Your tech stack should follow your product, not the other way around. Start from the problem, constraints, and team skills.
Questions to ask before picking tools
- What problem are we actually solving, and who are the users?
- What are our hard constraints around time-to-market, budget, and compliance?
- What skills does the current team already have?
- How quickly do we expect traffic and product complexity to grow?
For most web products, a well‑supported framework (like Next.js), a relational database, and a major cloud provider are more than enough.
A practical default stack
- A batteries-included web framework (Next.js, Laravel, Django, etc.).
- PostgreSQL or MySQL for structured data, with a managed offering from your cloud provider.
- A simple background job system for emails, reports, and long-running tasks.
- A clear CI/CD pipeline, even if it’s small at first.
Optimise for a stack your team can be productive in today, while still having a clear story for scaling as your traffic and features grow.
Frontend framework selection
The frontend framework you choose will significantly impact developer experience, performance, and long-term maintainability. Each major framework has its strengths, and the 'best' choice depends on your specific needs.
React and Next.js
React remains the most popular choice for building interactive UIs, and Next.js has become the go-to framework for React applications. Next.js provides server-side rendering, static site generation, API routes, and excellent developer experience out of the box.
- Excellent ecosystem with a vast library of components and tools.
- Strong performance with automatic code splitting and image optimization.
- Great for SEO with server-side rendering capabilities.
- Large talent pool makes hiring easier.
Vue.js and Nuxt
Vue.js offers a gentler learning curve than React while maintaining excellent performance and developer experience. Nuxt provides similar capabilities to Next.js but with Vue's template-based approach.
- Easier to learn for developers coming from HTML/CSS/JS backgrounds.
- Excellent documentation and developer-friendly error messages.
- Progressive framework that can be adopted incrementally.
- Strong performance with a smaller runtime footprint.
Svelte and SvelteKit
Svelte takes a different approach by compiling components at build time rather than shipping a runtime library. This results in smaller bundle sizes and excellent performance.
- Smallest bundle sizes of major frameworks.
- No virtual DOM means faster runtime performance.
- Simple, readable syntax that's easy to learn.
- Growing ecosystem with SvelteKit for full-stack applications.
Backend framework considerations
Your backend framework choice affects everything from development speed to scalability. Consider factors like your team's expertise, performance requirements, and the type of application you're building.
Node.js ecosystems
If you're already using JavaScript on the frontend, Node.js allows you to share code and maintain consistency across your stack.
- Express.js: Minimal, unopinionated, and flexible—great for APIs and microservices.
- NestJS: Enterprise-grade framework with TypeScript, dependency injection, and modular architecture.
- Fastify: High-performance alternative to Express with built-in validation and logging.
- Next.js API routes: Perfect if you're using Next.js and want to keep everything in one codebase.
Python frameworks
Python's readability and extensive libraries make it popular for backend development, especially for data-heavy applications or when you need rapid prototyping.
- Django: Batteries-included framework perfect for content-heavy sites and rapid development.
- FastAPI: Modern, fast framework designed specifically for building APIs with automatic documentation.
- Flask: Lightweight and flexible, great for microservices and simple APIs.
Database selection
The database you choose will impact performance, scalability, and development speed. The decision between SQL and NoSQL isn't always clear-cut, and many applications benefit from using both.
Relational databases (SQL)
SQL databases excel at handling structured data with complex relationships. They provide ACID guarantees, strong consistency, and powerful query capabilities.
- PostgreSQL: Feature-rich, open-source database with excellent performance and extensibility.
- MySQL: Widely used, well-documented, and supported by most hosting providers.
- SQLite: Perfect for development, testing, and small applications that don't need concurrent writes.
NoSQL databases
NoSQL databases offer flexibility in data modeling and can scale horizontally more easily than traditional SQL databases.
- MongoDB: Document database that's intuitive for developers and scales well for read-heavy workloads.
- Redis: In-memory data store perfect for caching, sessions, and real-time features.
- Cassandra: Designed for high availability and horizontal scaling across multiple data centers.
Cloud provider selection
Your cloud provider choice affects costs, available services, and vendor lock-in. The big three (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) all offer similar core services, but each has unique strengths.
- AWS: Largest ecosystem, most services, and extensive documentation. Best for complex, enterprise needs.
- Google Cloud: Excellent for data analytics, machine learning, and Kubernetes (GKE). Great developer experience.
- Azure: Strong integration with Microsoft ecosystem, good for enterprises already using Microsoft tools.
- Vercel/Netlify: Perfect for frontend hosting with excellent DX and automatic deployments from Git.
Scaling considerations
While you shouldn't over-engineer for scale you don't need yet, it's important to choose technologies that won't become bottlenecks as you grow.
- Design your database schema with indexes and query optimization in mind from the start.
- Use caching layers (Redis, CDN) to reduce database load and improve response times.
- Plan for horizontal scaling by avoiding stateful servers and using stateless application design.
- Consider using managed services for databases, queues, and other infrastructure to reduce operational burden.
Conclusion
There's no one-size-fits-all tech stack. The best stack for your startup is one that your team can be productive with, that solves your specific problems, and that has a clear path for growth. Start simple, validate your product, and evolve your stack as your needs become clearer.
Remember: premature optimization is the root of all evil. It's better to ship with a simple stack and refactor later than to spend months building infrastructure you might not need.