Are you looking to build a server-rendered React application with Next.js but don’t know where to start? One option to consider is using a starter template. Starter templates provide a pre-configured foundation for your project, saving you time and effort by providing a basic structure and functionality that you can build upon.
Next.js is a popular framework for building server-rendered React applications. It offers a number of benefits such as automatic code splitting, easy deployment, and optimized performance. By using a starter template, you can get up and running with Next.js quickly and easily, without having to set up a project from scratch.
In this article, we’ll review a selection of top Next.js starter templates, chosen for their versatility, ease of use, and overall quality. Whether you’re building a simple blog or a complex web application, one of these Next.js website templates is sure to meet your needs.
Let’s get started!
Jump ahead:
ThankYouNext
The ThankYouNext starter template is a powerful tool for developers looking to quickly set up a new Next.js project. It offers a wide range of features and has best practices already in place. This Next.js starter template was bootstrapped with Create Next App, making it easy to get started with a new project.
One of the key features of this starter template is its use of Preact, a lightweight and fast alternative to React that can help improve the performance of your application. Additionally, the template is configured to use TypeScript, a popular typed superset of JavaScript that can help catch errors early and improve the overall quality of your code.
ThankYouNext also includes inbuilt support for SASS, a powerful CSS preprocessor that allows you to use variables, mixins, and other advanced features in your stylesheets. This, along with the use of Modern CSS Reset by Andy Bell and absolute imports, makes it easy to create clean and consistent styles throughout your application.
Another great feature of the ThankYouNext starter template is its use of React Strict Mode, which can help you find and fix potential problems with your application before they become critical. Additionally, this template has a ready-to-use SEO setup that can be helpful for boosting your website’s visibility and increasing organic traffic.
Finally, ThankYouNext also includes many security headers, such as the Content-Security-Policy and Referrer-Policy headers, which can help protect your application from common web-based attacks.
Verdict: ThankYouNext starter template
The ThankYouNext starter template is a great choice for developers who are looking for a powerful and feature-rich starting point for future projects. With its focus on performance, security, and best practices, ThankYouNext is an excellent choice for those looking to create a high-quality Next.js application.
Nextless.js
Nextless.js is a Next.js SaaS starter template that is designed to help developers quickly build scalable and production-ready SaaS products. It includes a wide range of features that are essential for building successful SaaS applications, such as authentication, payment, teams, dashboard, landing page, and email functionality.
One of the key features of Nextless.js is its use of Next.js for static site generation, enabling developers to leverage the framework’s powerful static site generation capabilities to create fast and efficient websites that are optimized for performance.
The Nextless.js starter template uses TypeScript for type checking, which can help catch errors early and improve the overall quality of your code. Additionally, it uses Tailwind CSS, a popular utility-first CSS framework that makes it easy to create consistent and customizable styles throughout your application.
Like ThankYouNext, Nextless.js also includes React Strict Mode, which can be helpful for identifying and addressing potential problems with your app. It also has a linter with ESLint, which helps to maintain code quality and consistency.
Nextless.js also incorporates end-to-end (E2E) testing with Cypress, which can help ensure that your application is working correctly and is easy to use. E2E testing is an important aspect of building production-ready SaaS products, as it can help catch bugs and identify usability issues early on.
Verdict: Nextless.js starter template
Nextless.js is an excellent choice for developers who are looking to build scalable and production-ready SaaS products. With its wide range of features, and support for TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and E2E testing, it’s a powerful and versatile starting point for any SaaS project.
Nextal
Nextal is a Next.js starter template that offers a wide range of features and has best practices already in place. It is designed to help developers set up a new project quickly. This template is built with a focus on performance, scalability, and maintainability.
One of the key features of Nextal is its use of CSS Module, a popular CSS-in-JS solution that allows you to write modular and reusable styles. This makes it easy to create consistent and modular styles throughout your application.
Nextal also includes Jest, a popular JavaScript testing framework, which can help you ensure that your Next.js application is working correctly and is easy to use. This is an important aspect of building production-ready applications, as it can help you catch bugs and usability issues early on.
Another great feature of Nextal is its support for dark mode, which allows users to switch between a light and dark theme. This feature is becoming increasingly popular as users look for ways to reduce eye strain, especially with prolonged screen time.
Nextal also includes Husky, Commit-lint, ESLint, and Prettier, which can help you maintain code quality and consistency. Husky can help you run scripts before committing your code and Commit-lint will help you write consistent commit messages. ESLint and Prettier will help you to maintain code quality by linting and formatting your code automatically.
Finally, Nextal is built with Atomic Design organization, a popular approach to designing and building web applications. This approach focuses on breaking down an application into small, reusable components that can be easily composed to create more complex user interfaces. This makes it easy to create consistent and modular styles throughout your application, helping to improve the overall maintainability of your codebase.
Verdict: Nextal starter template
Nextal is a well-designed and feature-packed Next.js starter template. It is built with an emphasis on performance, scalability, and maintainability, making it an ideal choice for developers who want to quickly set up a new project. Its integrations with popular tools like ESLint, Prettier, Husky, and Commit-lint are helpful for achieving code quality and consistency. Additionally, Nextal’s use of Atomic Design for component organization makes it easy to maintain a consistent and modular style throughout the application, resulting in a maintainable codebase.
Learn more →Next-Material-Kit
Next-Material-Kit is a Next.js starter template that is built with MUI (formerly Material UI), a popular design system that is based on the Material Design guidelines. This template provides a powerful and versatile starting point for developers looking to build web applications with a modern and professional look and feel.
One of the key features of Next-Material-Kit is its use of MUI, which provides a wide range of pre-built UI components designed to work together seamlessly. With MUI, it’s easy to create consistent and user-friendly interfaces and take advantage of the latest design trends and best practices.
Similar to Nextless.js, this template uses TypeScript, which provides a robust type system that can help you catch bugs before they happen and improve the maintainability of your codebase.
Another great feature of Next-Material-Kit is its one-click deployment for Vercel and Netlify, making it easy to deploy your application to a production-ready environment. This feature saves developers a lot of time and effort, permitting them to focus on developing the application rather than worrying about configuring a hosting environment.
Next-Material-Kit also includes active versioning. This means that the starter template is automatically updated with the latest versions of the frameworks and libraries. ensuring that the application is always up-to-date with the latest features and security fixes. This feature helps developers to stay on top of the latest advancements in web development and to take advantage of new features as they become available.
Verdict: Next-Material-Kit starter template
Next-Material-Kit is a highly recommended Next.js starter template that offers a professional and modern look and feel, thanks to its integration with the MUI design system. The use of TypeScript and one-click deployment to Vercel and Netlify make it an efficient option for developers. With active versioning, the template remains up-to-date (as of this writing) with the latest advancements in web development.
Conclusion
Next.js starter templates can be extremely helpful for kickstarting your project by getting you up and running quickly with a pre-configured foundation. Whether you’re building a simple blog or a complex web application, the best Next.js starter template for your project will depend on your specific needs and preferences.
In this article, we reviewed a selection of the most popular Next.js website templates. These starter templates offer a range of features and customization options, making it easy to find the right fit for your project. Whether you’re looking for a minimalistic starter template or one with more advanced features, there’s something here for everyone.
I hope this article has helped you find the perfect Next.js starter template for your project. Happy coding!
LogRocket: Full visibility into production Next.js apps
Debugging Next applications can be difficult, especially when users experience issues that are difficult to reproduce. If you’re interested in monitoring and tracking state, automatically surfacing JavaScript errors, and tracking slow network requests and component load time, try LogRocket.
LogRocket is like a DVR for web and mobile apps, recording literally everything that happens on your Next.js app. Instead of guessing why problems happen, you can aggregate and report on what state your application was in when an issue occurred. LogRocket also monitors your app's performance, reporting with metrics like client CPU load, client memory usage, and more.
The LogRocket Redux middleware package adds an extra layer of visibility into your user sessions. LogRocket logs all actions and state from your Redux stores.
Modernize how you debug your Next.js apps — start monitoring for free.
Why is create-t3-app not on here? My disappointment is immeasurable 😞
No worries, this is not an exhaustive list. I’ll add create-t3-app to the list. Thank you!