Given that example, would you say using SSR with React to add bits of dynamic-ness is directly comparable with using templates + hotwire/htmx?

Or is it an apples to oranges comparison?

It's very similar, except hotwire/htmx won't give you server rendering. It's not that big a deal if it's just small snippets.

This does make testing a lot easier, as the server response is identical to the hydrated client.

A hypertext approach such as HTMX in fact does give you server rendering, since you send to the client a normal SSR page with some extra annotations that add SPA features.

For React, SSR is secondary. For HTMX, it is primary.

There's a lot of good advice in that article. I liked the part on cookies in particular. You rarely read that anywhere.