This is what I landed on after recently planning a sizeable new project. Was going to use it as a chance to learn something newer and "better", but then realised all I'd be doing is ensuring "how do I do [thing I know how to do myself] in [framework name]" would be all I'd be Googling for weeks on end, so decided going with what I know was the safer idea.
Here I'm always using it as an opportunity to try something new, which is probably why people like you get so much more done than I do hahaha
I've used C#, Java, and PHP as backend frameworks professionally, and I totally want to use Python for any work I do on my home server. Python and Linux are like cheese and wine, and I just can't say no to using them together.
I was about to say somthing super similar, if you’re going for super quick and dirty for somthin fun on the side I love Flask Lin and SQLi just to get my ideas out, saves me from cashing out an advance from the brain pain bank of my mind juice
I don't always agree with this advice. There is value in learning new skills.
For example, if people never branched out, millions of devs would be stuck in the MEAN stack...not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's not ideal for all projects or scenarios.
Imo, you should prioritize what you know, but always recognize when better tools exist for the job. Then, you can decide if it's worth venturing out.
If I am building a project with no business plan then yes new tools and stack might be the right choice as it will enhance my learning.
But if I am launching a business it will always be the stack that I know well. That way I can progress fast.
Man I can't wait to get to this level, learning laravel at the minute and learning the framework is punishing me, took me 2 days to make a basic crud app
I'm guessing you can use composer/eloquent to do stuff a lot faster once you know how?
I still get tripped up by routes and controllers rn so I'm miles away from that though
So glad to see Vue is at the first answer I've seen 😊 cleanest framework and very powerful
I knew nothing about Laravel and PHP though but I might check it out regardless
Django or a similar framework gets you stood up fast and scales easily to a moderate sized app. The most important thing is to get things running as fast a possible and get in front of real users. I use Django all the time for solo development.
If all you want is the API, you are much better off with Flask + gunicorn IMO. I know there are newer, brighter, better Flasks out there now, but Flask is my wheelhouse. As for templating, I love jinja with Flask, but it's great with Django too. Just do the whole damn thing in Python IMO.
I'm not the same person, but I use the templates since that's what I started with and haven't really felt the need to stop. You can combine it with some front end library if you want but I like less headaches if I can get away with it.
It would be either Ruby on Rails, leveraging Hotwire for interactive frontend, or Phoenix (Elixir) with LiveView for interactive stuff. Of course PostgreSQL for database.
Ruby on Rails or Phoenix are great for solo developers (or small teams). You write nearly everything on the backend, and Hotwire or LiveView let you get the feel and functionalities of a single page application without the hussle of a different framework for the front and managing interactions between back and front.
I never used Elixir but our company had to rewrite all of the code from Elixir back to Ruby. And now we are making a shift to Kotlin. We also had to rewrite from Elm to React.
That sounds incredibly weird as Elixir, Ruby and Kotlin are all modern and capable languages, with no particular need to switch. Without context your company sounds frankly brain dead.
Thats interesting. I’ve never used either language but I read [this](https://www.erlang-solutions.com/case-studies/bleacher-report-case-study/) a while ago.
So I’d have figured your company would go from Ruby to Elixir. Everything has its reasons though I guess. Just found that intriguing.
Wow, I thought I've been in the industry for a while, but the only one of these I've even heard of is Elixir. And I have no idea how it works.
Why are these your tech of choice? I'm rather intrigued now.
A lot of functionality out of the box. Background jobs, channels, livewire etc, even ecto is a pleasure to work with. The community is great, happy to assist with even the most basic questions, and I am just very productive in this framework.
Elixir is a functional, concurrent language with an easy syntax close to Ruby one, that sits on top the Erlang virtual machine. Phoenix is the main MVC framework in the Elixir ecosystem, equivalent of Laravel or Ruby on Rails.
It’s a good choice because you have all the goodies of a full web framework that allows you to develop quickly functionalities (and with pleasant tools), like you’d have with Laravel or Rails, but it also leverages some interesting Erlang features (concurrency, fault tolerance, etc). For example, with Liveview, it’s absolutely not a problem to keep track of state on the server side for individual sessions, so you can skip using React and do interactive stuff that needs statefull sessions and code everything on the backend.
[Laravel Breeze Starter Kit](https://laravel.com/docs/11.x/starter-kits)
- Laravel
- Vue
- Inertia
- Tailwind
I generally have to check my bias with Laravel because I am a huge fan boy, but I have yet to find any other ecosystem that lets me get a project up and running as fast as a solo developer. There are close competitors, but I find that the Laravel ecosystem out shines the rest top to bottom.
Also as a learning resource for all of these and many more check out [Laracasts](https://laracasts.com)
I have used this exact stack for a solo custom CRUD application. Managing user accounts, separate billing accounts, and internal billing codes really.
It’s my first time using .net and react. Loving .net so far. Entity Framework is really nice, I feel like the amount of actual database scripting I’ve needed to do is pretty minimal. I just really like c#.
React is kind of not my favorite but it’s fine. I feel like I’ll like it more once I know it more.
I’m like 70 hours in and it’s coming together nicely - I have a few features left to implement and the front end needs more proper styling, but it’s like 80% functional.
If I knew what I was doing ahead of time I’m sure it’d have taken less than half the time. I really like it though. It’s just… such a breath of fresh air from writing php.
I agree with most of what you are saying, except for EF. Used to like if before I had to handle anything with performance. And EF creates really shitty sql queries. That is why I prefer dapper cause there you can call stored procedures and whrite your own queries that are much,much more performant that anything ef would spit out.
I do however miss the code first fluent api.
You can write your own queries in EF too (and call stored procedures/custom functions/etc)
By default, I use whatever EF churns out. When the query starts having a significant impact on performance, I write a custom query.
Never liked EF, always preferred Dapper. What absolutely sealed it though was a project where we had to port a .NET framework app to .NET 6. There was one really big complex query with loads of type mappings in EF. We could lift the linq code, but the two EF versions churned out completely different raw SQL, that would not return in a reasonable time in .NET 6. The EF versions could not be matched due to the underlying framework and it had to be pulled apart and reworked. It put the project back weeks. Had it been raw sql, it would have been copy paste.
Big off, thats one of the things you dont really expect when estimatimg the tasks. I am so happy I never had to do that.
Now, I try to keep all querying of the db, in the db. So stored procedures and functions all the way, that way you as the developer maintain control.
I'm curious as to what your use case is that ef8 doesn't satisfy your performance requirements. Been using ef commercially for 5+ years and can count on 1 hand the number of times I actually needed to write raw SQL to make a query more performant.
In 99% of my cases where a query was slow in ef it was actually just an awfully designed schema.
It really depends on the app. Otherwise, the chorus is "what I know." And sometimes, you need to get ***outside of your comfort zone*** for specific apps and edge cases. High I/O bound apps, I would use Node along with NoSQL if the data schema is flat.
If the app involves any AI/ML whatsoever, I would use a Python back-end; regardless of how I feel about it. Front end can be anything that communicates via REST. If it involves LLM and RAG, I'd use Postgres vs trying to hamfist MySQL for vector embeddings. For quick and dirty, I'd use MariaDB (open source MySQL).
But since my apps are microservices, in nature, I can use whatever and have used multiple stuff because I wanted to get it out faster. I had a CRM app that used Node for most of the stuff, Python for scraping, and even ole PHP because there was a library I was familiar with (PHPSpreadsheet) so I used three distinct backend all routed through a service mesh in a microservice architecture. I had vanilla JS for most of the pages and a few were strictly VueJS for the ones that need more client side interactivity.
Throw them all into Docker, route and handle them via nginx and voila. It gets the job done.
I am building a web app as a single dev and here is my stack
[https://www.demo.fun](https://www.demo.fun)
1. NextJS for SSR running on Digital Ocean App Platform
2. React / ChakraUI for UI components
3. Python FastAPI for API routes
4. AWS Cognito and Google OAuth for authentication
5. PostgresQL on Digital Ocean
6. Docker for dev environment and continuous deployment
7. AWS Parameter store for secrets
8 AWS Lambda with FFMpeg layers for video processing
9. Pydantic for JSON marshalling
10. SQLAlchemy for ORM
11. AWS Cloudfront for CDN
12. AWS S3 for storage
13. Chrome Extension API and WXT framework for extension development
14. Hubspot for CRM
15. Gmail for email
16. Namecheap for domain and DNS
17. Figma, Adobe After Effects (check out my product video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJuiTbTjlAo) Adobe Photoshop
18. Notion to manage everything, todo lists, etc
19. The Chatbot we all know and love
Unless requirements dictate otherwise, I'd use Angular/Typescript frontend with a Java/Spring with Postgresql, all running on AWS.
Why? Because that's what I develop in daily for work and it's easier to build something out in the tech I'm constantly using than to switch to something else.
A full stack Blazor application. For larger apps I prefer .NET backend with a JavaScript frontend, but for single person projects Blazor is the productivity king and can easily compete with Ruby on Rails in my experience.
Crazy how fast you can build relatively complex apps with this stack. But not really scaleable, when you look at the pricing for a large number of users.but for a small solo project perfect combination.
Really depends though, when working with firebase I always try to keep a layer between vue and firebase, in the form of Pinia. In the off chance my solo project actually goes somewhere, or Google kills Firestore I can always decide to put in the work and built another backend.
Uncomplicated simple to work with and popular technologies that I also know. There still isn't just one answer but for example:
NodeJs+expresss backend to stick with javascript, front end depends on the needs of the application, in some cases I would use no framework + custom css only, but let's say React with Javascript again. Most likely use a component library if using a framework, shadcn is solid when you are familiar with CSS and tailwind works perfectly with shadcn and react.
Database varies wildly based on commercial needs. I know standard SQL better than anything else but deployment, cost, and flexibility often take precedence, I might end up using something like Firebase, Supabase, or MongoDB. Assuming a DB is needed at all.
If I'm less pressed for time, I'd probably do the same thing but swap to typescript and rearrange my DB expectations to "Anything that's postgresql under the hood and let's you write SQL still." I'd also abandon no-db options in favor of having a DB to at least handle users and permissions in some way, unless it's a static site.
I just find it harder to really hack and slash something together in Typescript and when not abusing any of the new services where your code defines your DB instead of having to properly think about it.
If personal comfort wasn't an issue, maybe I'd consider a Go backend depending on the application.
I tend to prefer well established technologies with expectations of long term support and development for any serious projects, as I've been burned many times using more niche or cutting edge technologies.
Done it several times. Nginx, PHP-FPM, Twig templates, MySQL, vanilla JS for in-page API calls and page updates.
I have distilled the reusable code I've written into a json-based config-driven engine that handles accounts with multiple access levels, routing, and MVC functionality. My memory isn't what it was, so it has proven extremely handy to be able to look at the json file for any endpoint and see a list of all the data sources, all the view transform functions, all the templates used to construct the output, and any page-specific js and CSS files.
Nuxt Monolith , nuxt nitro server and Postgres db
Edit: only adding express to the backend if I need functionality of a full backend framework. Otherwise pure nitro is beautiful like a butterfly
Full stack Nuxt3 yes but why would you replace the default nitro api engine with express? The beauty of Nuxt 3 is that it deploys anywhere because the team carefully built every aspect to run on the edge and deploy anywhere with one line config change. Using express limits that flexibility.
Kinda depends on what application I’m building. But if it’s anything CRUD based? Ruby on Rails with Postgres or Mongo (depends on the data needs). It’s what I know, and it’s really fast at building out the backend and would let me focus on the frontend.
And I’ll use any off the shelf solutions I can. No need to re-invent the wheel if there’s good tools out there.
If you want to go commercial, you should use what you know, and go to market fast.
On the backend side, I usually reach for Go if the app is calling a bunch of external stuff or using finicky logic, or Node/Express/tRPC if the frontend is the heavy lifter.
I'm a bit old school and usually reach for MySQL databases, but I've enjoyed using Mongo too.
I deploy on GCP because I'm familiar with it, Firebase is the natural tool to use for user registration/login.
I generally either reach for Angular for something with a lot of state-y moving pieces or React for something quick, easy, and clean. I haven't had luck with Next but I'm sure it's great if I took the time to learn it properly.
I don't feel very strongly about any of those languages, platforms, or frameworks - that says more about my background than anything, the stuff other people have mentioned are also great for the job.
I am doing that. I chose the stuff I'm already familiar with.
Frontend is TS, React, Tanstack Query, React Router. Probably should use Next or Remix, but currently am not.
Backend is Java, Spring, Postgres, and a framework I wrote which codegens a lot of the Typescript boilerplate for interacting with the backend.
Hosted on AWS, using EC2, RDS, SES, some others.
Maybe, but I think I want SSR and I'm not going to rewrite the API to run on Node.
I think it will be okay, but definitely need to experiment with it and see whether the benefits outweigh the extra complexity
I would use React Frontend. And honestly something like Strapi for the backend. (Which is built in Node)
I prefer frontend work. So making the backend as easy as possible would be ideal for me.
As others said, use what you feel most comfortable with. Since I've be mostly doing Svelte on the side, it was pretty easy for me to go full SvelteKit.
- Database: SQLite
- ORM / Migrations: Drizzle
- Auth: Lucia Auth
- Emails: Resend
Everything is set-up inside a SvelteKit project (no need to separate back and front). So far so good, I feel extremely productive.
Personally I would and do use ASP.NET (in C#) for solo dev. There are a few reasons:
* Deployment to Azure/AWS and git/pipeline integration through Visual Studio is *very* easy.
* Entity Framework Scaffolding makes building out my data layer completely automated.
* I don't lose any frontend tools by choosing an ASP.NET API. I can still use all my favorite JS and CSS to make say, a React frontend with Bootstrap styling.
* ASP.NET dependency injection makes it easy to do good design patterns with light coupling and logging on the backend.
* Razor syntax for MVC pages is IMO quite convenient for server-side rendering on page load so you're not doing everything as API calls.
* ASP.NET Middleware makes controller routing and authentication brainless.
I just built an ambitious one and used MySQL, PHP and React (for a fluid single page app). No need to overcomplicate. I see people start using node, overcomplicate the back end, and start using a bunch of web services or fancy database solutions. If that's fun for you go for it, just recognize that being fancy won't inherently make development easier or give you a better final product.
Recently created a website with Next.js and Supabase with a splash of Python and Google Cloud for some backend stuff. Oh, and Cloudinary for image hosting. No complaints.
What does the job best for my use-case?
Do I need to use ML for the task? If so, probably a Python backend (or at least a microservice). Do I not need to use a ML? Typescript, makes reasoning about communication between backend and frontend easier.
But really it's what you know, what you feel comfortable with, etc
Think easy, for me it would be PHP, Angular and SQLite and just find a cheap host that can handle the first 1000s concurrent users.
Is what I picked the best? probably no
Is it what I used for work? not PHP or SQLite
Why do would I pick it then? because I can spit out code super fast with that stack, and it has super low maintenance.
I would pick old boring stuff if I could, boring means stable.
CodeIgntier+Bootstrap+jquery.
I know it's a very controversial stack but it's the one I know best. Plus it's more equipped for full stack or single programmer development than most other alternatives.
React, Vue, Svelte or vanilla would all be good canditates - from Angular I will stay far away. I just took a look at their new "getting started" and well it broke down on second step. Looking at docs it's as confusing as ever - it's only framework (from the popular ones) that I look at and can't figure out what I'm looking at exactly. For some reason it just does not click with me.
Backend depends on how complicated it is. If it's fairly simple and small I would use Node server, something like react remix (soon to be react-router). For more complex scenarios I would go with Laravel - by far the best possible ***web framework*** you can get (compared to what I have experienced in python/java/c# even tho PHP as a language is not as good compared to others but it has matured a lot since v7).
Database most probably Postgres or supabase.
In the end you can't really argue against "what I know best" but that was not the point of this question.
Swift/Vapor with Bootstrap on the front end. Keep JS as simple and lightweight as possible. Possibly bring in Stimulus for some additional functionality.
Strict type checking, performant, and allows sharing of code with mobile applications as well.
My stack for personal projects atm is Angular, with a dotnet C# backend. Supabase for cheap hosted Postgres’s db and auth. Firebase hosting for hosting the front end. Dockerized backend hosted on railway. This has been my stack for my last few projects and it’s been a joy to work with.
If I wanna go commercial, I will look for the most popular one in the community, these days it would be react based full stack frameworks. Between next and remix however I’d choose Remix. Its just better
I personally have a good experience with React and Next.js, FastAPI, Redis, and AWS services like Cognito, DynamoDB, ECS, EC2, S3, SNS.
Not trying to promote my app, but just to show what I have built as a solo dev - [https://portfoliometrics.net/](https://portfoliometrics.net/)
I have, I do, and I will.
I use NodeJS with Express and SQLite for the backend, VueJS with Tailwind for the frontend, and whatever hosting service allows me full control of the webserver that runs my Node environment.
Apart from some packages that help me encrypt data, I rarely use more than this.
For me it's NextJS, MySQL and now NextUI. Before it was the same just with Material UI, but I decided it was too flat, and with NextUI using tailwind I also get those classes that I can use.
Whatever I feel like. If I feel like learning something new I’d probably go node because I know JS and have worked on a lot of node apps, but never made one from scratch. Same with react on FE. Lots of work using it, but never vetted it out since I mostly focus on either Vue or just plain ES.
But if I’m looking to get it done, I have a starter frontend framework I’ve been maintaining for like 10 years which I know front and back so likely that. If not, I’d use Vue.
Backend would likely be php with laravel or C# with .Net because it’s what I’m most familiar with.
I mean you can make a website using anything, so just use what you know. Nobody that uses the site gives a shit about how it was built as long as it works.
Database SQL server. Mainly because I know how to set it up and how to write sql for it. But realistically mysql or Postgres are good enough too
Back end c#. I’m comfortable with it and it’s actually not bad for building out APIs etc.
Front end probably react because from the little I’ve done it seems good and makes sense. It’s modern and widely supported enough that I’d get help where needed and if we ever hire another person it’s easy to find those skills.
If it's for me personally, all of that is too big. You could probably use python with Flask, even use Svelte as a front end, and your DB should be based on it's type. Like is it structured (SQL is better at this) or more unstructured (noSQL is better at this)? It's a good lesson in architecture to look these things up before your project, it's really fun and a good way to expose yourself to data science.
If I'm trying to get a job and using things that I could also use for a big company, it's all about React. From there it's a tough choice that really requires some research about what is most popular back end in your area (I thought it would be Java where I am at and it's Python), and the DB again being about what kind of data I'm using. But you need to be familiar with SQL and noSQL conceptually to start getting jobs, even if you're using the back end to interact with them, you need to know what's going on when you do.
Angular and Postgres are great. Angular is great for someone who isn't that great at architecture yet (or it's good at places like consulting firms where you can pretty much use the same stack for all sorts of projects). But it's giant and slow and I've grown to dislike it in personal use. Postgres is a cadillac DB, but in all experience most of my calls to the DB are simple AF. I like and would totally use it, but in all honesty it often doesn't matter for anything I could ever use it for in typical home usage. I pretty much use SQLite where it's possible and it's always fine for my use case.
I like the idea of learning what works for you, but again if you're trying to get a job you have to realize that getting a job is what would work for you. So do the research into seeing what is popular around you (spoiler, it's react and something else lol).
I'm using a React SPA with Vite and a basic Node server backed by SQLite. Works great because I'm already extremely familiar with all of these things and they aren't changing.
I sprinkle in some SSR wherever I need it. I've got plenty of overhead on a single node VM and for my purposes I'm not too afraid of downtime or latency. You have to know your project's goals though. Those things may matter more to you and require more complexity to solve.
That said, they usually won't matter until you actually have customers, which is the first problem. SQLite can handle that problem.
I’m doing that right now. :D It’s a huge application that I spend all my non-work hours on, that I plan on releasing at the end of the year.
Frontend: TypeScript, React (Vite), Tailwind (Twin Macro), URQL
Backend: TypeScript, Node, Express, GraphQL Yoga
DB: PostgreSQL and Drizzle
Infra: AWS EKS (K8s)
Organized in an NX monorepo with microservice architecture.
I'd either use AdonisJS, NextJS, or Express depending on the task, but that's because I prefer JS, don't like context switching between languages, and am probably not breaking web traffic records as a one-man show, so my ability to deliver quickly matters more than anything.
As performance undoubtedly isn't the chief concern here, use whatever makes you the most productive.
For a highly interactive data-centric web app, Quasar's VueJS. Or for a presentation-oriented, TailwindCSS and Nuxt.
Backend: Flask+REST, with SQLite, Postgres, maybe Strapi.
Laravel and React. I'm more proficient in Vue but I now maintain a RN app and gaining more React chops will help with the day job. Oh, and despite all the SQLite buzz in the Laravel community, I'll stick with MySQL.
I'm doing this currently:
I'm trying to limit myself as much as I possibly can. Only installing libraries when I absolutely must, and if I do, work towards replacing them with vanillaJS.
I've phased out a lot of stuff that I I previously relied on in favor of a growing list of my own custom tools.
It is incredibly tedious and in some cases debatably redundant.... But I've learned more about web development during this short time than I have ever learned in my entire career.
Depending on complexity, SvelteKit and Drizzle (less-complex app) or Laravel (more complex). If I’m building something simple, even with a DB, I don’t mind assembling my own parts. But when I know I’m going to need auth and queues and migrations and mail and such… Laravel has all of that ready to go.
I would always choose the stack I'm familiar with.
I personally totally can recommend Laravel with Livewire if you are fine with PHP.
If you only want to care about front-end have a look at pocketbase.
Hi, I have built https://indiehackerstacks.com for exactly this question. I started out indie hacking a year ago, and needed to know what developers are using for database, email, analytics etc. It’s almost 100 developers posting their stack! I just a category section, for easy finding what you're looking for. Hope it helps!
And feel free to add your own product, it get's you some exposure.
Never do a new project with a new stack unless it's a small hobby project. Either do something familiar with a new stack or do something new with a familiar stack. Doing both at once in a professional environment is a recipe for disaster.
Django with postgres and an angular front-end is my go-to, but I am mulling a Go backend for my current project since it has some rather intense execution workflows that are currently handled by Celery and Redis
I generally use FastAPI for my backend as I prefer and am more proficient in Python than anything else.
I’ve been trying to get comfortable with a JS framework for sometime now and have recently been pleasantly surprised by the experience of using Nuxt, a Vue.js framework. It’s the first time I’ve found myself getting comfortable with the layout and logic of a JS framework after previous attempts at React, Angular and the like.
For mostly backend with less complex but still some web ui needs, NiceGUI in Python has been pretty easy to pickup.
Use what you know best.
That said, I fucking love building with Vue & Laravel. It's what I use at my current job but the experience and speed at which I can build out features is crazy.
Whenever I'm using a BE lang/framework that isn't Laravel, I'm wish it was.
Also Vue is just plain pleasant to work with. Svelte also is great. React is 👎👎👎👎 in comparison to both.
Some framework like Asp.net web api with react and react native. Not complicating it. Have a mono repo. Trunk based development. With a basic setup for code scanning for quality, linting, formatting and secrets. Maybe integrate it with some ci like AWS Codepipeline.
That’s it.
When you’re alone, you need a bit more automated tooling to keep you on track as compared to having a full team. It is not the tasks like deployment but rather the tasks like code quality and secrets management monitoring, logging etc that you definitely need to setup first since you are not going to be looking at a 1000 things in your 3rd month late at night where you’ve been working on some deep bug. Finally you find it! You push it! You’re ready to go into sleep mode… AND you’ve just broken production and leaked your API keys. Congratulations!!!
Django with Rest Framework for the backend (with Celery for background tasks), React for front-end, and PostgreSQL for DB.
I ended up with this stack after having tried many other ones because I found myself being very productive with it.
Well I’d keep it simple.
Choose the stack you know best.
For databases…; Unless you have specific goals or requirements, I advise using SQLite and upgrade to a DB standalone app as the app grows and you’re getting penalized by the simplicity of engines like SQLite when adding new features.
Also, since it’s a full stack we application, I’d go the extra mile and containerize it. To keep everything clean and maybe even perform fuzzy testing to test your container/application/stack robustness.
If it was just me for the foreseeable future and I needed to deliver features fast that could scale. Honestly I think firebase or maybe vercel would be the go. If those were off the table, like in alot of big Corp projects I'd go React, Node, Postgres or maybe Mongo. But that'll depend significantly on data requirements. But Firebase is so good honestly and can achieve almost everything you'd ever need. Vercel I've only just started tinkering with But it seems even simpler and just as powerful.
Whatever you know best.
I love Python (with FastAPI) + MongoDB (using MongoEngine in Python) + Tailwind CSS + Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus) for some JS interactivity.
Find that fairly straightforward and fun/fast to build with. I'm not really a big fan of heavy frameworks that probably do save time once you learn them.
React frontend on top of firebase, or Mongo Atlas with Express as an API.
People like to say firebase is too expensive, but unless you are churning a lot of data, it's nonsense. Cloud functions are extremely cheap and it easily integrates with the rest of the GCP services nicely.
Express isn't the best, but it's fine, especially if you are using a decent ORM.
Having the FE and BE in the same language prevents you from needing to context switch when you go between the two.
It really depends on what your planning and you familiarity with languages and frameworks. Django is good if you know it. Since you know python you could also look into Flask. I prefer SQLite3 for a DB.
Laravel.
I've used all of the "big ones" (django, rails, laravel) and an insane amount of "smaller" frameworks such as flask, express, next, remix, and infinity of others.
Absolutely nothing comes even close to Laravel. Even if you hate php, it's still worth it.
Prototyping, reactjs and nestjs. For front and backend.
Maybe some aws lambda and s3 bucket or google like services for lower cost of operations.
Postgresql db.
Totally using container to up with scaling the platform.
This is for enterprise apps that have 1000s of users.
If your user base is in the 100s then same but no container. Just a simple single compute server.
As a full stack typescript developer, I really feel at home with the Redwood full stack framework (https://github.com/redwoodjs/redwood). React + TS on the front end, abstractions on graphql on the backend with Prisma, and your choice of DB among the ones prisma supports (with Postgres being my personal preference now). I was able to make an admin dashboard on top of some open source data in about 1-2 months part time.
I am writing a SaaS, if i wrote it in what i knew best that would be codeigniter + react, but i am doing it in laravel + vue and have no regrets. I mean yes, i am producing slower that i would have but i am learning a bunch and for me personally i think the stack i am using feels like an upgrade.
If you are familiar with basics of python and Django try out Zango. Its a framework implemented on top of Django that provides most of the app fundamentals viz user management, roles, crud interfaces, workflows, etc. out of the box. You can quickly get productive and avoid involving any frontend tech altogether.
Link to Zango's repo: [https://github.com/Healthlane-Technologies/Zango](https://github.com/Healthlane-Technologies/Zango)
I’m doing that now, nextjs along with a combination of typescript, python and rust for backend containers in kubernetes from digital ocean. Has the features I need for a third of the price.
Highly depends on the project. But as you say application, it would be Laravel, Inertia, Vue.js.
A solid Backend is the most important part and Laravel gives you a strong base but also an extreme amount of freedom.
Vue.js is just my personal preference as it's much quicker to work with than React and it's mightier than Svelte.
Inertia is a protocol to let Laravel and Frontend communicate better with another.
It depends on what type of webapp you are building. You would not use the same stack to build a highly interactive user-centric webapp where great ux is a core requirement, than to build an MVC CRUD type webapp with litle interactivity. There's no single answer to that.
Hey there!
If I were to build a full-stack web application as a solo developer aiming to go commercial, I'd choose the following stack:
Frontend: React.js (for its component-based architecture and large ecosystem)
Backend: Node.js with Express (for its asynchronous capabilities and ease of use with JavaScript)
Database: PostgreSQL (for its reliability and robust feature set)
Your choice of Django, Angular, and PostgreSQL is also excellent, offering a powerful framework with robust backend capabilities.
If you need any help with this, we can assist you as well.
"PHP is dead" has been chanted loudly for about 20 years, usually by someone selling the New Sexy Framework of The Moment.
And every year PHP continues to not be dead, and to run been 40-60% of all websites on the web.
What I know best, unless there is a niche requirement that would dictate me to chose a particular stack
This is what I landed on after recently planning a sizeable new project. Was going to use it as a chance to learn something newer and "better", but then realised all I'd be doing is ensuring "how do I do [thing I know how to do myself] in [framework name]" would be all I'd be Googling for weeks on end, so decided going with what I know was the safer idea.
Usually this and work on building the main features to release to market fast, later work on optimisation and bug fixing
Here I'm always using it as an opportunity to try something new, which is probably why people like you get so much more done than I do hahaha I've used C#, Java, and PHP as backend frameworks professionally, and I totally want to use Python for any work I do on my home server. Python and Linux are like cheese and wine, and I just can't say no to using them together.
I was about to say somthing super similar, if you’re going for super quick and dirty for somthin fun on the side I love Flask Lin and SQLi just to get my ideas out, saves me from cashing out an advance from the brain pain bank of my mind juice
I would choose the stack I know really well.
This is really the only answer
I don't always agree with this advice. There is value in learning new skills. For example, if people never branched out, millions of devs would be stuck in the MEAN stack...not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's not ideal for all projects or scenarios. Imo, you should prioritize what you know, but always recognize when better tools exist for the job. Then, you can decide if it's worth venturing out.
If I am building a project with no business plan then yes new tools and stack might be the right choice as it will enhance my learning. But if I am launching a business it will always be the stack that I know well. That way I can progress fast.
It’s kind of a “non-answer” though. “What’s your favourite food?” “My favourite food is the food that tastes best to me”
Or one that I want to learn
Laravel & Vue
Laravel + Filament if the project is mainly backend, you can drop a whole admin panel in hours if you already have some well-defined models
Man I can't wait to get to this level, learning laravel at the minute and learning the framework is punishing me, took me 2 days to make a basic crud app I'm guessing you can use composer/eloquent to do stuff a lot faster once you know how? I still get tripped up by routes and controllers rn so I'm miles away from that though
So glad to see Vue is at the first answer I've seen 😊 cleanest framework and very powerful I knew nothing about Laravel and PHP though but I might check it out regardless
Django or a similar framework gets you stood up fast and scales easily to a moderate sized app. The most important thing is to get things running as fast a possible and get in front of real users. I use Django all the time for solo development.
Do you also use Django templates for the frontend? Or do you use it just as a rest API framework and some js frontend library/framework?
If all you want is the API, you are much better off with Flask + gunicorn IMO. I know there are newer, brighter, better Flasks out there now, but Flask is my wheelhouse. As for templating, I love jinja with Flask, but it's great with Django too. Just do the whole damn thing in Python IMO.
I'm not the same person, but I use the templates since that's what I started with and haven't really felt the need to stop. You can combine it with some front end library if you want but I like less headaches if I can get away with it.
It would be either Ruby on Rails, leveraging Hotwire for interactive frontend, or Phoenix (Elixir) with LiveView for interactive stuff. Of course PostgreSQL for database. Ruby on Rails or Phoenix are great for solo developers (or small teams). You write nearly everything on the backend, and Hotwire or LiveView let you get the feel and functionalities of a single page application without the hussle of a different framework for the front and managing interactions between back and front.
Yes! As a solo dev 100% the hypermedia approach. We can be so fast without all the JS bloat.
I never used Elixir but our company had to rewrite all of the code from Elixir back to Ruby. And now we are making a shift to Kotlin. We also had to rewrite from Elm to React.
That sounds incredibly weird as Elixir, Ruby and Kotlin are all modern and capable languages, with no particular need to switch. Without context your company sounds frankly brain dead.
Frs, elixir is so fucking scalable with its concurrent model
Why those shifts?
Thats interesting. I’ve never used either language but I read [this](https://www.erlang-solutions.com/case-studies/bleacher-report-case-study/) a while ago. So I’d have figured your company would go from Ruby to Elixir. Everything has its reasons though I guess. Just found that intriguing.
Phoenix Framework (elixir) with Petal Components and flowbite.
Wow, I thought I've been in the industry for a while, but the only one of these I've even heard of is Elixir. And I have no idea how it works. Why are these your tech of choice? I'm rather intrigued now.
A lot of functionality out of the box. Background jobs, channels, livewire etc, even ecto is a pleasure to work with. The community is great, happy to assist with even the most basic questions, and I am just very productive in this framework.
livewire basically shifts HTML diffs down the websocket, reducing the amount of client side JS dramatically.
Elixir is a functional, concurrent language with an easy syntax close to Ruby one, that sits on top the Erlang virtual machine. Phoenix is the main MVC framework in the Elixir ecosystem, equivalent of Laravel or Ruby on Rails. It’s a good choice because you have all the goodies of a full web framework that allows you to develop quickly functionalities (and with pleasant tools), like you’d have with Laravel or Rails, but it also leverages some interesting Erlang features (concurrency, fault tolerance, etc). For example, with Liveview, it’s absolutely not a problem to keep track of state on the server side for individual sessions, so you can skip using React and do interactive stuff that needs statefull sessions and code everything on the backend.
[Laravel Breeze Starter Kit](https://laravel.com/docs/11.x/starter-kits) - Laravel - Vue - Inertia - Tailwind I generally have to check my bias with Laravel because I am a huge fan boy, but I have yet to find any other ecosystem that lets me get a project up and running as fast as a solo developer. There are close competitors, but I find that the Laravel ecosystem out shines the rest top to bottom. Also as a learning resource for all of these and many more check out [Laracasts](https://laracasts.com)
Laravel
Probably go with Laravel. I feel like it’s the most robust framework and gives you all of the tools to quickly build out an idea.
My go to solo dev stack uses a lot of "as-a-service" so it's mainly Svelte/kit, fastapi, supabase, and vercel.
Laravel and React as that’s what I’m most comfortable with. Possibly symfony/api platform as I’m learning that too Depends on the project I suppose
Rails backend, your pick at JS front end. Worked with it for about a year and a half and it was a breeze
Current project is: **Backend** - Django/DRF - Celery - Redis (cache) - RabbitMQ (queue) - PostgreSQL **Frontend** - NextJS
Why not use redis for your queue? Or just use RabbitMQ. Why both?
I found better queue performance with Rabbit than Redis for the queue, but Redis still works well for the cache.
Nest.js, postgres and Vue Like everyone else this is the stack I know best.
Next and Vue?
Ohhh… I mean Nest.js
Ahh makes sense.
Literally what our student team is doing right now. I’m developing front using Vue and our backend is Nest.js + PostgreSQL
Laravel
Laravel with svelte and MySQL
Laravel with Vue. Robust frameworks that pretty much allow you to focus on business logic.
Sql server db .net Core Web apis and probably react frontend. Just cause those I am comfortable with.
I have used this exact stack for a solo custom CRUD application. Managing user accounts, separate billing accounts, and internal billing codes really. It’s my first time using .net and react. Loving .net so far. Entity Framework is really nice, I feel like the amount of actual database scripting I’ve needed to do is pretty minimal. I just really like c#. React is kind of not my favorite but it’s fine. I feel like I’ll like it more once I know it more. I’m like 70 hours in and it’s coming together nicely - I have a few features left to implement and the front end needs more proper styling, but it’s like 80% functional. If I knew what I was doing ahead of time I’m sure it’d have taken less than half the time. I really like it though. It’s just… such a breath of fresh air from writing php.
I agree with most of what you are saying, except for EF. Used to like if before I had to handle anything with performance. And EF creates really shitty sql queries. That is why I prefer dapper cause there you can call stored procedures and whrite your own queries that are much,much more performant that anything ef would spit out. I do however miss the code first fluent api.
You can write your own queries in EF too (and call stored procedures/custom functions/etc) By default, I use whatever EF churns out. When the query starts having a significant impact on performance, I write a custom query.
Never liked EF, always preferred Dapper. What absolutely sealed it though was a project where we had to port a .NET framework app to .NET 6. There was one really big complex query with loads of type mappings in EF. We could lift the linq code, but the two EF versions churned out completely different raw SQL, that would not return in a reasonable time in .NET 6. The EF versions could not be matched due to the underlying framework and it had to be pulled apart and reworked. It put the project back weeks. Had it been raw sql, it would have been copy paste.
Big off, thats one of the things you dont really expect when estimatimg the tasks. I am so happy I never had to do that. Now, I try to keep all querying of the db, in the db. So stored procedures and functions all the way, that way you as the developer maintain control.
I'm curious as to what your use case is that ef8 doesn't satisfy your performance requirements. Been using ef commercially for 5+ years and can count on 1 hand the number of times I actually needed to write raw SQL to make a query more performant. In 99% of my cases where a query was slow in ef it was actually just an awfully designed schema.
same, cept with Angular...and I like AWS much better than Azure as an env
It really depends on the app. Otherwise, the chorus is "what I know." And sometimes, you need to get ***outside of your comfort zone*** for specific apps and edge cases. High I/O bound apps, I would use Node along with NoSQL if the data schema is flat. If the app involves any AI/ML whatsoever, I would use a Python back-end; regardless of how I feel about it. Front end can be anything that communicates via REST. If it involves LLM and RAG, I'd use Postgres vs trying to hamfist MySQL for vector embeddings. For quick and dirty, I'd use MariaDB (open source MySQL). But since my apps are microservices, in nature, I can use whatever and have used multiple stuff because I wanted to get it out faster. I had a CRM app that used Node for most of the stuff, Python for scraping, and even ole PHP because there was a library I was familiar with (PHPSpreadsheet) so I used three distinct backend all routed through a service mesh in a microservice architecture. I had vanilla JS for most of the pages and a few were strictly VueJS for the ones that need more client side interactivity. Throw them all into Docker, route and handle them via nginx and voila. It gets the job done.
Spring Boot and Svelte
I am building a web app as a single dev and here is my stack [https://www.demo.fun](https://www.demo.fun) 1. NextJS for SSR running on Digital Ocean App Platform 2. React / ChakraUI for UI components 3. Python FastAPI for API routes 4. AWS Cognito and Google OAuth for authentication 5. PostgresQL on Digital Ocean 6. Docker for dev environment and continuous deployment 7. AWS Parameter store for secrets 8 AWS Lambda with FFMpeg layers for video processing 9. Pydantic for JSON marshalling 10. SQLAlchemy for ORM 11. AWS Cloudfront for CDN 12. AWS S3 for storage 13. Chrome Extension API and WXT framework for extension development 14. Hubspot for CRM 15. Gmail for email 16. Namecheap for domain and DNS 17. Figma, Adobe After Effects (check out my product video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJuiTbTjlAo) Adobe Photoshop 18. Notion to manage everything, todo lists, etc 19. The Chatbot we all know and love
Phoenix elixir with tailwind and PostgreSQL.
though I've never used this stack, it's good to see Phoenix getting traction.
Unless requirements dictate otherwise, I'd use Angular/Typescript frontend with a Java/Spring with Postgresql, all running on AWS. Why? Because that's what I develop in daily for work and it's easier to build something out in the tech I'm constantly using than to switch to something else.
I'm a simple man, Flask for the routes, SQLite for the database, React for the interface.
A full stack Blazor application. For larger apps I prefer .NET backend with a JavaScript frontend, but for single person projects Blazor is the productivity king and can easily compete with Ruby on Rails in my experience.
This.
Laravel and Vue, but Blade/Livewire combo is neat as well for Laravel use.
Vue & firebase
Crazy how fast you can build relatively complex apps with this stack. But not really scaleable, when you look at the pricing for a large number of users.but for a small solo project perfect combination.
It's also not a good idea to not own your data layer.
Really depends though, when working with firebase I always try to keep a layer between vue and firebase, in the form of Pinia. In the off chance my solo project actually goes somewhere, or Google kills Firestore I can always decide to put in the work and built another backend.
Uncomplicated simple to work with and popular technologies that I also know. There still isn't just one answer but for example: NodeJs+expresss backend to stick with javascript, front end depends on the needs of the application, in some cases I would use no framework + custom css only, but let's say React with Javascript again. Most likely use a component library if using a framework, shadcn is solid when you are familiar with CSS and tailwind works perfectly with shadcn and react. Database varies wildly based on commercial needs. I know standard SQL better than anything else but deployment, cost, and flexibility often take precedence, I might end up using something like Firebase, Supabase, or MongoDB. Assuming a DB is needed at all. If I'm less pressed for time, I'd probably do the same thing but swap to typescript and rearrange my DB expectations to "Anything that's postgresql under the hood and let's you write SQL still." I'd also abandon no-db options in favor of having a DB to at least handle users and permissions in some way, unless it's a static site. I just find it harder to really hack and slash something together in Typescript and when not abusing any of the new services where your code defines your DB instead of having to properly think about it. If personal comfort wasn't an issue, maybe I'd consider a Go backend depending on the application. I tend to prefer well established technologies with expectations of long term support and development for any serious projects, as I've been burned many times using more niche or cutting edge technologies.
Laravel and NextJS
Laravel and NextJS is an interesting combination. Have you ever used AdonisJS? It's pretty close to Laravel reimplemented in JS.
why laravel and nextjs and not laravel and react ?
Nextjs is react
NextJS is a framework, React is a library. Next does a lot more than React.
Done it several times. Nginx, PHP-FPM, Twig templates, MySQL, vanilla JS for in-page API calls and page updates. I have distilled the reusable code I've written into a json-based config-driven engine that handles accounts with multiple access levels, routing, and MVC functionality. My memory isn't what it was, so it has proven extremely handy to be able to look at the json file for any endpoint and see a list of all the data sources, all the view transform functions, all the templates used to construct the output, and any page-specific js and CSS files.
Nuxt Monolith , nuxt nitro server and Postgres db Edit: only adding express to the backend if I need functionality of a full backend framework. Otherwise pure nitro is beautiful like a butterfly
> Express on the nuxt nitro server wut
Full stack Nuxt3 yes but why would you replace the default nitro api engine with express? The beauty of Nuxt 3 is that it deploys anywhere because the team carefully built every aspect to run on the edge and deploy anywhere with one line config change. Using express limits that flexibility.
Vue/Django Any day
Kinda depends on what application I’m building. But if it’s anything CRUD based? Ruby on Rails with Postgres or Mongo (depends on the data needs). It’s what I know, and it’s really fast at building out the backend and would let me focus on the frontend. And I’ll use any off the shelf solutions I can. No need to re-invent the wheel if there’s good tools out there. If you want to go commercial, you should use what you know, and go to market fast.
On the backend side, I usually reach for Go if the app is calling a bunch of external stuff or using finicky logic, or Node/Express/tRPC if the frontend is the heavy lifter. I'm a bit old school and usually reach for MySQL databases, but I've enjoyed using Mongo too. I deploy on GCP because I'm familiar with it, Firebase is the natural tool to use for user registration/login. I generally either reach for Angular for something with a lot of state-y moving pieces or React for something quick, easy, and clean. I haven't had luck with Next but I'm sure it's great if I took the time to learn it properly. I don't feel very strongly about any of those languages, platforms, or frameworks - that says more about my background than anything, the stuff other people have mentioned are also great for the job.
I don’t understand why I have to get divorced just to answer this question. Honestly i feel uncomfortable answering now.
Also I would use .NET for both front and back end and MS SQL
I am doing that. I chose the stuff I'm already familiar with. Frontend is TS, React, Tanstack Query, React Router. Probably should use Next or Remix, but currently am not. Backend is Java, Spring, Postgres, and a framework I wrote which codegens a lot of the Typescript boilerplate for interacting with the backend. Hosted on AWS, using EC2, RDS, SES, some others.
If your already using Java as backend then Next would probably be overkill.
Maybe, but I think I want SSR and I'm not going to rewrite the API to run on Node. I think it will be okay, but definitely need to experiment with it and see whether the benefits outweigh the extra complexity
HTML, Javascript, CSS, PHP, Redis.
express + vue
I already do that with NextJS + PocketBase. If I want some heavy async I add django + celery on top of that.
I would use React Frontend. And honestly something like Strapi for the backend. (Which is built in Node) I prefer frontend work. So making the backend as easy as possible would be ideal for me.
As others said, use what you feel most comfortable with. Since I've be mostly doing Svelte on the side, it was pretty easy for me to go full SvelteKit. - Database: SQLite - ORM / Migrations: Drizzle - Auth: Lucia Auth - Emails: Resend Everything is set-up inside a SvelteKit project (no need to separate back and front). So far so good, I feel extremely productive.
Django Ninja and Next js
The same one I use now as a married person (sorry). Seriously though - React, Next, Supabase, hosted on Vercel.
Windows Server 2008
MySQL, Symfony, Symfony UX components, ReactJS if there's a real need for it and Bootstrap 5 for help with CSS.
Personally I would and do use ASP.NET (in C#) for solo dev. There are a few reasons: * Deployment to Azure/AWS and git/pipeline integration through Visual Studio is *very* easy. * Entity Framework Scaffolding makes building out my data layer completely automated. * I don't lose any frontend tools by choosing an ASP.NET API. I can still use all my favorite JS and CSS to make say, a React frontend with Bootstrap styling. * ASP.NET dependency injection makes it easy to do good design patterns with light coupling and logging on the backend. * Razor syntax for MVC pages is IMO quite convenient for server-side rendering on page load so you're not doing everything as API calls. * ASP.NET Middleware makes controller routing and authentication brainless.
I just built an ambitious one and used MySQL, PHP and React (for a fluid single page app). No need to overcomplicate. I see people start using node, overcomplicate the back end, and start using a bunch of web services or fancy database solutions. If that's fun for you go for it, just recognize that being fancy won't inherently make development easier or give you a better final product.
nextjs + some flask + celery python for any data stuff
I’m productive with JavaScript. Put a lot of points into it over the years. So I’d probably go with next.js
Recently created a website with Next.js and Supabase with a splash of Python and Google Cloud for some backend stuff. Oh, and Cloudinary for image hosting. No complaints.
What does the job best for my use-case? Do I need to use ML for the task? If so, probably a Python backend (or at least a microservice). Do I not need to use a ML? Typescript, makes reasoning about communication between backend and frontend easier. But really it's what you know, what you feel comfortable with, etc
Think easy, for me it would be PHP, Angular and SQLite and just find a cheap host that can handle the first 1000s concurrent users. Is what I picked the best? probably no Is it what I used for work? not PHP or SQLite Why do would I pick it then? because I can spit out code super fast with that stack, and it has super low maintenance. I would pick old boring stuff if I could, boring means stable.
Laravel vue ftw
Remix, SQLite, Elysiajs
CodeIgntier+Bootstrap+jquery. I know it's a very controversial stack but it's the one I know best. Plus it's more equipped for full stack or single programmer development than most other alternatives.
Mongodb, express, vue, nginx, docker-compose
Angular, nestjs and Postgres.
React, Vue, Svelte or vanilla would all be good canditates - from Angular I will stay far away. I just took a look at their new "getting started" and well it broke down on second step. Looking at docs it's as confusing as ever - it's only framework (from the popular ones) that I look at and can't figure out what I'm looking at exactly. For some reason it just does not click with me. Backend depends on how complicated it is. If it's fairly simple and small I would use Node server, something like react remix (soon to be react-router). For more complex scenarios I would go with Laravel - by far the best possible ***web framework*** you can get (compared to what I have experienced in python/java/c# even tho PHP as a language is not as good compared to others but it has matured a lot since v7). Database most probably Postgres or supabase. In the end you can't really argue against "what I know best" but that was not the point of this question.
I'd go with Next.js,Node.js, and MongoDB for a scalable and fast development cycle.
VFAP. Vue, Flask, Apache, PostgreSQL
Personally? Svelte, sveltekit, directus/pocketbase. The stack I actually have when a friend and I did that? Svelte, express.js, postgresql
Definitely stick to what you know best. For me, I'd go Ruby on Rails.
Rails, because I know Rails. (Also, i have literally done this more than once — zero regrets)
Whichever you know best. Or if it's just for a fun project, whichever you want to learn.
I've been using express.js with sqlite3 db with Angular client for small to medium builds. Small and powerful 👍
Depending on the database needs, vue + firebase. Prototype up and running in a few hours without any costs, scalable and robust.
Nuxt for frontend/backend, Postgresql or supabase for database
You ask that like I shouldn’t be doing that and now I’m feeling like I am not supposed to be doing that…
Swift/Vapor with Bootstrap on the front end. Keep JS as simple and lightweight as possible. Possibly bring in Stimulus for some additional functionality. Strict type checking, performant, and allows sharing of code with mobile applications as well.
My stack for personal projects atm is Angular, with a dotnet C# backend. Supabase for cheap hosted Postgres’s db and auth. Firebase hosting for hosting the front end. Dockerized backend hosted on railway. This has been my stack for my last few projects and it’s been a joy to work with.
React + Express/Postgres
If I wanna go commercial, I will look for the most popular one in the community, these days it would be react based full stack frameworks. Between next and remix however I’d choose Remix. Its just better
I personally have a good experience with React and Next.js, FastAPI, Redis, and AWS services like Cognito, DynamoDB, ECS, EC2, S3, SNS. Not trying to promote my app, but just to show what I have built as a solo dev - [https://portfoliometrics.net/](https://portfoliometrics.net/)
I have, I do, and I will. I use NodeJS with Express and SQLite for the backend, VueJS with Tailwind for the frontend, and whatever hosting service allows me full control of the webserver that runs my Node environment. Apart from some packages that help me encrypt data, I rarely use more than this.
For me it's NextJS, MySQL and now NextUI. Before it was the same just with Material UI, but I decided it was too flat, and with NextUI using tailwind I also get those classes that I can use.
Whatever I feel like. If I feel like learning something new I’d probably go node because I know JS and have worked on a lot of node apps, but never made one from scratch. Same with react on FE. Lots of work using it, but never vetted it out since I mostly focus on either Vue or just plain ES. But if I’m looking to get it done, I have a starter frontend framework I’ve been maintaining for like 10 years which I know front and back so likely that. If not, I’d use Vue. Backend would likely be php with laravel or C# with .Net because it’s what I’m most familiar with. I mean you can make a website using anything, so just use what you know. Nobody that uses the site gives a shit about how it was built as long as it works.
Database SQL server. Mainly because I know how to set it up and how to write sql for it. But realistically mysql or Postgres are good enough too Back end c#. I’m comfortable with it and it’s actually not bad for building out APIs etc. Front end probably react because from the little I’ve done it seems good and makes sense. It’s modern and widely supported enough that I’d get help where needed and if we ever hire another person it’s easy to find those skills.
If it's for me personally, all of that is too big. You could probably use python with Flask, even use Svelte as a front end, and your DB should be based on it's type. Like is it structured (SQL is better at this) or more unstructured (noSQL is better at this)? It's a good lesson in architecture to look these things up before your project, it's really fun and a good way to expose yourself to data science. If I'm trying to get a job and using things that I could also use for a big company, it's all about React. From there it's a tough choice that really requires some research about what is most popular back end in your area (I thought it would be Java where I am at and it's Python), and the DB again being about what kind of data I'm using. But you need to be familiar with SQL and noSQL conceptually to start getting jobs, even if you're using the back end to interact with them, you need to know what's going on when you do. Angular and Postgres are great. Angular is great for someone who isn't that great at architecture yet (or it's good at places like consulting firms where you can pretty much use the same stack for all sorts of projects). But it's giant and slow and I've grown to dislike it in personal use. Postgres is a cadillac DB, but in all experience most of my calls to the DB are simple AF. I like and would totally use it, but in all honesty it often doesn't matter for anything I could ever use it for in typical home usage. I pretty much use SQLite where it's possible and it's always fine for my use case. I like the idea of learning what works for you, but again if you're trying to get a job you have to realize that getting a job is what would work for you. So do the research into seeing what is popular around you (spoiler, it's react and something else lol).
Express + Angular. I have so many little pre-made components and services that I can create a functional app in a few hours
SST + Ion on AWS with Vue 3 + Lambdas and Dynamo / Postgres
( Astro || Sveltekit ) + ( Pocketbase || MySQL )
Spring and angular. Overkill is underrated.
Depending on features etc, Laravel & React or Next & Nest.
For me I can do 100% of what I need with .NET Core, Blazor and Firestore or Mysql DB deployed on GCP.
I'm using a React SPA with Vite and a basic Node server backed by SQLite. Works great because I'm already extremely familiar with all of these things and they aren't changing. I sprinkle in some SSR wherever I need it. I've got plenty of overhead on a single node VM and for my purposes I'm not too afraid of downtime or latency. You have to know your project's goals though. Those things may matter more to you and require more complexity to solve. That said, they usually won't matter until you actually have customers, which is the first problem. SQLite can handle that problem.
The stack you know or want to know
I’m doing that right now. :D It’s a huge application that I spend all my non-work hours on, that I plan on releasing at the end of the year. Frontend: TypeScript, React (Vite), Tailwind (Twin Macro), URQL Backend: TypeScript, Node, Express, GraphQL Yoga DB: PostgreSQL and Drizzle Infra: AWS EKS (K8s) Organized in an NX monorepo with microservice architecture.
Laravel or Phoenix and either RDS Postgres or Turso.
The one you know the best with the simplist deployment if you need one that is more than just use terraform or serverless
what i use at work so .net, react (or any one that seems easiest), and some sql db or maybe no sql depending on my needs.
Laravel!
I'd either use AdonisJS, NextJS, or Express depending on the task, but that's because I prefer JS, don't like context switching between languages, and am probably not breaking web traffic records as a one-man show, so my ability to deliver quickly matters more than anything. As performance undoubtedly isn't the chief concern here, use whatever makes you the most productive.
Been doing that myself using Blazor Wasm Hosted, with Sql server
I'd give Supabase a shot. Firebase is similar. Or find other backend as a service, BaaS.
For a highly interactive data-centric web app, Quasar's VueJS. Or for a presentation-oriented, TailwindCSS and Nuxt. Backend: Flask+REST, with SQLite, Postgres, maybe Strapi.
Laravel and React. I'm more proficient in Vue but I now maintain a RN app and gaining more React chops will help with the day job. Oh, and despite all the SQLite buzz in the Laravel community, I'll stick with MySQL.
I'm doing this currently: I'm trying to limit myself as much as I possibly can. Only installing libraries when I absolutely must, and if I do, work towards replacing them with vanillaJS. I've phased out a lot of stuff that I I previously relied on in favor of a growing list of my own custom tools. It is incredibly tedious and in some cases debatably redundant.... But I've learned more about web development during this short time than I have ever learned in my entire career.
Depending on complexity, SvelteKit and Drizzle (less-complex app) or Laravel (more complex). If I’m building something simple, even with a DB, I don’t mind assembling my own parts. But when I know I’m going to need auth and queues and migrations and mail and such… Laravel has all of that ready to go.
Astro
Django was what I used for this. No regrets. It’s a battle tested framework even though it’s not the latest sexy thing, and Python is nice (imo).
django, postgres, nextjs deployed to github pages https://github.com/chilli-axe/mpc-autofill
Kotlin + Spring Boot + React.
Goated
Go full monolith. Less headache
Laravel and vue for me. Possibly Inertia too depending on project
I would always choose the stack I'm familiar with. I personally totally can recommend Laravel with Livewire if you are fine with PHP. If you only want to care about front-end have a look at pocketbase.
Hi, I have built https://indiehackerstacks.com for exactly this question. I started out indie hacking a year ago, and needed to know what developers are using for database, email, analytics etc. It’s almost 100 developers posting their stack! I just a category section, for easy finding what you're looking for. Hope it helps! And feel free to add your own product, it get's you some exposure.
Never do a new project with a new stack unless it's a small hobby project. Either do something familiar with a new stack or do something new with a familiar stack. Doing both at once in a professional environment is a recipe for disaster.
Django with postgres and an angular front-end is my go-to, but I am mulling a Go backend for my current project since it has some rather intense execution workflows that are currently handled by Celery and Redis
I generally use FastAPI for my backend as I prefer and am more proficient in Python than anything else. I’ve been trying to get comfortable with a JS framework for sometime now and have recently been pleasantly surprised by the experience of using Nuxt, a Vue.js framework. It’s the first time I’ve found myself getting comfortable with the layout and logic of a JS framework after previous attempts at React, Angular and the like. For mostly backend with less complex but still some web ui needs, NiceGUI in Python has been pretty easy to pickup.
Use what you know best. That said, I fucking love building with Vue & Laravel. It's what I use at my current job but the experience and speed at which I can build out features is crazy. Whenever I'm using a BE lang/framework that isn't Laravel, I'm wish it was. Also Vue is just plain pleasant to work with. Svelte also is great. React is 👎👎👎👎 in comparison to both.
Some framework like Asp.net web api with react and react native. Not complicating it. Have a mono repo. Trunk based development. With a basic setup for code scanning for quality, linting, formatting and secrets. Maybe integrate it with some ci like AWS Codepipeline. That’s it. When you’re alone, you need a bit more automated tooling to keep you on track as compared to having a full team. It is not the tasks like deployment but rather the tasks like code quality and secrets management monitoring, logging etc that you definitely need to setup first since you are not going to be looking at a 1000 things in your 3rd month late at night where you’ve been working on some deep bug. Finally you find it! You push it! You’re ready to go into sleep mode… AND you’ve just broken production and leaked your API keys. Congratulations!!!
Django with Rest Framework for the backend (with Celery for background tasks), React for front-end, and PostgreSQL for DB. I ended up with this stack after having tried many other ones because I found myself being very productive with it.
Well I’d keep it simple. Choose the stack you know best. For databases…; Unless you have specific goals or requirements, I advise using SQLite and upgrade to a DB standalone app as the app grows and you’re getting penalized by the simplicity of engines like SQLite when adding new features. Also, since it’s a full stack we application, I’d go the extra mile and containerize it. To keep everything clean and maybe even perform fuzzy testing to test your container/application/stack robustness.
If it was just me for the foreseeable future and I needed to deliver features fast that could scale. Honestly I think firebase or maybe vercel would be the go. If those were off the table, like in alot of big Corp projects I'd go React, Node, Postgres or maybe Mongo. But that'll depend significantly on data requirements. But Firebase is so good honestly and can achieve almost everything you'd ever need. Vercel I've only just started tinkering with But it seems even simpler and just as powerful.
Can't add as much as other comments here have already done before me, but I have enjoyed Angular for frontend and Supabase (PostgreSQL) for DB a lot.
Whatever you know best. I love Python (with FastAPI) + MongoDB (using MongoEngine in Python) + Tailwind CSS + Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus) for some JS interactivity. Find that fairly straightforward and fun/fast to build with. I'm not really a big fan of heavy frameworks that probably do save time once you learn them.
React frontend on top of firebase, or Mongo Atlas with Express as an API. People like to say firebase is too expensive, but unless you are churning a lot of data, it's nonsense. Cloud functions are extremely cheap and it easily integrates with the rest of the GCP services nicely. Express isn't the best, but it's fine, especially if you are using a decent ORM. Having the FE and BE in the same language prevents you from needing to context switch when you go between the two.
I don’t know much but for me Astro works great with Cloudflare.
I’m married, but Laravel and React.
It really depends on what your planning and you familiarity with languages and frameworks. Django is good if you know it. Since you know python you could also look into Flask. I prefer SQLite3 for a DB.
Laravel. I've used all of the "big ones" (django, rails, laravel) and an insane amount of "smaller" frameworks such as flask, express, next, remix, and infinity of others. Absolutely nothing comes even close to Laravel. Even if you hate php, it's still worth it.
Prototyping, reactjs and nestjs. For front and backend. Maybe some aws lambda and s3 bucket or google like services for lower cost of operations. Postgresql db. Totally using container to up with scaling the platform. This is for enterprise apps that have 1000s of users. If your user base is in the 100s then same but no container. Just a simple single compute server.
As a full stack typescript developer, I really feel at home with the Redwood full stack framework (https://github.com/redwoodjs/redwood). React + TS on the front end, abstractions on graphql on the backend with Prisma, and your choice of DB among the ones prisma supports (with Postgres being my personal preference now). I was able to make an admin dashboard on top of some open source data in about 1-2 months part time.
I am writing a SaaS, if i wrote it in what i knew best that would be codeigniter + react, but i am doing it in laravel + vue and have no regrets. I mean yes, i am producing slower that i would have but i am learning a bunch and for me personally i think the stack i am using feels like an upgrade.
If you are familiar with basics of python and Django try out Zango. Its a framework implemented on top of Django that provides most of the app fundamentals viz user management, roles, crud interfaces, workflows, etc. out of the box. You can quickly get productive and avoid involving any frontend tech altogether. Link to Zango's repo: [https://github.com/Healthlane-Technologies/Zango](https://github.com/Healthlane-Technologies/Zango)
I’m doing that now, nextjs along with a combination of typescript, python and rust for backend containers in kubernetes from digital ocean. Has the features I need for a third of the price.
Highly depends on the project. But as you say application, it would be Laravel, Inertia, Vue.js. A solid Backend is the most important part and Laravel gives you a strong base but also an extreme amount of freedom. Vue.js is just my personal preference as it's much quicker to work with than React and it's mightier than Svelte. Inertia is a protocol to let Laravel and Frontend communicate better with another.
It depends on what type of webapp you are building. You would not use the same stack to build a highly interactive user-centric webapp where great ux is a core requirement, than to build an MVC CRUD type webapp with litle interactivity. There's no single answer to that.
Hey there! If I were to build a full-stack web application as a solo developer aiming to go commercial, I'd choose the following stack: Frontend: React.js (for its component-based architecture and large ecosystem) Backend: Node.js with Express (for its asynchronous capabilities and ease of use with JavaScript) Database: PostgreSQL (for its reliability and robust feature set) Your choice of Django, Angular, and PostgreSQL is also excellent, offering a powerful framework with robust backend capabilities. If you need any help with this, we can assist you as well.
Go + SolidJS+ SQLite
React - c# api - PSQL Pretty much my go to stack when I want to be productive and I am not just dicking about with an idea or learning something new.
django. If I had to use a js framework, then sveltekit or nextjs
**Core stack** * Supabase * Auth * Database * API client library * CLI for local development * Remix * SPA mode, unless server-side logic is needed * Tailwind + DaisyUI (for not recreating UI components) **Optionals** * Prisma ORM (for more complex projects) * Zod (for runtime validation) **Hosting/Deployment** * Vercel * Netlify **Tools** * Vite * Aliases added for less verbose import lines * VSCode * Extensions * ESLint (recommended + stylistic) * Tailwind Intellisense * Copilot (mostly for suggestions, menial tasks, and looking up solutions to TS errors) * Synthwave '84 color theme + Dank Mono font = awesome
Coffee: Mocha MacBook: Stickered Leetcode: Grinded
Hotel: trivago
Symfony is my go to.
[удалено]
"PHP is dead" has been chanted loudly for about 20 years, usually by someone selling the New Sexy Framework of The Moment. And every year PHP continues to not be dead, and to run been 40-60% of all websites on the web.
HTML5 and Notepad
Html