Single-page applications built with React, Vue, and Angular have become the default for many projects. But for the majority of websites, a traditional multi-page approach would serve users better while being simpler to build.

When SPAs Make Sense

Complex interactive applications, real-time features, app-like experiences with extended sessions, and offline capability.

When SPAs Are Overkill

Content Websites and Blogs

Server-rendered HTML loads fast, is easily crawled, and works without JavaScript.

E-commerce Stores

The core shopping experience works excellently with server-rendered pages enhanced with targeted JavaScript.

Marketing and Landing Pages

An SPA framework adds unnecessary JavaScript, slowing initial load and potentially hurting conversion rates.

The Costs of SPAs

Performance

Slower First Contentful Paint, larger bundles (often 200KB+), and poor performance on slow networks.

SEO Challenges

Server-rendered HTML is faster to crawl and more reliably indexed.

Complexity

Client-side routing, state management, API design, authentication, error boundaries, loading states, and code splitting.

Analytics Complications

SPAs do not trigger standard page load events. Analytics tools need special configuration for virtual pageviews.

The Middle Ground

Server-Side Rendering with Islands of Interactivity

Frameworks like Astro and Remix deliver server-rendered HTML with targeted JavaScript for interactive components.

Progressive Enhancement

Start with HTML that works without JavaScript, then layer on interactivity.

HTMX and Similar Libraries

Dynamic page updates with minimal JavaScript using HTML attributes.

Static Site Generators

Hugo, Eleventy, and Jekyll generate static HTML with zero client-side rendering overhead.

For most websites, choose the simplest architecture that meets your actual requirements, not the one that is currently trendy.