Backend Framework reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 299 Reddit reviews across 26 subreddits and 49 posts to rank the best Backend Framework brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/webdev, r/node, r/FlutterDev, r/javascript, r/cscareerquestions. Top-rated brands include Django (4.3/5), NestJS (4.3/5), Laravel (4.3/5).

Stats

Reviews299

Subreddits26

Posts49

Brands88

Products15

Top communities

r/webdev50 r/node50 r/FlutterDev27 r/javascript26 r/cscareerquestions18

299 reviews from

and

By Brand

By Product

Django

4.3

(29)

"Python -> Django"

"Python with Django. If you’re doing any deployments alongside a data science team, it’s the best for enterprise-grade Python work."

"I would go Python/Django or rails. Both are highly productive for line of business CRUD apps."

"Django"

"I just continue to use Django for crud stuff, it's just so much better for the use case."

"I think you should stay with Django, it's a tool you know and already satisfies your needs."

"Django comes with betteries inlcuded, it has everything, stable, feature rich."

"Otherwise, you know Python, use Django."

"Django"

"My favorite is probably Django"

NestJS

4.3

(28)

"NestJS - best in nodejs backend."

"NestJS and TypeORM are hard to beat."

"NestJS because it has nice structure and good tooling built-in"

"NestJS - best in nodejs backend. PrismaORM - although not a traditional ORM, it is very convenient, modern and has excellent Typescript support."

"NestJS, TSED, and Hono."

"I'd recommend considering NestJS if you enjoy Node.js, as it's more structured than Express."

"NestJS is a great backend framework, it’s got all the features you can find in popular frameworks like Laravel and Django, but it’s much faster and lighter and has many modules out of the box, plus unlike other frameworks its modular."

"NestJS all the way. It has the best of everything and is exactly what you need."

"NestJS is sweet"

"I think nest js is the most mature framework right now."

Laravel

4.3

(15)

"We've been using Laravel for 10 years and are extremely happy with it. It's very much a "batteries included" framework"

"Laravel 44c"

"For heavy crud apps I would go with something like Laravel."

"I'm partial to Laravel. It's a nice framework to work with and gives you so much value out of the box."

"Go for Laravel, and if you can afford it, get an account on Laracasts."

"PHP -> Laravel"

"If you want something with many builtins I would recommend laravel since it has pretty much everything you would need to build a good working backend."

"Laravel"

"Laravel, django also is a nice option."

"Due to DX, I would recommend Laravel if you have no preference."

Node.js

4.4

(14)

"Node + express"

"Top 2 .. node Js(express) and spring Boot … they are soo easy it’s not even fair"

"Startups - Node.js/Django."

"Node and express are 100% production capable."

"I would say NodeJS with express, lookup loopback framework from IBM for rest apis."

"I would say node and express"

"Node js is easiest if your backend is simple"

"Is pretty easy to pick up."

"Node. I might get crap about it but I have seen a ton of apps and services written in Node."

"Node/Express and pick you up some Postgres or Mongo."

ExpressJS

3.7

(14)

"Node is js, try expressjs with some passportjs for authentication."

"Express is your friend."

"ExpressJS"

"Most of the backend jobs are on Nodejs, so you can choose any backend framework on Nodejs like express or nest js are great"

"If you are in need of a realtime app setup expressjs is your guy since it’s easier to work with websockets abd socketio on nodejs."

"I would say node and express"

"Try NodeJS with ExpressJS or NestJS framework...you should be good to go..."

"Since you are new to BE development I would suggest to keep it simple and use Express or Hapi to get something up and running quickly."

"Express is the only nodeJS backend framework I've used."

"I would advise you to learn a little about node+express+db(mongo,postgres,..). I think express is the more popular of the two."

Flask

4.1

(11)

"Flask All the way..."

"Flask."

"I highly recommend Flask and SQLAlchemy."

"Consider trying out Flask, it's lightweight and beginner-friendly for backend development."

"If you already know python, then go with Django or Flask"

"Flask. I’d say Django but for a database class you wouldn’t be writing any SQL."

"I mostly use flask and Django so idk if express would be easier, but flask is the easier of the two."

"Flask and fastApi"

"Flask or pyramid are lighter than django."

"Flask with it's "just run these 10 lines of python and you have a web server""

Spring Boot

4.1

(10)

"Spring boot"

"I found it easier than Django and I have been using it to develop Enterprise applications for years now."

"Spring Boot"

"Spring Boot, Micronaut, Ktor… use them all at my work with SB being the most prominent."

"Spring Boot"

"Spring boot with Java. It's just for personal projects, but I find it easy to implement a modulith architecture."

"I'd say Spring boot for Java, or ASP for .NET 5+."

"I’ve been using it for a little while now and really enjoy it."

"Spring Boot now supports Koltin and is every fast implementation."

"Spring Boot now is great, very sensible defaults"

Express

4.2

(9)

"Exress is the bestest"

"Express (Web Framework) + Apollo Server (GraphQL Server/Middleware) + MikroORM (ORM)."

"If you have a lot of other stuff to worry about in your stack choose express."

"Express"

"The JavaScript equivalent to these frameworks would be Express."

"Express + OvernightJS."

"It’s not too hard to just use express and a few middleware."

"Express + EJS."

"Some frameworks based on node are: Express, Hapi, Fastify."

Spring

4.4

(8)

"Java: whole enterprise world runs on java and its flavours. Spring as a framework."

"Java -> Spring"

"Java together with Spring. It's not glamorous, but it's basically the bread and butter of enterprise software for the foreseeable future."

"Spring if you want sth stable and mature otherwise Nest in case you feeling better in node env."

"Spring, but I'm bias"

"Spring, .net and node, don't bother with django, too few opportunities."

"Spring support both Mongodb and Google auth out of the box."

"Especially Spring/Spring boot is used by every bigger company here."

#10

ASP.NET Core

4.7

(6)

"The ideal backend is probably asp.net core, since you can reuse Code between app and api."

"Go with .NET Core(MVC, API), it is fastest then any other languages and framework."

"ASP.NET core has the best tooling and documentation. EF is a great orm."

"Very powerful."

"You might pick up ASP.NET core and Razor pages easy bc it all written in C#"

"For C# .net"

#11

.NET

4.3

(6)

".Net with scaffolding from Visual Studio. Amazing scaffolding of projects."

"C# -> ASP.NET"

"I would recommend .NET because its ecosystem is mature and the framewo"

"I use a .Net. Works great and is simple. I use a .NET graphql framework called Hot Chocolate and then generate the dart client using graphql_gen. Works awesome."

"More because that's what I learned at work along with React."

"Spring, .net and node, don't bother with django, too few opportunities."

#12

FastAPI

4.2

(6)

"FastAPI, without a doubt, is my favorite of the three."

"FastAPI is gaining popularity due to its speed and simplicity."

"FastAPI"

"FastAPI is also cool."

"FastAPI"

"I find fastAPI much too opinionated - it works amazingly for the common use-case."

#13

Ktor

4.0

(6)

"I love ktor. It is much better than spring."

"I've used ktor for small projects. pretty nice and minimalistic"

"Ktor has wonderful documentation https://ktor.io/docs/welcome.html"

"Probably Spring Boot, but if you don't want to use black magic, ktor is the most popular choice."

"I’m experimenting with Ktor at the moment, I really love Kotlin."

"Ktor or Spring Boot?"

#14

Hono

4.8

(5)

"Hono (my favorite)"

"I second Hono. Really nice typing, simple API similar to express, minimal, built on web standards, no dependencies in the core packages, works on edge and other runtimes, and great first-party packages."

"Hono 525"

"In my opinion , hono or Fastify with tRPC for e2e typesafety"

"I like Hono. May not be the best but it's nice."

#15

4.8

(4)

"I am using gin for the routing, middlewares, and parsing."

"Gin for api and entgo for ORM, you golden 😀."

"I find Gin really easy to use for Go. It's super simple."

"Golang -> Gin"

#20

Go

4.3

(4)

"I would usually go with Go."

"Can recommend go, very easy to create high performance api's."

"I start with echo and gorm."

"There is https://gobuffalo.io/, but be warned: The Go community is not big into large frameworks."

#21

Adonis.js

4.0

(4)

"Adonis"

"If you want to a more Rails/Laravel like experience, then you might like Adonis and Encore."

"Once you go adonis you never go back."

"Adonis.js, Nest.js"

#22

Remix

4.7

(3)

"It's a React meta-framework so it should already be familiar to you."

"Remix for that full SSR that just works."

"Remix is pretty nice (node.js and express under the hood, which serves the server rendered React)."

#23

Appwrite

4.7

(3)

"Appwrite is awesome in my experience. It's a complete backend. Appwrite offers a Dart SDK, so you can use Dart to write cloud functions."

"Appwrite also offers cloud functions in many languages, dart included, which is what i use."

"Either Parse Server or Appwrite"

#24

Spring Framework

3.3

4.0

(3)

"NextJS is a frontend framework but also has backend built in"

"Next.js + WunderGraph"

"You should just go with Nuxt.js or next.js. With these type of frameworks you can use SSR, SPA, or Jamstack."

#31

Feathers

5.0

(2)

"I’m here to upvote Feathers"

"Feathersjs, nestjs."

#32

Phoenix

5.0

(2)

"This is the way. Phoenix is an amazing framework!"

"If you already know Elixir, use Phoenix."

#33

3.0

(1)

"I’m building a Laravel-like framework for JS."

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