Software Alternatives & Reviews

Ask HN: What would be your stack if you are building an MVP today?

PocketBase.io Encore.dev Wasp-lang Alpha RedwoodJS Directus Hasura Supabase Vite Avo for Ruby on Rails
  1. Open Source backend with realtime database, authentication, file storage and admin dashboard, all compiled in 1 portable executable.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    • Free
    I'd probably go with NextJS and Pocketbase[0]. I like to start with everything on a single instance/machine, cheaper and less overhead, allows me to focus more on building things rather than ops. [0] https://pocketbase.io/.

    #Realtime Backend / API #Web Frameworks #Open Source 76 social mentions

  2. Encore is the backend development platform built on the belief that escaping complexity unleashes a higher state of creativity.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    • Freemium
    • Free Trial
    • $99.0 / Monthly (Pro, per user)
    This is one of the core use cases where Encore [1] really shines. It helps you get up and running really quickly by natively supporting common cloud infrastructure components (databases, Pub/Sub, caching, cron jobs, secrets management, etc), and a simple low-boilerplate way of defining APIs. It automatically provides API docs, architecture diagrams, and infrastructure provisioning, based on static analysis of your code base. Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders. [1] https://encore.dev.

    #Backend Framework #Go Lang #SaaS 63 social mentions

  3. Develop web apps in React & Node.js with no boilerplate
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    You might also want to check out <a href="https://wasp-lang.dev/">https://wasp-lang.dev/</a> - it lets you use React & Node.js (although it seems you prefer php), but you don't have to write API endpoints + everything works out-of-the-box (disclaimer: I'm one of the main contributors to the project).

    #Web App #Open Source #SaaS 109 social mentions

  4. Redwood is an opinionated, full-stack, JavaScript/TypeScript web app framework designed to keep you moving fast as your app grows from side project to startup.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    I'm surprised nobody has mentioned https://redwoodjs.com Here's why I'd pick it: 1. One language for the whole stack. It's an MVP so the front and back are both changing fast, with changes made by the same person, and you don't want to context switch all the time. 1a. Javascript as that language because it's the most flexible. And with TypeScript you can gradually opt into type constraints where they help you. 2. An opinionated full stack like Ruby on Rails that integrates all the pieces I need to ship. When you assemble yourself, even small version bumps or outdated tutorials can send you down a rabbit hole, stealing time from testing PMF. You want someone to validate a combination in which all the pieces work together smoothly. 2a. Redwood.js closest to be being the Ruby on Rails of JavaScript. I've toyed with it before and got up and running quickly. Its opinions took a lot of unimportant decisions out of my hands and let me focus on what I was trying to produce. I didn't get so far as to confirm this but it also seems to make it easy to gradually drop the scaffolding if the opinions and simplifications ever get in your way.

    #Developer Tools #Web App #Development Tools 40 social mentions

  5. Django Ninja - Django REST framework with high performance, easy to learn, fast to code.
    Nowadays, Django has an <i>amazing</i> library which is a lot like FastAPI but in the Django ecosystem. https://django-ninja.rest-framework.com/ It's absolutely wonderful. I would use that in a MVP, and do the F/E in NextJS + Typescript.

    #Application And Data #Languages & Frameworks #Microframeworks (Backend) 26 social mentions

  6. Free and Open-Source Headless CMS
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    Directus connected to a Postgres database Comes with a built-in low-config UI/API for CRUD on the database, and easily extendable with Vue.js and Express endpoints. Additionally, should the need arise for something more custom later on, all your data is in Postgres rather than a backend as a service https://directus.io/.

    #CMS #Blogging #Blogging Platform 118 social mentions

  7. 7
    Hasura is an open platform to build scalable app backends, offering a built-in database, search, user-management and more.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    I've been pretty deep in backend engineering a while, but despite that I strongly try to use Hasura [0] whenever I can. IME backend engineering isn't a differentiator, and I've written enough REST/GraphQL endpoints/tests/blahblahblah. I think Django and Rails are amazing, but if I ever have to use them again I'll probably sigh deep and resign myself to sadness. On top it's probably Tailwind, and if it's just me I'd use Svelte, but if it's more than just me I'd use React. [0]: https://hasura.io.

    #GraphQL #Realtime Backend / API #API Tools 117 social mentions

  8. An open source Firebase alternative
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    My first choice if the product is a good fit would be old school Django deployed to a single VPS (no docker). I am creating a public starter kit that does exactly that, including the deployment part: https://stribny.github.io/sidewinder/ However, there are lots of use cases that would call for additional SPA (Vue/Nuxt), or other tech. So in that case I'd add it or replace the tech stack entirely. I'd probably avoid specialized cloud services, might consider something like <a href="https://supabase.com">https://supabase.com</a> tho if the app doesn't need a complex backend.

    #Developer Tools #Realtime Backend / API #Backend As A Service 430 social mentions

  9. 9
    Next Generation Frontend Tooling
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    This is the correct answer. It's quite shocking how many Django and Laravel answers there are in this thread. Performance and type safety appear to be completely irrelevant to HN. You should take a look at Vite (https://vitejs.dev/) for a Vue development environment, if you haven't already.

    #Software Development #Web Frameworks #Developer Tools 381 social mentions

  10. Avo abstracts away the common parts of building apps, letting your engineers work on your app's essential components.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    Nothing really beats Rails. Use something like Jumpstart (jumpstartrails.com) and Avo (https://avohq.io) and you scaffold a full consumer-ready app in literally a few hours. The thing that bugs me the most with Next.JS and the whole JAMStack movement is that, yeah, you get from "git clone" to deployed on Vercel in two minutes, but if you need to create real app features like a sturdy admin, accounts, authorization, proper asset management, CI/CD, it takes a whole lotta time. I'm not even touching the most common app features.

    #CRM #Programming Language #Developer Tools 9 social mentions

  11. 11
    Free UI components plugin for Tailwind CSS
    Pricing:
    • Open Source

    #Design Tools #User Experience #Developer Tools 137 social mentions

  12. 12
    A secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript built with V8, Rust, and Tokio.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    I'd run an API using Deno (https://deno.land), and consume that API with an SSR/SSG site built using Astro (https://astro.build). SCSS for styling, and probably just Vanilla JS (written in Typescript and compiled via Deno) — I increasingly find that unless my site is massively interactive, plain old Vanilla JS is totally sufficient.

    #Typescript #JavaScript #Web Development Tools 195 social mentions

  13. Astro is the web framework that you'll love to use.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    I'd run an API using Deno (https://deno.land), and consume that API with an SSR/SSG site built using Astro (https://astro.build). SCSS for styling, and probably just Vanilla JS (written in Typescript and compiled via Deno) — I increasingly find that unless my site is massively interactive, plain old Vanilla JS is totally sufficient.

    #Website Builder #Blogging #Blogging Platform 178 social mentions

  14. 14
    A progressive Node.js framework for building efficient, reliable and scalable server-side applications.
    Pricing:
    • Open Source
    I really like NestJS for backend. It has great tooling and generators. It's super fast to create a REST or GraphQL API. Adding WebSockets is a breeze if you need them. It uses TypeORM which is rock solid. Also, it includes unit and e2e tests and linting out of the box. Also, if you're doing your frontend in TypeScript it's trivial to share interfaces for "type safety" across the wire. https://nestjs.com/.

    #Web Frameworks #Developer Tools #JavaScript Framework 182 social mentions

  15. Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery web service.

    #CDN #Cloud Computing #Content Distribution 67 social mentions

  16. Byet.
    Https://byet.host/ last time I checked, but I haven't actually test it yet.

    #CMS #Blogging #Web Hosting 5 social mentions

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