for (client-rendered content, mobile web performance, URL and routing, etc.)
• it generates static websites via the "generate" command; moreover, it ships with powerful features, similar to other famous static site generators like... Jekyll, for instance
• it provides an opinionated structure and setup
• automatic code-splitting
• it streamlines the building of server-side rendered Vue apps
• it helps you get the most of your universal web app without a server
• easy setup using the command-line with the starter template
   

3. Why Would You... Not Use Nuxt.js? 7 Drawbacks

The very question that sparked the idea of this blog post in the first place.

You'll hardly find any cons to using Nux. For this, you need to dig a bit deeper and look beyond the huge pile of online content on the common topics:
 

• Nuxt vs Next
• Nuxt vs Vue
• Nuxt Universal vs SPA
• N Reasons to Use Nuxt.js
• and so on...
   

So, let's dig out some... disadvantages that you might want to consider before you just jump on the Nuxt bandwagon:
 

3.1. Common Plugins that Don't Exist or Which Aren't that Solid

There are Vue plugins designed to work on the client-side only (the server just wasn't added to the "big picture" when they were being developed).

So, do keep that in mind.

Also, you might discover that there are common plugins and components (e.g. Vector maps, Calander, Google maps) that, well, don't exist.

When they do exist, they might not be as solid as you expected, since they're not properly maintained.
 

3.2. Getting Custom Libraries to Work with Nuxt with Can Be Challenging

Add this issue to your list of "the biggest disadvantages to using Nuxt.js", especially if the timeline for building your Vue.js app is a tight one.

Addressing it might take you more time than planned.
 

3.3. High Traffic Can Be Particularly Heavy on Your Server

This inevitable server strain in the case of a large, high-traffic application is another reason not to use Nuxt.js.

At least if this inconvenience weights heavier on your evaluation list than the pile of benefits does.
 

3.4. Debugging It Can Get Painful

"When things break, trying to dig down into what the hell broke can be a serious pain." (source: Reddit.com)

This is one of the most frequently reported issues with using Nuxt.js.

An issue that becomes exponentially frustrating as your Vue app project gets more and more complex:

When trouble strikes you only get a conventional error message. No clue, whatsoever, about where you should start your "investigations"  in order to track down the "culprit".
 

3.5. There's a Relatively Small Comunity Behind It

And that can only translate as:
 

• the product documentation is not that extensive
• fewer resources for you to dig into at need
   

3.6. Fetching Data on the Server Takes Place At the Page-Level Only...

This means that you need to load data into a Vuex store or pass it all down via props.

A source of... frustration that you should be aware of before you decide whether to use or not to use Nuxt.js.
 

3.7. You Need to Get "Tangled Up" in More Complex Plugins or Components

If you need to build a particularly flexible Vue app — say you need to render the contents of a slot in another component — you'll have to render various JSX/functions.
 

The END!

These are the 7 main reasons to (at least) doubt whether Nuxt.js is an invariably good option for your SSR Vue project.

Have you identified other drawbacks, limitations or simply small, but annoying inconveniences to using Nuxt.js?

If so, feel free to share them in the comments down below, so we add them to the list!


Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay