📋 What We'll Cover
Guiding Principles for Tech Decisions
Before diving into specific technologies, here are the principles we use when advising startups:
- Optimize for speed to market — Your first priority is validating your idea, not perfect architecture
- Choose boring technology — Proven tech has better documentation, more developers, and fewer surprises
- Plan for scale, but don't over-engineer — Pick tech that can grow, but don't build for millions before you have thousands
- Consider your team — The best tech is what your team knows well
- Think about hiring — Popular frameworks mean easier recruiting
Frontend Framework: React vs Vue vs Next.js
React + Next.js
RecommendedThe dominant choice for web applications. Next.js adds server-side rendering, routing, and API routes out of the box.
✅ Pros
- Largest ecosystem & community
- Easiest to hire for
- Excellent documentation
- Great for SEO with Next.js
- Vercel makes deployment trivial
❌ Cons
- More boilerplate than Vue
- JSX can be confusing initially
- Many ways to do things (decision fatigue)
Vue.js + Nuxt
Good AlternativeMore approachable than React with a gentler learning curve. Great for smaller teams.
✅ Pros
- Easier to learn
- More opinionated (less decisions)
- Excellent documentation
- Great for rapid prototyping
❌ Cons
- Smaller job market
- Fewer third-party libraries
- Less enterprise adoption
🎯 Our Recommendation
Choose React/Next.js unless your team has strong Vue experience. The hiring advantages and ecosystem size make it the safer bet for most startups.
Backend: Node.js vs Python vs Go
| Criteria | Node.js | Python | Go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed to Develop | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Performance | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Hiring Pool | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| AI/ML Integration | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Startup Friendly | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
🎯 Our Recommendation
Node.js (with TypeScript) for most startups—same language as frontend, huge ecosystem, fast development. Python if you're building AI/ML features. Go only if you have specific performance requirements.
Database: PostgreSQL vs MongoDB
PostgreSQL
RecommendedThe world's most advanced open-source database. Handles both relational and JSON data excellently.
✅ Pros
- Rock-solid reliability
- Excellent JSON support (JSONB)
- Strong data integrity
- Great tooling (Prisma, Drizzle)
- Free with great managed options
❌ Cons
- Schema migrations required
- Horizontal scaling is harder
MongoDB
SituationalDocument database that's flexible and fast to prototype with. Good for certain use cases.
✅ Pros
- Flexible schema
- Fast prototyping
- Easy horizontal scaling
- Great for nested data
❌ Cons
- No ACID transactions (mostly)
- Schema-less can become messy
- Not great for relational data
- Pricing can get expensive
🎯 Our Recommendation
PostgreSQL for 90% of startups. It handles structured and unstructured data well. Only use MongoDB if you have truly document-centric data with no relationships.
Infrastructure: Firebase vs AWS vs Vercel
| Platform | Best For | Cost at Scale | Complexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firebase/Supabase | MVPs, small teams, real-time apps | 💰💰💰 (expensive) | ⭐ Easy |
| Vercel + PlanetScale | Next.js apps, serverless | 💰💰 (moderate) | ⭐⭐ Easy-Medium |
| AWS/GCP | Scale, enterprise, control | 💰 (most control) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Complex |
| Railway/Render | Simple deployments, Docker | 💰💰 (moderate) | ⭐⭐ Easy-Medium |
🎯 Our Recommendation
Vercel + Supabase for most MVPs. Incredibly fast to deploy, generous free tiers, and can scale to significant traffic. Move to AWS when you need specific services or cost optimization at scale.
Mobile: React Native vs Flutter
React Native (with Expo)
RecommendedBuild iOS and Android apps with JavaScript/TypeScript. Expo makes development incredibly smooth.
✅ Pros
- Same language as web (code sharing)
- Huge ecosystem & community
- Expo makes deployment easy
- OTA updates without app store
- Easier to hire for
❌ Cons
- Performance slightly lower than Flutter
- Some native features need bridges
- Debugging can be tricky
Flutter
Great AlternativeGoogle's UI toolkit for beautiful, natively compiled apps. Excellent performance and beautiful UIs.
✅ Pros
- Excellent performance
- Beautiful, customizable UI
- Hot reload is amazing
- Single codebase for all platforms
- Strong typing with Dart
❌ Cons
- Different language (Dart)
- Larger app size
- Smaller job market than RN
- No code sharing with web React
🎯 Our Recommendation
React Native with Expo if you're also building a web app (code sharing is huge). Flutter if mobile is your primary platform and you want the best possible mobile UX.
Our Recommended Stack by Stage
🚀 MVP Stack (0-1000 users)
Optimize for speed. Get to market fast, validate your idea.
📈 Growth Stack (1K-100K users)
More control, better observability, preparing for scale.
🏢 Scale Stack (100K+ users)
Enterprise-grade, microservices if needed, heavy optimization.
Final Thoughts
The "best" tech stack is the one that lets you ship quickly and iterate based on user feedback. Don't overthink it—you can always refactor later when you have real scaling problems (which is a good problem to have!).
Remember: Instagram ran on Django and PostgreSQL for years. Twitter was Ruby on Rails. You don't need to solve scaling problems you don't have yet.
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