Top 10 Development Frameworks for Startups

The number of startups is increasing every year. In the United States, 804,398 new businesses came into existence in last year, according to Statista.

This ratio was only 733,825 in 3 years ago. So, we can say more and more entrepreneurs are testing their business ideas regularly. However, starting a new business with solutions and resources is not enough.

The election of the right app development frameworks and languages is also important, mainly if you are architecting a tech venture.

This article is manifesting one of the best development frameworks with the necessary details to help startups in this decision making.

What is a Startup?

A startup is a newly formed company that is built to fill a market gap with innovative products and services is known as a startup.

Typically, startups are established by 1–3 entrepreneurs, limited funds, employees and further resources. But because of irreplaceable and high demanding properties, the growth rate of startups is always high.

Shopify and Dropbox are known names in this regard that started their journeys as startups and grew big because of their unique services and hard work.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Programming Framework for a Startup

Appointing a programming framework for your startup is not an easy practice. So, you must consider the following factors to elect one of the most delicate programming frameworks for your startup project.

Open Source or Closed Source

The open-source programming frameworks are the ones that anyone could approach. Likewise, you can access their libraries, templates and other resources.

However, to access closed-source programming frameworks, businesses will need specific licensing and permissions. So, as a startup, it could be an intelligent decision to choose open-source frameworks.

The availability of source code can also assist the development teams to work on different projects altogether and with the help of ready to use resources.

Time to Market

Time to market is also a significant aspect that startups must consider before choosing a programming framework. Almost every young business wants to launch its MVPs as soon as possible to attract both customers and investors. Therefore, startup companies should go with the frameworks that help in rapid product development to shorten the time to market.

Popularity

Compared to unpopular frameworks, popular frameworks are the primary choices for both developers and businesses. As a newly founded company, a startup should utilize the services of more popular frameworks.

Indeed, reputed and famous frameworks like NodeJS, Django, Ruby on Rails, and React Native owns significant communities and toolkits to aid coders in development projects.

Developer Availability

The HR teams of startups should also research enough about the availability of development staff before picking a programming framework. Undoubtedly, HR executives’ perspectives also matter in terms of examining available applicants for a specific framework. Withal, it is noticed that it is easy to find a developer for most in-demand programming frameworks and languages.

Scalability

New businesses should also consider evaluating the scalability capacity of a framework before making a final decision. As we know, startups have great scope for exponential growth.

That is why it is crucial to understand how much a programming framework can help your startup venture when your customer database or resources’ demand grows. Startuppers can also conduct scalability testing in this regard.

Top 10 Frameworks for a Startup

The development process using frameworks usually improves code efficient, simplifies the debugging process, and help developers to build apps faster.

So, here are the best frameworks for startups:

1. NodeJS

NodeJS is one of the best programming platforms startups like to use because of its JS compatibility features. This is an open-source server-side runtime environment that is used for JavaScript languages.

Although it was initially released in 2009, but it is considered one of the most used runtime environments with the support of ExpressJS.

The major companies that are benefiting from the unique properties of NodeJS for different ventures are Slack, eBay, Alibaba Travels, and Udemy.

Reasons to Use NodeJS for Startups

• Fast Time to Market

 NodeJS is a trusted development framework when it comes to speeding up the time to market. Yes, it helps in quickly building a minimum viable product (MVP) to satisfy investors and customers.

In simple words, it is super fast to build, deploy and test applications with NodeJS to improve time to market.

• Scalable 

If you are thinking of expanding your venture over the course of time, you must rely on NodeJS. It doesn’t only allow horizontal and vertical scaling but also deals with a considerable number of concurrent commanding leads efficiently.

Its real-time response system, load balancing and lightweight app development characteristics help startups to extend their services when the business grows.

• Community Support

This development framework also has a very supportive and active community. Startuppers can find their solutions quickly with NodeJS. It doesn’t only provide reusable templates and effective libraries, but its package manager, ‘NPM’ is a thriving international registry. This registry owns more than 11 million global coders.

• Simple Solution 

It is suitable for startups to pick simple solutions with full-stack properties, and NodeJS fulfils this requirement. Mainly, if you are using JavaScript as a programming language, then it is easy to utilize the advantages of NodeJS for both server-side and frontend development.

The full-stack characteristics of NodeJS also lower the development cost for young companies. The app creation process is also uncomplicated with this framework because you just need to write the script once and deploy it anywhere.

• Popularity 

As a full-stack framework, NodeJS is very popular among SMEs and large enterprises. It has 102.6k followers on StackShare. Similarly, this startup framework also has 83.1k stars and 21.8k forks on GitHub because of its excellent integration properties.

Therefore, NodeJS is an ideal choice because of its high popularity graph for new businesses that have limited funds in hand.

Please read Javascript Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

2. React Native

React Native is a notable development framework for startups that was made public in 2015.

It is one of the most efficient development frameworks that work for mobile applications (both iOS and Android platforms). Indeed, it works with JavaScript to build Android applications and uses Objective-C or Swift to create iOS applications.

The support of the Facebook community and low-code functionalities also make it an appealing choice for new businesses. Although Facebook has tested it as a cross-platform development framework for ‘Facebook Ads’. But Discovery VR, Wix and Myntra are also some names that have been benefitted from React Native as startups.

Reasons to Use React Native for Startups

• Time & Cost Efficient 

React Native help developers to create mobile apps faster. Young companies usually start their ventures with small budgets because big investors join them after the success of MVP.

That is why startups typically prefer to go with cost and time-efficient development frameworks. In this regard, it is much faster to build a mobile app with React Native and it could be an appropriate choice.

With React Native, developers just need to write the script once, and they can utilize it again and again and for both iOS and Android app building. Its reusable components also aid in quick programming.

• Open-Source Community 

As an open-source development framework, React Native has an energetic community. You can find the flourishing React Native community on GitHub. Yes, it has 99.3k stars and 21.4k forks on GitHub and no doubt, this number will grow. Facebook’s support also strengthens React Native’s position among competitors.

• Secure 

Though React Native is vulnerable like any other development framework but different features like Android Keystore, iOS keychain services, authentication and deep linking help to make it more secure.

Likewise, iOS keychain services backing in securely gathering the small data pieces and deep linking helps in safely transporting data. By the same token, Keystore facilities to collect cryptographic keys to avoid extraction.

• Developer Availability 

React Native is constructed on JS, so it is convenient to find JavaScript developers for startuppers. Even the recent Stack Overflow survey shares that JavaScript is the most popular technology of 2021, with 64.96% votes.

Please read Javascript Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

3. Django

Django is a perfect framework for a startup company if they have been initiated to proceed with a rapidly growing language, Python.

Django is known because of its perfection. It is also listed among the most used web frameworks because of its integration support. According to Statista’s Survey, with 14.99% votes Django also secured its position in top globally utilized web frameworks.

This high-level and open-source framework is considered compatible for both server-side and frontend development of Python and HTML applications. Also, there even some articles explaining how to create a machine learning model using Django.

The major giants that are practicing this framework are Pinterest, Delivery Hero and Instagram.

Reasons to Use Django for Startups

• Easy Interface 

 Easy interface is one of the best things that the Django framework offers. Fortunately, both coders and entrepreneurs can deal with this framework collaboratively because its web interface doesn’t need much technical skills to operate. Also, it is quick to read, edit, update and delete the content directly by using the admin panel.

• Scalability 

 Django is not only good for new companies, but it can also be a great solution when your business grows. Elements are decoupled in this framework so young companies can easily extend their resources.

• Availability of Coders 

Django belongs to the most popular programming language, according to TIOBE Index. Thus, you will find seasoned and talented candidates if you pick the Django framework for your Python-based startup.

• Well-Documented

If you are not satisfied with poor documentation of different frameworks, then you should try Django. It arranges all example scripts and documents in a very systemized manner. You can also easily access its well-documented codes on GitHub.

• Community Support 

Like other popular development frameworks, Django also has an active community. You will easily find the forums that talk about Django and confer solutions.

Moreover, this framework is also loaded with 3787 packages that are available on the official site of Django Packages.

Please read Python Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

4. Ruby on Rails

With model-view-controller (MVC) architecture, Rails is generally considered a good development framework for startups.

This backend framework is typically known as Ruby on Rails (RoR). It is a popular choice of Ruby developers because of its don’t repeat yourself (DRY) and active record pattern functionalities.

As a startup-friendly framework, it offers a variety of ‘Gems’ to coders. Gems are basically the packages that RoR confers to assist developers. GitHub, Twitter, Netflix and Dribble are big names that have dependencies on Ruby on Rails.

Reasons to Use Ruby on Rails for Startups

• Less Time to Market 

RoR is a reliable framework to decrease your time to market. You can seamlessly develop a minimum viable product with RoR and launch it to get customers’ reviews, even as a startup. New businesses can also try this framework to launch their MVP without any significant resources. Airbnb has already thrivingly tested it as a startup.

• Scalability 

This framework follows a vertical scaling approach that allows the server to manage increments in RPMs. This strategy has some cons when it comes to upgrading the RAM, but it is definitely a good choice for companies that are in their early stages.

• Support & Maintenance 

Ruby on Rails provides great support to coders. It has around 10.5k followers on StackShare, 49.4k stars and 19.9k forks on GitHub. Correspondingly, RoR also provides plentiful testing tools, gems, debug kits, and much more to grant appropriate maintenance.

• Quality Code 

The quality code of Ruby on Rails also ensures stability. Because of this stable nature of RoR code, developers like to use it for their forthcoming projects.

It is also not only convenient to read its code, but programmers also don’t need any additional comments or documentation with Ruby on Rails. Indeed, it permits self-documentation.

Please read Ruby Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

5. Flutter

Flutter is another popular open-source development framework that startups can consider using.

It is basically a user interface toolkit that Google released in 2017. It uses a single codebase to build a variety of applications, including iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, Google Fuchsia etc.

This software development kit (SDK) is usually used to design the client-side of applications beautifully. However, this toolkit could be operated with existing scripts.

The notable businesses that are utilizing amazing features of Flutter are Alibaba, Hookle and Google Ads.

Reasons to Use Flutter for Startups

• Cost & Time Efficient 

It takes time and money to write different codes for different platforms. But the cross-platform property of Flutter enables the developers to use the same code everywhere. In this way, startups can save their coding time. They also don’t need to hire developers to deal with distinct platforms.

• Fast Development 

Flutter uses Dark language that provides attractive designs for applications and improves the development duration. With the use of built-in widgets, feature-rich UI and low-code functionalities, it is also convenient to build apps quickly with Flutter.

• Hot Reloading 

Hot reloading has great significance in the development world. To audit different changes in the codebase, Flutter allows the developers to check changes and edits with the help of Hot Reloading. It improves productivity, user experience and interface.

• Community Support 

Flutter has a fast-growing community. According to GitHub, Flutter has 132k stars and 19.5 forks. It is also listed among the most used frameworks and libraries, as per Statista. Yes, 13.55% of worldwide developers shared that they use Flutter.

6. AngularJS

AngularJS is an exemplary web framework of JavaScript. This open-source framework was released in 2010 by Google and could be an excellent way to build client-side single-page applications.

Ergo, if your startup doesn’t need big applications and you only want to create a single page web application to launch MVP, then the use of AngularJS is an ideal choice.

The major companies that are benefitting from AngularJS to deal with their client-side MEAN stack are PayPal, Mixer, UpWork and Forbes.

Reasons to Use AngularJS for Startups

• Budget-Friendly 

AngularJS is a budget-friendly development framework for startups because its advanced toolkits allow businesses to build applications within their budget limits.

• Two-Way Data Binding 

It is definitely a big benefit of using AngularJS for startups because the user interface is also upgraded with each data update. It means you just modify the data once, and it reflects the further changes automatically.

• Community Support 

AngularJS has strong community support from Google. Startuppers can find numerous resources on the Google Developers Platform. Similarly, with 59.6k stars and 28.4k forks, this frontend framework is also prevalent on GitHub.

• Secure 

This development framework provides enough support to avert vulnerabilities like cross-site script inclusion (XSSI) and cross-site request forgery (CSRF).

Please read Javascript Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

7. Flask

If you are looking for an alternative to the Django framework for your Python project, then you can consider Flask.

It is a micro web Python-based framework that came into existence in 2010. The renowned web applications that are using Flask for their operations are Red Hat, Airflow, PythonAnywhere and Pinterest.

Reasons to Use Flask for Startups

• Flexible 

 Compared to Django, it is very comfortable to use third-party tools and open-source libraries with Flask. Especially, Flask is an easy-to-use framework for small startups that need flexible operations. Indeed, it is also convenient to extend and customize resources by using Flask.

• Visual Debug & Multiple Database Support 

With Flask, companies can debug their projects with visual support that is not available when they work with Django. In the same token, Flask doesn’t provide a database layer, so coders can utilize third-party multiple database support.

• Popularity 

It has a fast-growing community. Only at GitHub, Flask has 57.2k stars and 14.7k forks. New businesses can also ask their Flask related questions on communities like Stack Overflow, Codementor and Spectrum Chat.

Please read Python Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

8. ExpressJS

ExpressJS is one of the in-demand JavaScript frameworks that startups must consider.

With 23.82% votes, Statista also listed ExpressJS at the third position among the most globally used web frameworks. This open-source server-side development framework is typically used with the support of NodeJS.

The enterprises that are using ExpressJS for different framework operations are IBM, Uber and Fox Sports.

Reasons to Use ExpressJS for Startups

• Easy to Use 

It is seamless to customize startup projects by using this framework. Startup companies can conveniently use different templates and databases to support their ExpressJS projects.

• Community Support 

Young businesses can also smoothly find a variety of resources, libraries, templates and databases for their ExpressJS project because it is trendy and grants easy integration. It also has 55k stars and 9.3k forks on GitHub.

• Developer Availability 

It belongs to JavaScript, which is one of the most used and old programming languages. So, startups can also easily find and hire good candidates for their ExpressJS ventures.

Please read Javascript Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

9. Laravel

Laravel is a reliable PHP-based framework that was launched in 2011. This open-source framework follows the model-view-controller (MVC) approach to conduct its web development activities. Its traffic handling, security and advanced integration properties differentiate it from other frameworks.

With a score of 64186, Statistics and Data also ranked it on the top among the most popular backend frameworks. It also has 67.4k stars and 21.8k forks on GitHub.

Reasons to Use Laravel for Startups

• Highly Secure 

 Laravel is known because of its splendid security features. It prevents data vulnerabilities, including CSRF and SQL injection. Startups can trust the overall safety of Laravel for their web application.

• Good Adoption Rate

The high adoption rate of Laravel also shows its popularity growth among users. Thence, it would be good for startups to go with a development framework that has more resources, community support and availability of candidates.

• Time Efficient 

Although PHP development is already swift but with Laravel’s framework, you can quickly develop, update and maintain your startup projects.

Please read PHP Frameworks for a complete list of frameworks for this programming language.

10. ASP.NET

ASP.NET is another trusted open-source development framework for a startup. Microsoft released this framework in 2002 to support JavaScript, HTML and CSS web applications. It is considered one of the best frameworks to create APIs, dynamic web applications and services.

MasterCard, SpaceX and Alibaba Travels are well-established companies that use this framework.

Reasons to Use ASP.NET for Startups

• Secure & Scalable 

The safety functionalities of ASP.NET protect the data from all threats. Similarly, ASP.NET Core permits the APIs, compiler and runtime elements to perform their tasks rapidly. Such features also make it more scalable.

• Interoperability 

This framework also offers great interoperability features after the release of Windows 10 Internet of Things (IoT).

• Community Support

 It comes with the support of the Microsoft community. Microsoft also grants a .Net community to back such ventures.

Conclusion

This article presents the top development frameworks for startups.

However, the criteria to select a framework for startups should depend on factors including scalability, time to market, community support, MVP development speed and popularity.

Did you like this article? Please read also Top 10 Programming Languages for Startups or Great Tools for Startups.

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