NextJS
NextJS is a React framework bundled with building blocks to create web applications. It was first created to solve React's problem back when the latter was released: server-side rendering. I won't go into details, but React's main problem was that all the web app's code was executed on the client side, this was problematic for people with SEO in mind because crawlers weren't executing Javascript and faced an empty page. Fortunately, things evolved today. Take a look at their website / documentation.
Directus
Directus is a headless-CMS based on NodeJS. Connect your database and you are ready to go with a REST / GraphQL API, a web app to manage your data and a bunch of useful features out of the box to start your project faster. Read our article comparing Strapi and Directus here.
Directus also provides a JS SDK that you can use with NextJS to interact easily with your API.
Note that Directus requires a SQL database
PostgreSQL
Honestly, this is a personal choice, but from experience I suggest you to go with PostgreSQL. It's fast, extensible, well documented and community support is present. The main reason why I suggest you to go with it is because it supports geographic objects with PostGIS, allowing you to make performant location queries. You may not need to store geographic objects but it's always a good thing to have, just in case.
Connecting everything together
Vercel - for your frontend
Vercel is an end-to-end platform that allows you to create and deploy your web application. The process is really simple: connect your Git repository, build your project and it's online! Why go with Vercel ?
- It's the same team behind NextJS - Vercel integrates perfectly with NextJS and vice-versa, you won't have to configure anything to make it work.
- Speed and performance - with its Global Edge Network your website is guaranteed to be fast everywhere around the globe.
- It has a more-than-enough free plan - it will literally cost you 0$ to deploy your front-end app and enjoy the platforms' advantages.
Total cost: 0$
Scaleway - for your backend and database
I choose to go with Scaleway because it's based in Europe, and from experience I really liked the platform. It has reliable servers for a cheap price, and the dashboard is really intuitive compared to AWS for example.
With Scaleway, you can:
- Get a performant server for a reasonable price to host your API
- Get a managed PostgreSQL database for a reasonable price
- Get an S3-compatible object storage to store assets from your API
- Create and manage SSL certificates directly from your dashboard with built-in Load Balancers
Total cost: 20-35$ (depends on which server you take)
Conclusion
That's it, you're ready to go with your next project! Of course this is not perfect (clickbait title) and there is room for improvement, but in my opinion it's enough for any web projects. I didn't go into details like how to configure your server, let me know in the comments if you want another article about this.
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