Nov 15th, 2024
10 Tips for Choosing the Right Tech Stack for Your Web Applications
When it comes to web app development, there is no one “best” tech stack. The best tech stack for your web application will depend on a number of factors, including the size of your company, the skill set of your existing devs, your ability to hire or outsource engineering, and your budget.
So rather than give you tips on how to choose the “best” tech stack for your next software project, this article will focus on how to choose the “right” tech stack for your next software project. That means ignoring “hot trends” and bypassing hype to get to the frameworks and technologies that are going to make development as seamless for your team as possible.
10 Things to Consider When Choosing Your Next Tech Stack
1. What do you already know?
Many people argue that the best tech stack for your next project is the same one you used to build your last project. Unless you are working on a personal project or side project or have a valid reason for testing a new technology (and no, “it’s cool and shiny” is not a valid reason) sticking with what you know is likely to yield the best results.
2. Does what you know work?
That being said, there’s no point sticking with a language or framework if it’s bogging you down or not doing the job you need it to. If there are known issues with your existing stack, try to pinpoint and track those issues during development so you have a clear understanding of what isn’t working for next time. Maybe it’s just one part of your stack your devs all know MongoDB, but your current stack uses Postgres, for example. Pinpointing that issue makes it easy to know exactly what didn’t work this time, and how to fix it next time.
3. What front-end frameworks are popular?
These days, JavaScript (and increasingly, Typescript) is the de-facto language of the front-end, and frameworks like React and Vue are the most popular ways to implement it. Yes, there are others (Svelte is having a moment right now) but there’s a reason React and Vue are so ubiquitous. They’re robust, easy to use, well-documented and come backed by the knowledge of millions of other devs who use and talk about them in online forums.
4. What back-end languages are popular?
On the back end, JavaScript is also prevalent in the form of Node.js, and Python is a pretty close runner-up. Django and Flask are two extremely popular Python frameworks for web development, and again, this is for a good reason. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. If everyone else is using it, and has been using it for years, there’s a good bet it works.
5. How complex is your software project?
Some technologies have a steep learning curve, while others are quick to get up and running. Both have their place. Are you building a quick-and-dirty MVP to get into the hands of users and start gathering data about your idea? If so, a complicated tech stack that takes forever to learn is only going to slow you down. However, if you’re at the stage where you’ve proven your concept, or even found product market fit, taking the time to learn a new framework or language that does a highly specific but very needed thing might be worth it.
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A complicated tech stack that takes forever to learn is only going to slow you down
6. What is your time frame?
Maybe you have the luxury of lead time, and you can spend a few weeks tooling around with some new languages or frameworks to see if they really are exactly what you need. If not, stick with what you know, and leave the exploring for your side projects.
7. What is your budget?
Ideally, budget is the last thing you consider when implementing your tech stack. You want other concerns—like ease-of-use and scalability to take precedent when deciding on what to use. However, the reality is that it’s not always possible to ignore the budget entirely. The good news is there are a lot of open-source frameworks out there that do everything you need them to do for free or for a fraction of what you would pay for proprietary software.
8. How scalable is it?
Always try to build with the future in mind. Yes, you may just be coding up an MVP to show the product team so they can start user testing, but keep in mind that you will ultimately need to onboard more engineers to this codebase. Those engineers will need to write unit tests and deploy code. Those engineers will need documentation. Those engineers will need to quickly understand the structure of the app and be able to start contributing right away. Choose technologies with future engineers in mind.
9. How flexible is it?
Likewise, you may find that you need to swap out portions of your codebase from time to time. Your original tech stack may not work as well as you thought it did. How modular is it? Can you migrate your front-end from React to Vue without affecting the server?
10. Do you anticipate high turnover on your engineering team?
The code you write will need to be maintained. The engineers that built it may not be around in five years when parts of it start to break. Many would argue that choosing a tech stack that is well-documented, well-maintained, and used by many people is more important than choosing the fastest, best, or newest stack.
In Conclusion
While there is no “best tech stack” for 2024 or beyond, there are ways to ensure that you’re choosing the right stack for your project. At the end of the day, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a good thing to keep in mind, and opting for languages and frameworks that are ubiquitously used, well-documented, and won’t go out of style in the next five years is the smartest way to proceed.
