> Are next.js and other similar React frameworks worth looking at if you don't use node.js on the backend?

It depends on why you’re doing so. We’ve recently moved from a C# .net backend to a TypeScript node backend and in such a case it (well obviously) makes perfect sense to utilise next.js.

In other cases where you split your front end and backend quite clearly, like using .net APIs and a JS front end it can make sense to use some degree of nextjs if you need to integrate some compiled parts into your react, maybe you need a fast loading and/or front page then it can be valuable to mix it.

If you don’t know why you’d need it, you probably don’t, however.