The 10 Best Server Backend Languages

As software development is getting complex with every passing day, the backend services and technologies are getting more crucial. It is because they will be determining the features and performance that your project pulls off.

The scope is your project, and its applications in real life do not matter whether it is a startup or a large project. The most important thing is the backend technology.

There are several reasons for this importance, one of them being the better reliability regarding the need for that application. Other than that, a good backend technology can assure you that your software will have the following features.

• Scalability
• Performance
• Responsiveness

The selection of the right backend technology is a vital part when it comes to software development. However, the abundance of backend technologies present in the world makes it very difficult for managers or developers to select the best one.

Another reason for this is that each of them has its different features and benefits that increase the confusion. Believe it or not, but in this case, things get tricky when you are not a developer.

As selecting the right backend technology is very important, here we will discuss the ten best backend technologies. We hope that this detailed discussion about the best backend technologies will help you select the best one for your needs.

What is Backend?

When we talk about the mobile application, computer software, or web applications, they are developed in 2 main parts. One is the front end, while the other is the backend. The backend is used by the programmers or developers who code it to have all the application’s functionalities.

The software’s backend is the part of the software that is responsible for all the features and functionalities like database integration, login and user management, server loci, and server connection. Most of the logic and syntax is present in this part of the software, a specific part of the software.

It is why the users, i.e., the public, cannot interfere with the backend while they can only use the front end or the interface of the application.

The Top 10 Backend Technologies

Computer technology is under constant development, and advancements and newer technologies are coming out every other day. However, not a lot of new technologies are better in many cases. So, here we will discuss the best 10 technologies that you can use right now.

Each of them has its benefits and demerits, and it is essential to study each of them before you make your final section. Here are the ten best backend technologies that you can look for regarding your project’s development requirements.

JavaScript

One of the best backend technologies that are conquering the world of web development, computer software, and even mobile application development is JavaScript. Interestingly this is the backend technology that has won the first position as the most used backend technology every year since the year 2013 in all the Stack Overflow Annual Surveys.

In the last year, when thousands of participants took part in the survey, 69.7% also voted it as the most common backend technology.

The reason for this success is the comfort of development that comes with highly well-performing features. Node.JS can help execute the server-side operations. It is because it provides the platform for Express.JS to execute the server-side framework.

The best thing about JavaScript is that when both are used together as front-end and back-end technologies, JavaScript performs as a complete development technology. Additionally, you can use it to develop APIs or application programming interfaces that will make the development process very easy and quick.

Features of JavaScript

The following are some of the features of JavaScript.

• Rapid development.

When the developers are using JavaScript for the development of many applications, the process is very speedy. It is mainly because you can use JavaScript for both the front end and backend development.

• Less Overhead.

JavaScript comes with a lot of built-in features. These features, like the hoop and DOM access, helps in improving the performance of the software.

• Cheaper

Being the language that you can use to develop both the front end and backed, not a lot of different developers are needed. It is the reason why JavaScript is better and cheaper in terms of time and money.

• Huge Open-source community.

Being an open-source technology, JavaScript has a massive community of developers working on it. It becomes significantly helpful for the new and skilled developers whenever they are stuck at some issue or error. It is because they can take assistance from the vast open-source community of JavaScript.

• Minimalist Backend technology.

Unlike most of the backend technologies, JavaScript is the technology that allows the developers to select the middleware of their own choice. It not only helps in easier development, but effective middleware technology can also be better in terms of error handling, security, and many other features.

• I/O Request handling.

JavaScript is powerful enough to deal with a lot of I/O requests and notifications from the application users.

Limitations of JavaScript

The following are some limitations of JavaScript.

• Not easy to understand.

Although JavaScript is one of the best backend technologies of the current time, it comes with some limitations. One of them is that it is not easy to understand the backend’s event-driven nature made with JavaScript. When the developers have to work with multiple languages, it gets complex and difficult to understand the callbacks’ entire code.

• It is not easy to deal with databases.

When it comes to connecting a MySQL database with a JavaScript application, the process is not easy.

• Freedom is not the best option.

Sometimes the developers complain that this independent design nature is not as good as the standard designing nature. Programmers also misunderstand the concept of middleware when using JavaScript.

Python

Python was developed back in 1991, and it allows the developers to create the backends of their software without a lot of issues or extensive code. It is also the reason why Python is the most wanted to learn backend technology.

According to Stack Overflow, this is the 4th consecutive year where the developers have prioritised learning this back-end technology. Apart from this, this is also the 3rd best and most loved backend technology in the world.

Python Features.

The following are some of the features of Python.

• Easy to understand and use.

One of the best things about using Python as a backed technology is that it is straightforward to learn and use. It is primarily because of the preside scripting done here, and this makes it easy for the new programmers to learn it. The scripting of Python is so good that sometimes it seems like writing the English language.

• Affordability.

Another great thing about Python is that it is free and open-source. It is why many programmers are looking to learn it, and a lot of companies are also using it and its libraries for the development of their projects.

• Extensive libraries.

When you use Python as a backend development technology, you can benefit from many libraries that you can easily download. These libraries are present for:

• Database
• Unit-testing
• Regular expressions
• Email
• Browsing, and the list continues.

With this extensive list of libraries, the developers do not have to manually code features into their backend when they can easily use the library for that feature.

• IoT opportunities.

Python comes with the support to build physical projects on the Raspberry Pi. It makes it amazingly effective for Smart Internet-based physical projects.

• Embeddable.

The WORA (Write Once Run Anywhere) rule allows Python code to be inserted into codes of languages like C++ and many others.

Python limitations

The following are some of the limitations of Python.

• Slow in case of interruptions.

The worst thing about Python is that if any interrupt comes, the whole project’s execution speed will be affected.

• Underdeveloped at some points.

When it comes to features like database integration, the access layers here are not fully developed.

• Dependency

Python is primarily dependent on third-party libraries and frameworks. Not only this, but it also required additional testing for the detection of errors and bugs.

Ruby

Ruby is also an open-source backend technology, and it is similar to Java and Python. Ruby is usually used for web development, and the platforms like Airbnb and Shopify use it as their backend technology. It is because of the fantastic features that come with Ruby.

Features of Ruby

The flowing is some of the core features of Ruby.

• Amazingly productive

When it comes to productivity, Ruby is one of the most productive backend technologies. It is because of the shortcode. It also makes Ruby so easy that the developers never need documentation about anything.

• Libraries

With Ruby, you can find a lot of 3rd party modules and libraries.

• Testing

The testing automation feature of Ruby development is one of the features that bring a lot of worth to this backend technology. It is also handy for developing high-quality projects.

• Metaprogramming

When using Ruby as the backend technology, the developers do not need to write the whole code. The metaprogramming feature helps present the code itself while the developer is writing the code.

• Quick and reliable

If we compare Ruby to some of the other backend technologies, this is about 40% quicker and reliable because of its object-oriented characteristics.

Ruby limitations

There are some limitations to this backend technology as well, and those are mentioned below.

• Slow

Although the development time is rapid compared to other back-end technologies, Ruby’s runtime speed is not that good.

• Lack of libraries

Despite being an open-source backend technology, Ruby lacks a lot of libraries.

• Not easy to learn.

Ruby’s back-end code is not that easy to learn for the programmers who work on other technologies as well. Not only this, but the code written in Ruby is also complicated to debug.

PHP

It is one of the world’s leading server-side technologies as about 79.1% of the websites present today use it as their backend technology. PHP is straightforward to implement, but it also adds value to the applications because of its features.

Features of PHP

The following are some of the features of PHP.

• Open-source technology

As this is an open-source platform, you can easily find many libraries, and these can be used to run your web apps on different operating systems.

• Cheaper

PHP has a substantial open-source community working on it. It makes it a very efficient backend technology because its developers can be hired for cheap rates.

• Easy to learn

PHP is very easy to learn, especially for beginners. It is because of the no learning curve that this technology provides along with the sequence of running.

• Automation

Automation of tasks like session management, mapping, authentication, and many others is straightforward with PHP.

• Simple programming environment

The object-relational mapping programming environment of PHP simplified the code by making it short and easy to understand.

• Secure

PHP is very secure against target attacks because of its built-in security features.

PHP limitations

The following are some of the limitations of PHP.

• Lack of libraries

In a competition, PHP is not matching with any modern-day technologies when it comes to libraries.

• Decreasing community

The popularity of this backend technology is continuously decreasing.

• Prone to being misused.

As it is an open-source technology, it can be misused in different ways.

Java

Java is one of the most powerful backend technologies, and the developers prefer it when it comes to building feature-rich software applications. It is why it is used to develop many different types of software apart from mobile applications and computer software.

Features of Java

The following are some of the features of Java.

• Simple to use.

The availability of three different Java components that can be easily integrated into the code makes it easy and simple to use backend technology.

• Scalability

As numerous instances are permitted to server requests, Java becomes a very scalable backend technology.

• Multi-threading

With the help of a multithreaded web server, you can handle many independent threads and requests simultaneously. It makes Java a great backend technology for using CPU-intensive applications.

• Secure

There has been a lot of work done on security in Java backend technology. This security model of Java helps in avoiding security threats when reusing the code.

• Open-source libraries

One great feature of this bracken technology is that there are many open-source libraries available for programmers for a lot of functions like messaging, JSON Parsing, and many more. It significantly eases the development process and reduces the development time as well.

Java Limitations

The following are some of the limitations of Java backend technology.

• Not optimized for efficient resource utilization.

When the applications are made using this back-end technology, the server-side consumes more time and memory, making it somewhat inefficient.

• No command over garbage data collection

The programmers have no control over the collection of garbage values or data.

• High hardware cost.

As technology is not very well optimized for hardware utilization, making an application that performs well can be costly in hardware. Additionally, development can also be costly for GUI because the toolkit used here is unique, and most developers find it difficult to use.

C# .NET

It is one of the most famous backend technologies used today for the Windows development environment. Commonly known as “C Sharp”, it is one of the oldest backend technologies, and it is also used for web development in the ASP .NET framework. Although it is used here, it is mostly used for making desktop applications.

The main benefit of using it in this era is that it provides very good performance compared to some other technologies. It is also one reason why this is used as the backend technology for the development of many console applications.

C# .NET features

The following are some of the features of C# .NET.

• Object-oriented development

C# .NET is an object-oriented programming language. It means that the code will be very easy to debug and understand because of th4 classes and relationships. It also makes it extremely helpful when it comes to troubleshooting.

• Cross-platform app development

C# .NET is the technology used to develop applications that work on different operating systems.

• Amazingly compatible

It is amazingly optimized for better hardware utilization. This efficient hardware optimization makes it a perfect choice for organizations where the systems are not updated yet.

• Garbage collection feature

One of C# .NET’s best features is that it is very well optimized for garbage data collection. This feature makes it very quickly when it comes to executing programs. It is all because of the automatic garbage data collection.

C# .NET limitations

The following are some of the limitations of C# .NET.

• No interaction with the hardware.

As it is a high-level language, the programmers cannot interact with the hardware through their code.

• Not very amazingly compatible

Although the applications developed here can run different operating systems, the technology can only work in the Windows platform because of the .NET framework.

Perl

It is a general-purpose backend technology that was developed about 32 years ago. However, these days, this is the topmost paying technology globally, according to a 2020 Stack Overflow survey. There is not a huge community of developers working on it, which makes the developers pay a lot for the work.

There are no updates launched recently that make it an old-fashioned technology. However, being old-fashioned, it is still used for better automation and prototyping features.

Perl features

The following are the core features of a backend technology.

• Open-source

For a Better community of developers and providing them with a good development experience, Perl offers open-source technology with many free-to-use libraries. However, some libraries are not free.

• Text processing

The POSIX-compliant systems and price socket calls with some additional advanced features make Perl a perfect scripting language for text processing features.

• Multi-platform

Perl can work on most of the platforms, including Windows, macOS, and most Unix variants.

• Embeddable technology

One of Perl’s best things is that the applications developed in it can be easily embedded in other languages like C++ and vice versa. You can do it with the help of libraries.

Perl Limitations

There are some limitations to Perl. Some of them are discussed below.

• Fixing bugs is not easy.

When you are working with Perl, it is not very easy to deal with fixing bugs.

• The performance here is not great.

If we compare it to other backend technologies, the performance is not good enough.

• The libraries are not great.

The libraries that you get with Perl are not advanced enough.

• Not good for extensive codes

The performance is already not good, and it gets even worse for long codes.

• No scalability.

With Perl, there are no scalability options for your project whatsoever.

• Expensive

Being an outdated technology, there are not a lot of developers. It makes hiring an engineer for Perl development very expensive as compared to other technologies.

C++

It is an extended version of the C language with a lot of additional features.

 This technology supports object-oriented programming with structured codes. It is one of the most used and oldest backend technologies. One of the best things about this technology is that it is a low-level language to help in interaction with hardware.

C++ features

The following are some of the features of C++.

• Hardware management.

Being a low-level language, C++ is great in terms of hardware management. Whether it be the memory management of CPU utilization, it is very efficient in all cases.

• Portability

C++ is a technology that can be executed on most operating systems.

C++ limitations

The following are some limitations to this backend technology.

• Security

As users can directly interact with the hardware, this creates some security issues.

• Garbage data.

There is no support for the collection of garbage data.

Kotlin

This technology is used for the backend development of Android applications. Being a better alternative to Java, its demand is increasing as now it also offers cross-platform development. 

It is also one reason why more than 60% of the android applications developed to use this as their backend technology. It has also made it one of the most famous backend technologies since 2011.

Kotlin features

The following are some of the features of Kotlin.

• Easy to maintain because of concise code.

The need for writing codes is very less as compared to other backend technologies. It makes it very easy to maintain the code.

• Compatibility

If the programmers want to switch their project from Java to Kotlin, there will be no issues. It is because this is completely compatible with Java. You can use this feature to add additional features to your old applications.

Kotlin limitations

The following are some of the limitations of Kotlin.

• Variable management is an issue.

As there are no primitive types for variables, it is difficult for programmers to manage the variables.

• Slower.

The compilation time is slow if we compare the clean build of android applications.

Scala

Scala is a high-level language that makes use of object-oriented programming and functional programming in combination to make things easier for programmers. When using Scala, there is no need to work for data types as everything is managed in static type. It makes it even easier to manage.

Scala features

The following are some of the features of Scala.

• Concise and Easy to maintain code.

The combination of functional and object-oriented development makes the code easy, concise, and easier to maintain. It also helps the developers to understand the code easily.

• Compatible with Java

As Scala runs on JVM, it is fully compatible with Java. It means that code written in one language can run on another one without any problem. It makes it a great option for the Java developer who is looking to use Scala.

Scala limitations

Scala’s only limitation is that it is difficult to learn and understand for the developers because of its unique programming environment.

Final thoughts

If you are looking to select the best back-end technology, then we hope that you will be able to make a better decision by reading this article. Here we considered some data from TIOBE Index, W3Techs, and Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about backend technologies.