However, if you just want a static site, Next.js is great.
You could also write native astro components which are very close to vanilla html css with added benifit of making reusable components and scoped css. And you can also use svelte or vue components.
Honestly, you can use Astro and then still use React if you want. Doing so would be similar to next.js in some ways, though you need to hook up an adapter if you want server-side rendering
I believe Docker works because you're doing "npm run start" and containerizing Next.js, essentially proxying the server to then serve to the client. Basically running it on localhost. For example, you can run Next.js on EC2 if you want, but you have to proxy the connection to allow the client to connect to it.
Again, I'm not an expert as to why exactly it doesn't work - I just know that it doesn't work the same way a simple node app works, which therefore adds a ton of steps involved that don't make it worth it to me.
We moved a project at work and it’s been night and day for us. Not going back.