When Should You Use SSR, SSG, ISR, or CSR?

What you'll learn

Pick the mode from freshness, personalization, and SEO needs
SSG/ISR for mostly public content; SSR for per-request data
CSR for highly interactive authenticated shells
Link to the deeper rendering guide for mechanics

Direct answer: use SSG when content is the same for everyone and can wait for a build or regenerate. Use ISR when it is mostly static but must refresh on a timer or on demand. Use SSR when HTML must reflect per-request data. Use CSR when the experience is app-like after load and SEO for that view is not the goal.

Mechanics and diagrams: React Rendering Strategies. Freshness without full rebuilds: Update Content Without Redeploying.

When to use each

Mode	Use when
SSG	Docs, marketing, handbook pages that change with deploys
ISR	Same as SSG but editors need faster updates
SSR	Personalized or highly request-specific HTML
CSR	Authenticated dashboards where SEO of the shell is optional

When not to use

Do not SSR everything “for SEO” if the page is behind login
Do not CSR public marketing pages if you need reliable first HTML for search and social
Do not ISR if every visitor must see a different private payload (use SSR or client fetch after auth)

Practical framing

Text

Public article, edits weekly     -> SSG or ISR
Product landing, rare edits      -> SSG
Per-user inbox HTML              -> SSR or CSR after shell
Admin dashboard                  -> CSR (often) with auth gate

Common mistakes

Mixing stale CDN HTML with client fetches and calling it “SSR”
Forgetting revalidation after CMS publish (see the content-update guide)
Choosing CSR first, then fighting SEO later

Checklist

Is the HTML public and shareable? Prefer SSG/ISR/SSR over pure CSR.
Does content change without a full rebuild often? Prefer ISR or SSR.
Is data per user and private? CSR or SSR with auth, not a public SSG page.
Did you confirm the mode in production headers/cache behavior?

Final recommendation

Start from product constraints (public vs private, freshness, SEO), then pick the lightest mode that meets them. Prefer static HTML for public content; add request-time work only when the data forces it.