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Pros and cons of using single pages of SPA and multiple pages of MPA?

Popularity：110 ℃/2025-03-27 22:35:10

SPA vs MPA In-depth Analysis

1. Overview

What is a SPA?

SPA (Single Page Application) is a web application architecture that only loads one HTML page and dynamically updates the page content through JavaScript. The user does not trigger a full page refresh when operating, but communicates with the server via AJAX or Fetch API, loads data asynchronously and updates the DOM. Simply put, a water cup pours water multiple times to fill it with water, and can be inserted into the straw to suck wherever you want.

What is MPA?

MPA (Multi-Page Application, multi-page application) is a traditional web architecture. Every time a user requests a new page, the browser will request a new HTML page from the server, and the server side processes the logic and returns the complete HTML code. This is how multiple water cups each hold their own water.

2. Comparison between SPA and MPA

2.1 Speed ​​& Performance

SPA

✅ advantage：

  • The initial load is slow, and the subsequent interaction is fast: When loading for the first time, the browser downloads all necessary JS, CSS and HTML components. Subsequent page switching only requires API request data, reducing the overhead of page refresh and server rendering.
  • Reduce server pressure: Data requests are usually in JSON format, which avoids server-side stitching HTML and reduces bandwidth usage.
  • Front-end routing optimization: Use Vue Router or React Router for refreshless switching to improve user experience.

❌ shortcoming：

  • The home screen loads slowly: Since all JS code needs to be downloaded, the first screen will take a long time to white screen, especially for large applications. At this time, you need to optimize the homepage loading. This will be updated in the next article and some other optimization methods will be discussed.
  • Client rendering pressure: Because data is parsed and rendered on the front end, low-performance devices (such as low-end phones) may be stuck, resulting in poor user experience. After all, the homepage cannot be entered, let alone other places in this application project.
  • JS Volume Expansion: The JS file for single-page applications is usually large, and requires splitting the code and loading it on demand (such as Webpack'slazy-loading）。

MPA

✅ advantage：

  • The first screen loads quickly: Each page is loaded independently, and HTML is returned directly by the server, avoiding the problem of preloading large amounts of JS by SPA.
  • Server rendering optimization: SSR (server-side rendering) technology can be used to allow search engines to crawl complete HTML pages.
  • Suitable for content-driven websites(such as news, blogs, e-commerce, etc.), each page has relatively small resources, avoiding the JS volume problem of the first load of the SPA.

❌ shortcoming：

  • Slow page switching: Every time you jump to the page, you need to re-request HTML, and the browser re-parse CSS and JS, affecting the experience.
  • High server overhead: Each request requires the server to return a full HTML page, resulting in a high load on the server.
  • High coupling degree of front and back end: The front and back ends are generally more coupled, and the development and maintenance costs are higher.

2.2 SEO & SSR Support

SPA

❌ Natural SEO unfriendly：

  • Traditional SPAs only return an HTML shell, and the content is dynamically generated through JS, and search engine crawlers cannot parse dynamic content.
  • Requires SSR (server-side rendering, e.g. , ) or Prerender (e.g. ) technology optimized SEO.

✅ Supports the combination of CSR (client rendering) + SSR (server rendering)：

  • For example, Vue + and React + can pre-render HTML on the server side and return it to the client while preserving the front-end interactive experience.

MPA

✅ Natural support SEO：

  • The server directly returns the complete HTML page, and the search engine can directly crawl.
  • Suitable for websites that are highly dependent on SEO, such as news, e-commerce, and corporate official websites.

❌ High cost of SSR：

  • The server needs to additionally process template rendering, generate HTML, which may increase response time.

2.3 Development experience

SPA

✅ Good development experience：

  • Component development (React/Vue/Angular), module splitting, strong maintenance.
  • Convenient state management (Vuex, Pinia, Redux), suitable for large-scale projects.
  • The front and back ends are separated, suitable for BFF (Backend for Frontend) architecture.

❌ High complexity：

  • Router management needs to be handled (Vue Router, React Router).
  • Additional optimization of SEO, first-screen loading, code splitting and other issues are required.

MPA

✅ Traditional development model with low threshold：

  • Suitable for small teams or non-front-end-led projects, such as development using back-end frameworks such as jQuery, Django, Laravel, Spring Boot, etc.
  • The code is organized in a traditional way and is easy to understand.

❌ Low front-end development efficiency：

  • The page needs to be refreshed frequently for debugging.
  • The code is less reusable and is not as good as SPA componentization.

2.4 Status Management

SPA

  • The front-end needs to perform state management (such as Vuex, Pinia, Redux).
  • AvailablelocalStorage、sessionStorage、IndexedDBCache data to reduce API requests.

MPA

  • Server-side management status, usually using Session and Cookies.
  • Data is re-fetched every request, reducing the complexity of front-end storage but increasing request overhead.

2.5 Security

SPA

❌ XSS (cross-site scripting attack) has high risk：

  • Due to the extensive use of JavaScript, it is vulnerable to XSS attacks and requires strict processing of input data (such as usingDOMPurifyfilter user input).

✅ CSRF (cross-site request forgery) has low risk：

  • Because API requests usually use Token authentication, they do not rely on the browser's cookie mechanism.

MPA

✅ XSS has a lower risk：

  • Server-side template rendering, data is static HTML, which is not easily tampered with.

❌ CSRF has a higher risk：

  • Because of the use of cookies for authentication, it is vulnerable to CSRF attacks and requires CSRF Token protection.

3. Summary of applicable scenarios

need Suitable for SPA Suitable for MPA
Strong interactiveness, such as background management system and WebApp ✅ ❌
Content-based websites such as blogs, news, and e-commerce ❌ ✅
High SEO requirements ❌ (SSR is required) ✅
Mobile H5 application ✅ ❌
Complex business logic ✅ ❌
Low bandwidth environment (such as some overseas markets) ❌ ✅

4. Conclusion

  • SPA is suitable forScenarios with complex interactions, needing front-end separation, and controllable performance optimization, such as back-end management systems, single-page applications (Gmail, Facebook, Netflix).
  • MPA is suitable forSEO-friendly, content-driven, scenarios that require high page loading speed, such as news, e-commerce, and corporate websites.

In modern web development, many projects adoptSSR + CSR Combination, such as , taking into account SEO and interactive experience, has become a compromise solution.

Only by choosing the right architecture can we maximize the technological advantages!

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