performance

Benchmarks

The same fixture source runs under both frameworks and bun bench measures them side by side. Every number below is one full run's output — no estimates, no best-of cherry-picking.

Framework install size — 6.5 MB vs 358.9 MB55× smaller
Production build6–32× faster
First page, cold5.3–16× faster
Client JS incl. deferred (gzip)2.2–14× less
Warm request (dev)5.3–13× faster
Warm request (prod)1.9–6.9× faster
HMR save → visible1.3–5.9× faster
Dev server ready3.6–5.4× faster
Dev server memory3.1–4.3× less

Ranges span all three fixtures. Absolute numbers per fixture are below. pnext trails on two metrics: dev warm requests on the larger fixtures, and production idle memory (~112 MB vs Next's ~86–91 MB, Bun's runtime baseline).

hello-worldA single page.

Dev server ready

65.0 ms279.0 ms

4.29×

Dev first page HTML

81.4 ms1268.4 ms

15.58×

Dev warm request (p50 of 7)

1.7 ms17.1 ms

10.23×

HMR save → visible

10.3 ms61.3 ms

5.93×

Production build cold (wall)

313.4 ms5098.8 ms

16.27×

Production build warm (wall)

345.1 ms1964.4 ms

5.69×

Prod start (ready)

72.0 ms133.3 ms

1.85×

Prod warm request (p50 of 7)

0.4 ms1.6 ms

4.56×

Dev server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

112.5 MB476.7 MB

4.24×

Prod build peak RSS

125.7 MB1081.4 MB

8.60×

Prod server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

57.8 MB92.4 MB

1.60×

Framework install size

6.5 MB358.9 MB

54.89×

First-page client JS incl. deferred (gzip)

39.33 KB130.38 KB

3.32×

First-paint client JS (gzip)

6.54 KB130.38 KB

19.93×

First-page client JS (raw)

15.00 KB442.50 KB

29.51×

Deferred client JS, idle or on demand (gzip)

32.78 KB0.00 KB

0.00×

First-page JS files

1.67×

Zero-island route client JS

15.00 KB442.50 KB

29.51×

ssrA server-rendered site.

Dev server ready

68.0 ms324.1 ms

4.77×

Dev first page HTML

140.4 ms1488.4 ms

10.60×

Dev warm request (p50 of 7)

4.7 ms33.2 ms

7.09×

HMR save → visible

18.7 ms92.5 ms

4.94×

Production build cold (wall)

435.8 ms5569.3 ms

12.78×

Production build warm (wall)

422.9 ms2330.5 ms

5.51×

Prod start (ready)

73.9 ms152.2 ms

2.06×

Prod warm request (p50 of 7)

0.4 ms1.6 ms

4.18×

Dev server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

139.2 MB486.0 MB

3.49×

Prod build peak RSS

134.0 MB1103.3 MB

8.23×

Prod server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

57.8 MB92.4 MB

1.60×

Framework install size

6.5 MB358.9 MB

54.89×

First-page client JS incl. deferred (gzip)

45.89 KB130.63 KB

2.85×

First-paint client JS (gzip)

13.18 KB130.63 KB

9.91×

First-page client JS (raw)

31.98 KB442.81 KB

13.85×

Deferred client JS, idle or on demand (gzip)

32.70 KB0.00 KB

0.00×

First-page JS files

1.50×

Zero-island route client JS

15.58 KB442.50 KB

28.40×

dashboardA mid-size admin app — 30 routes, 18 client islands.

Dev server ready

87.0 ms316.4 ms

3.64×

Dev first page HTML

406.0 ms2148.6 ms

5.29×

Dev warm request (p50 of 7)

9.5 ms50.5 ms

5.31×

HMR save → visible

100.7 ms133.3 ms

1.32×

Production build cold (wall)

1280.0 ms7682.9 ms

6.00×

Production build warm (wall)

1249.9 ms2303.9 ms

1.84×

Prod start (ready)

73.8 ms140.4 ms

1.90×

Prod warm request (p50 of 7)

6.0 ms11.5 ms

1.92×

Dev server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

223.6 MB701.2 MB

3.14×

Prod build peak RSS

228.0 MB1295.3 MB

5.68×

Prod server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

90.7 MB120.2 MB

1.33×

Framework install size

6.5 MB358.9 MB

54.89×

First-page client JS incl. deferred (gzip)

61.99 KB134.58 KB

2.17×

First-paint client JS (gzip)

25.92 KB134.58 KB

5.19×

First-page client JS (raw)

111.51 KB503.60 KB

4.52×

Deferred client JS, idle or on demand (gzip)

36.07 KB0.00 KB

0.00×

First-page JS files

1.80×

visibleA landing page whose one island loads when it scrolls into view.

Dev server ready

56.5 ms304.0 ms

5.38×

Dev first page HTML

94.4 ms1310.8 ms

13.89×

Dev warm request (p50 of 7)

1.7 ms22.8 ms

13.34×

HMR save → visible

13.6 ms75.6 ms

5.57×

Production build cold (wall)

150.7 ms4799.7 ms

31.84×

Production build warm (wall)

161.7 ms2056.6 ms

12.72×

Prod start (ready)

22.6 ms134.5 ms

5.94×

Prod warm request (p50 of 7)

0.2 ms1.5 ms

6.86×

Dev server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

113.6 MB488.5 MB

4.30×

Prod build peak RSS

95.9 MB1155.1 MB

12.05×

Prod server RSS (ready + 7 warm)

49.4 MB92.8 MB

1.88×

Framework install size

6.5 MB358.9 MB

54.89×

First-page client JS incl. deferred (gzip)

9.28 KB132.80 KB

14.31×

First-paint client JS (gzip)

2.88 KB132.32 KB

45.99×

First-page client JS (raw)

6.98 KB447.18 KB

64.05×

Deferred client JS, idle or on demand (gzip)

6.41 KB0.48 KB

0.07×

First-page JS files

6.00×

Ratio is Next.js ÷ pnext, so above 1.00× means pnext is ahead. Lower is better for every metric here.

Client runtime bundles

What a minimal page on each rung downloads at first paint, and what it can fetch after: the navigation runtime on idle when the page has a Link, the rest on idle or on demand.

Page	First paint raw	Gzip	Brotli	Deferred gzip
server page	0 B	0 B	0 B	0 B
server page + Link	2.46 KB	1.34 KB	1.13 KB	20.84 KB
island (Preact)	21.45 KB	8.50 KB	7.72 KB	0 B
island (compat.react)	39.16 KB	14.99 KB	13.58 KB	0 B
island (compat.next)	31.93 KB	13.07 KB	11.80 KB	32.68 KB

Method

Run of 2026-11-03 on Linux 6.6.141 (x64), AMD EPYC x4. Bun 1.4.0, Next.js 16.3.4. 5 per metric (first discarded), medians reported.
Every fixture runs unmodified on both frameworks (via compat.next), same app from the same source.
Cold starts include on-demand compilation; memory is measured across the whole process tree at a fixed point, never sampled arbitrarily.
Full details, targets, and the exact commands are in the performance reference.