As backend developers, we fully understand how frameworks are important in our daily software development. That’s why getting the right framework for your projects is also a vital skill as your projects attract more leads and increase demand. While we also understand that we have several backend frameworks used by several developers around the globe. But choosing the best backend framework is not an easy task.
Therefore, to assist you in choosing the best backend framework we have come up with the best backend frameworks that can assist backend developers to create the best software. In this article, we will look at the ten best backend frameworks to give you a comprehensive understanding of the best backend framework.
Best Backend Frameworks
As a developer, your job is to make sure that the websites and applications you create work flawlessly. Also, one more essential thing that you need to take care of is the security of your projects, and thanks to backend frameworks, like Django and Express.js, you can seamlessly integrate security layers into your applications. Through this article, we will provide you in-depth knowledge about the popular backend frameworks along with their pros and cons. So, without further ado, let’s get started!
1. Django
Django is an open-source backend framework based on the Python programming language. It follows the model-template-views (MTV) pattern. Django is utterly suitable for the development of feature-rich and database-driven websites.
Some of the primary features of Django include speed, security, and scalability. Many developers prefer to use this framework because it uses Python programming language and is quite easy to use.
Pros
- It is a powerful backend framework that allows developers to speed up the whole development process.
- Django is feature-rich and comes with all the standard essentials for backend development.
- Django provides various tools to ensure the optimal security of applications.
Cons
- One major drawback of Django is that it has conventions that are new for developers.
- Django web framework is not ideal for small projects.
2. Laravel
Laravel is an open-source PHP-based backend framework for creating web applications. Interestingly, Laravel follows the popular model-view-controller (MVC) architecture. It provides a modular packaging system furnished with a dedicated territory manager.
The backend framework comes with multiple ways of obtaining a relational database with deployment utilities & application maintenance. Most importantly, it has an MIT license and its source code is hosted on GitHub. Some of the main features of the Lavarel include MVC architecture support and Blade templating engine.
Pros
- Programmers find it easy to implement authentication in applications.
- It offers a simple API that operates fluently with the SwiftMailer library.
- Laravel provides a smart chase backend that supports Redis and Memcached.
Cons
- There are some cases where programmers might encounter a lack of inbuilt support.
- Sometimes Laravel can have problems due to specific updates.
3. Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, also known popularly as “Rail” is a Ruby-based server-side web application framework. It has an MIT license and offers many features to develop sophisticated web pages web applications. The framework follows the MVC architecture pattern and offers database default structures and web services. Ruby on Rails supports web models like JSON and XML for data alterations, and CSS, HTML, and JavaScript for creating interfaces.
Ruby on Rails concentrates on using software engineering patterns like the active record pattern, don’t repair yourself (DRY), and convention over configuration (CoC).
Pros
- Ruby on Rails is free to use.
- It comes with ready-made modules and plugins that allow developers to cut down the overall development time.
- Ruby on Rails grants programmers the facility to use standardized file storage arrangements.
Cons
- Lack of flexibility
- Wrong decisions made during the development of projects can become a costly affair for developers.
4. Express.js
Express.js is a fast server-side backend framework developed specifically for Node.js. JavaScript developers prefer this framework for building APIs and handle HTTP requests efficiently.
Express is one of the main components of the MEAN stack. It is the backend component of MEAN and works seamlessly with other components of the stack, i.e. MongoDB, Angular, and Node.js.
Pros
- Developers can learn and use Express for developing the back-end of web apps conveniently.
- Programmers can use JavaScript to write server-side applications.
- Express.js offers high performance with Node.js, which uses Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine.
Cons
- It has a callback hell issue due to its asynchronous nature.
5. CakePHP
CakePHP is one of the most profound open-source web frameworks. The framework is based on the Ruby on Rails concepts and has an MIT license. CakePHP represents rich software designs and smart engineering concepts. It includes active record, model-view-controller, front controller, and convention over configuration and data mapping.
Pros
- It provides ORM (object-relational mapping), which helps to convert data for an incompatible system. Also, the framework is known for making it convenient for users to perform database operations.
- The second main advantage of CakePHP is its extensibility that lets users create reusable code parts.
- It supports CRUD functionality, which enables developers to create, read, update, and delete data in the storage.
Cons
- Developers will have to update the default router for creating fancy URLs.
- CakePHP provides complicated documentation as compared to other platforms.
- CakePHP is considered the most straightforward programming framework to
6. Flask
Flask is a Python-based micro web framework that works without any specific libraries and tools. This backend framework does not have a database abstraction layer and form validation or elements that require functions from outside sources. Flask supports extensions that can add features in a way that seems like they are native to Flask.
Some of the primary features of Flask are Unicode-based, RESTful API creation, and support for unit testing. Besides, the framework allows developers to use the Jinja templating engine.
Pros
- Ideal for developers having a solid grasp of the Python language.
- Flask offers flexible components to make the overall development work easy
Cons
- It has a single source that handles every request one at a time.
7. ASP.NET Core
ASP.NET Core is another open-source and free web framework that is the enhanced version of ASP.NET. It is a widely used backend framework that was created in partnership with the .NET Foundation. Besides, ASP.NET Core is a modular framework that runs around the .NET Framework. Some of the key characteristics of ASP.NET Core that make it a popular choice among developers are high performance, cross-platform, and support for containers.
Pros
- It requires minimal coding, which speeds up the development process.
- Due to having less code, it is easy to maintain the applications
Cons
- ASP.NET Core lacks optimization.
8. Spring Framework
Spring Framework is an open-source application framework designed exclusively for the Java platform. Developers use this framework for developing robust Java applications.
Some of the main features of Spring Framework are banner customization and fluent builder API & Liveness State.
Pros
- It offers a dependency management system that is easier to manage.
- Spring Framework has embedded support for Undertow, Jetty, and Tomcat.
- Comes with profile-specific properties that help to manage data efficiently.
Cons
- Most programmers find it too complex due to a large number of variables and complications.
- It can be confusing because of its parallel mechanisms.
9. Koa
Koa is another web framework for Node.js designed by the same team that developed Express.js. The main reason for the development of Koa was to create a framework that is more expressive, sturdier, and offers a robust foundation for APIs and web applications.
Using async functions enables Koa users to drop callbacks and flatter error-handling. The most important thing about Koa is that it is free from the significant core middleware.
Pros
- One of the primary advantages of using the Koa is its ability to accelerate the application development process.
- It is browser-focused and thus facilitates rendering and templating
- Koa is scalable and flexible.
Cons
- As compared with other well-established frameworks, Koa’s community is relatively small.
- It uses generators that are not compatible with other Node.js frameworks.
10. Phoenix
Phoenix is another web development framework written in the Elixir programming language. Phoenix follows the MVC pattern and is based on the Plug library and the Cowboy Erland framework. The primary objective of this framework is to facilitate the creation of scalable and high-performance applications.
The framework provides the requested functionality from the Cowboy server. It helps to connect in real-time and supports external client collaboration with Websockets and agnostic channels.
Pros
- An utterly reliable framework for developing web applications.
- It has the concurrency feature, which can synchronically run many processes to support the operations independently.
Cons
- Most programmers will find it complicated as the programming language it uses is that popular
- Developers will have to spend enormous time studying how they can implement their project using this framework.
Conclusion
In this article, we have covered the best ten backend frameworks and the different advantages that make them stand out. Choosing a specific framework for your project singularly depends on the type of project you are engaged in and on the programming language you are working upon along with the strength of your team. It is most possible that you will be familiar with JavaScript already as a starter but we urge you to learn Expressjs right away to better backend development of software.
Besides, if you are coming from an OOP or PHP background and you are searching for a learning framework, start with Laravel immediately or Express might be easy to get a job and start earning money while you learn others as required altogether. Meanwhile, you can also decide to choose anyone from the list above post taking pros and cons into consideration.
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