{"schemaVersion":"1.0","type":"Article","types":["Article"],"slug":"file-based-vs-directory-based-routing-understanding-the-difference-fnjk9","url":"https://zyvop.com/file-based-vs-directory-based-routing-understanding-the-difference-fnjk9","title":"File-Based vs. Directory-Based Routing: Understanding the Difference","subtitle":null,"tldr":"I don't know who did it, and why everyone is suddenly confused by this. What you are calling file-based routing is not what you claim. I will gladly explain. I ...","keywords":[],"entities":["James 'Dante' Midzi","Solutions Architect","ZyVOP"],"keyTakeaways":["I don't know who did it, and why everyone is suddenly confused by this.","What you are calling file-based routing is not what you claim.","I am going to use Next.js as an example: File Based This is file-based routing: src/ └── pages/ ├── index.js ├── about.js └── contact.js Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode In the folder that defines your pages, if you are able to create a file in there and it automatically becomes a page (contact, about, services etc) that is file based routing."],"headings":["File Based","Directory Based","A Table To Know What You Are Using","Thank you for reading, let's connect!"],"outboundLinks":["https://twitter.com/Psypher1","https://discord.com/users/Pharaoh#5441/","https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmidzi/"],"contentText":"I don't know who did it, and why everyone is suddenly confused by this. What you are calling file-based routing is not what you claim. I will gladly explain. I am going to use Next.js as an example: File Based This is file-based routing: src/ └── pages/ ├── index.js ├── about.js └── contact.js Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode In the folder that defines your pages, if you are able to create a file in there and it automatically becomes a page (contact, about, services etc) that is file based routing. File-based routing is a routing where the entry point to your routes is an index file. What that mean is the same way you can have a contact.jsx , you could also make a contact/index.js and these two would do exactly the same with little to no issues. Frameworks that employ this: Astro Eleventy Nextjs (with pages)s Vue Svelte Directory Based This is directory based routing src/ └── app/ ├── page.js ├── about/ │ └── page.js └── contact/ └── page.js Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode With this way, there is a defined method of creating new pages i.e a folder with the file name and a special file within it. When using this way, anything that does not follow this pattern is not regarded a page. Frameworks that use this Nextjs (with app) SvleteKit A Table To Know What You Are Using Ask File-Based Routing Directory-Based Routing Can I make a file name as a route and it works? Yes No Can I create a folder with an index file and that will become the page? Yes No Do I have a special naming convention for pages? No Yes With this clarification at hand, can you all stop confusing this? You can? Thank you. Thank you for reading, let's connect! Thank you for visiting this little corner of mine. Let's connect on Twitter, Discord and LinkedIn","contentHash":"sha256:de78ea66fced6447269b44f94389b216eead2476bd105cd81681e1995f1c24af","authorName":"James 'Dante' Midzi ","authorUrl":"https://zyvop.com/author/james","authorSameAs":["https://dantedecodes.vercel.app/","https://github.com/Psypher1","https://twitter.com/Psypher1","https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmidzi/"],"category":null,"tags":[],"audience":"Developers, software engineers, and students learning software development","tone":"Analytical, comparative, and data-driven","readingTimeMinutes":2,"wordCount":318,"faqs":null,"primaryTopic":null,"publishedAt":"2024-11-24T00:00:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-31T23:50:00.116Z","canonicalUrl":"https://dantedecodes.vercel.app/articles/file-based-vs-directory-based-routing-understanding-the-difference-30mp"}