Why I stopped reaching for a SPA by default

For years my default answer to "which frontend framework?" was whatever was fashionable. Lately I start with Blade and a sprinkle of Alpine, and the projects haven't suffered for it.

Most business apps I build need a form that submits, a modal that opens, and a table that filters without a reload. Livewire and Alpine cover that with no separate API layer and no second mental model sitting next to Laravel.

I still reach for a full framework when the screen is genuinely interactive: live charts, drag-and-drop builders, offline-first mobile. But that's the exception now. Shipping fewer moving parts means fewer bugs at 2 a.m., and that matters more to me than a clean architecture diagram.