Take a look at our annual breakdown of the top web backend frameworks in 2023. Leading the list is the clear leader NodeJS.

Also learn more about Golang, PHP, Python, C#, and more!

Backend Development

“Backend Development is also known as server-side development. It is everything that the users don’t see and contains behind-the-scenes activities that occur when performing any action on a website. It focuses primarily on databases, backend logic, APIs, and Servers.” The top backend development frameworks in 2023 are Node.js, Golang, PHP (Laravel, cakePHP), C# (ASP.NET), Java (Spring), Python (Django/Flask), and Ruby (Ruby on Rails).

Why Use A Backend Framework?

Separating your backend from your frontend is modern best practice when building web applications. 95% of the time the backend serves as a CRUD application with an API that allows you to send data to and from the frontend of your website. This makes your application more scalable as you can make edits to the backend or frontend without risking the functionality of the other. The frameworks that we will go through below are all built with security in mind. By using a modern backend development framework you have the power of the communities working to ensure that your backend is secure and safe from modern threats. Major companies, banks, and institutions rely on these frameworks including Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and most major companies. You can think of frameworks like building blocks that are already put together for you. They allow you to benefit from the knowledge and progress of others without needing to write everything yourself. In frameworks like Laravel things like login and user management are already built into the codebase from the start. This way your development team doesn’t need to waste time reinventing the wheel.

The Top Backend Frameworks in 2023

Node.js Is The Clear Cut #1 Backend

Node.js stands out as the best backend framework. It is used by the most modern and cutting edge companies to develop web applications. The list includes Netflix, NASA, Trello, PayPal, LinkedIn, Uber, Twitter, GoDaddy, and more. You simply can’t argue with a list like that. Node.js also allows web developers to build their entire application in JavaScript, making fullstack engineering teams easier than ever. For many year JavaScript was seen as a web framework that could only run with a JavaScript engine in the browser. Chrome helped change that with the opensource v8 JavaScript engine. This allowed the creator of Node.js, Ryan Dahl, to build the Node.js runtime for server side execution of JavaScript. Essentially making it so the backend of the application also had a JavaScript engine in order to execute JavaScript. Ultimately most technologies come down to their efficiency at a use case and the level of support in the community to innovate and move it forward. Node.js has both of these. Node.js is built to be able to handle a large amount of simultaneous interactions, perfect for the web. In fact PayPal saw a 35% reduction in average response time after switching to Node.js. It also boasts a massive and growing community with the most momentum out of any backend framework. Popular Node.js frameworks include Express.js, Adonis.js and others. These include different pre-built elements depending on the project you are working on.

Golang – The Top Backend Choice For Heavy Computation

Golang is an awesome programming language that was made specifically with performance in mind. Developed by Google in 2007, Go was made similar to C to make it as efficient as possible when dealing with high-performing concurrent services. It is also useful for many different purposes like Python making it a powerful all around language as well as a backend technology. Go also boasts a load of top companies using it including Google, Dropbox, Riot Games, Twitch, and others. Top companies like Netflix and Uber use both Golang and Node.js. This is because with modern web applications you can write different microservices in different languages, allowing you to use the best performing technology for each specific service needed. Maybe streaming video uses one language, while facial recognition uses another technology. Ultimately, if you are building something big that will be data intensive and complex Golang could be the right backend technology for you. Go is a more specialized language and therefore for the average project it can be more complex than other alternatives.

Python – Django & Flask

Python is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. These days it is often one of the first programming languages people learn in computer science. With this community comes the support of two excellent backend frameworks Django and Flask. As always with Python one of the main reasons it is a popular backend framework is due to the simplicity of the code. Python is almost like readying written text compared to other more complex languages. Python also boasts some of the best frameworks for machine learning and data science including Keras, Pandas, Tensorflow, and others. This means that if you want to build a data intensive application then you only need to have Python developers to build the whole backend.

C# – ASP.NET

ASP.NET written in C# is one of the most popular backend frameworks. As with all things Microsoft it comes with excellent support and a strong community moving the technology forward. Companies using ASP.NET include Slack, Alibaba Travels, Grubhub, CNN, and HBO. C# is a programming language that has been perfected and supported over the years, making it one of the most powerful technologies for building large enterprise applications. You will have a world of documentation at your fingertips, great plugins for VSCode, unit testing ready to roll, and every other feature you could ever need laid out for you. You will also benefit from the support of Microsoft if you ever need it. Building a backend in C# with ASP.NET is not the most modern technology, but it is a robust and powerful framework that would make any technology nerd impressed.

PHP – Laravel & CakePHP Come Ready To Deploy

With PHP you have several popular backend frameworks. We will focus on the most popular Laravel and CakePHP. With these frameworks you get you backend API ready to send routes in almost no-time. For beginners and smaller projects these technologies are excellent as they are some of the fastest to build in. The web itself is built on PHP which has been around since 1994. This means that PHP is very well documented and has a massive community of developers. However, with an older language like PHP you miss out on all the innovation that comes with newer technologies. Luckily in frameworks like Laravel you are working mostly with their documentation that keeps you out of the weeds of regular PHP development. This speeds things up and allows keeps it simple. Unless you have an existing skillset in PHP (Laravel or CakePHP) we would recommend you build with a newer technology like Node.js. However depending on your development team’s skillset PHP can make a lot of sense. We use Laravel ourselves for some services at slashdev.io and have loved it.

Java – Spring

Java is the most used programming language in the world followed by Node.js, TypeScript, and C#. It has been around for years and boasts a massive community. It would be considered the oldest and most bulky of the technologies on this list and to be honest we almost never see anything new being built in Java. large companies use Java and have been building with it for years. The support is strong and you can build anything with it. However, for most there are better options (Node.js).

Ruby – Ruby on Rails

Ruby and it’s backend web framework Rails were on top of the world for a few years. Rails was released in 2005 and was a hot new framework for companies building web applications. Ruby was made to be easy to learn and has clear syntax. This makes it similar to Python and easy for developers to pickup. In recent years Ruby on Rails has fallen off with most companies. It has a very small pool of developers making finding talent harder than other languages. It also has been eclipsed by technologies like Node.js and Golang as the most performant new frameworks around. Ruby on Rails is a strong framework and it makes this list for a reason. However if you are looking to build a team around it we have found it to be one the hardest skills on the market to find. Along with this it has lost momentum to other frameworks on the market.

Your Job As CEO/CTO Is To Make The Right Call

Ultimately, only you understand the inputs and needs for your project. It is your job to consider speed vs. support, hiring vs doing yourself etc. We hope that this helps give you an idea of what we are seeing in our development community so that you can use this knowledge in your own pursuits.