Edge Computing in Next.js: When It's Actually Worth It

I once moved everything to the edge runtime on a project just because it was trendy — and ended up debugging issues I didn't even know existed.

Here's how I decide now whether something belongs on the edge:

⚡ Real geographic latency — if the endpoint serves global traffic and every millisecond matters (auth checks, redirects, A/B testing), it's worth it.

🔧 Heavy logic or traditional databases — better suited to the Node.js runtime. The edge runtime limits which APIs and libraries you can use, and you feel it at the worst possible time.

🐛 Limited debugging — fewer tools, less clear logging, more surprises when something breaks in production.

🎯 Before moving anything to the edge, I ask myself: does this actually suffer from latency, or am I just following the trend?

Edge computing is a tool, not a default. Use it when it solves a real problem — not because it sounds modern.