Stack playbook · Snapshot 23 October 2026
Next.js on Akamai: readiness playbook
What 106 measured sites on this stack get right, where they fall short, and the Next.js on Akamai-specific steps that close each gap.
- Sites measured
- 106
- Median readiness index
- 69/100
- Profiles on this stack
- 94
detected from homepage HTML and headers
all sites: 64
top-50K sites
Readiness by lane
Enable
89/100
All sites 77
Harden
60/100
All sites 56
Accelerate
66/100
All sites 64
Recover
15/100
All sites 10
The Next.js on Akamai playbook
Gaps ordered by impact, with the platform-specific step where one exists.
HSTS kept for at least a year
43% observed · all sites 34%
Send Strict-Transport-Security on HTTPS responses. Start with a short max-age (for example 300 seconds), confirm every subdomain works over HTTPS, then raise it in steps to 31536000. Add includeSubDomains only when all subdomains are HTTPS. HSTS preload is optional and hard to undo; hstspreload.org itself does not recommend it by default.
On Next.js: Add the header in the headers() option of next.config.js for all routes.
Modern image formats in use
38% observed · all sites 40%
Serve WebP or AVIF with a JPEG or PNG fallback, either through an image CDN or by generating both formats at build time.
On Next.js: The next/image component serves optimized formats automatically.
Guide: AVIF, WebP, JPEG, and PNG: Choose the Right Image Format
Static files cached for 30 days or more
39% observed · all sites 51%
Give versioned (fingerprinted) CSS, JavaScript, fonts and images Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable, and change the file name whenever the content changes.
security.txt published
10% observed · all sites 7.1%
Publish /.well-known/security.txt with at least Contact and Expires fields, as RFC 9116 requires, and review it before it expires.
CAA records limit who can issue certificates
14% observed · all sites 13%
Publish CAA records naming every CA you actually use, including the CAs your CDN uses for managed certificates. Add an iodef contact if you want reports.
DNSSEC signed
4.7% observed · all sites 8%
Enable DNSSEC at your DNS provider, then add the DS record at your registrar. Plan provider moves carefully: a stale DS record can make the domain fail to resolve.
Guide: Website Uptime Readiness: Prepare Before Traffic Arrives
No render-blocking scripts in <head>
43% observed · all sites 48%
Add defer to scripts that need the DOM, async to independent ones such as analytics, or move them to the end of the body.
On Next.js: Use the next/script component with an appropriate loading strategy.
Guide: Control Third-Party Scripts Before They Control Your Page
HTTP/3 advertised
30% observed · all sites 37%
Turn on HTTP/3 at your CDN. Browsers fall back to HTTP/2 automatically, so the risk is low.
Where Next.js on Akamai sites lead
- DMARC policy enforces quarantine or reject75% observedall sites 39%
- Offscreen images lazy-loaded87% observedall sites 62%
- Canonical URL declared92% observedall sites 68%
- Structured data present74% observedall sites 51%