7 Advantages of Node.js That Make It Ideal for Startups

As soon as you have a startup idea formed in your mind, the question arises of how to bring it to life and not screw it up. The right choice of programming platform and tech stack is a crucial aspect of the success of your innovative software solution. It’s no less important than a proper budget, marketing strategy, and growth plan, being the decisive factor sometimes. 

You should ground your decision on multiple aspects, such as learning curve, speed of development, scalability, community, and much more. 

If you are a first-time startupper you may fail to know much about the technology. That’s why we are going to help you a bit and unveil the advantages and disadvantages of Node.js in this post. 

At present, the most popular programming language worldwide is JavaScript and Node.js has gained much popularity in the development circles lately.

What is Node.js?

It is an open-source cross-platform runtime environment based on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. It uses non-blocking, event-driven I/O to remain lightweight, that’s why Node.js is beneficial for real-time data-intensive applications. 

To name some more advantages of using Node.js we’ll mention that the platform is fast, beginner-friendly, and highly adaptable. It allows the developers to build swift, scalable multi-user network apps with high performance and stay ahead of the game.

No wonder, the majority of contemporary startups lean toward it. The benefits of Node.js makes it suitable for: 

• Real-time web solutions,
• Social media apps,
• Messengers,
• Streaming apps,
• Virtual emulators,
• Chat applications,
• Multiplayer games,
• Tools for collaboration,
• API.

According to the survey of Stack Overflow, 50+% of professional developers used Node.js in 2020 already. More than that, well-known giants from various industries also chose it. Netflix, NASA, LinkedIn, Walmart, and PayPal are just some brands to mention. 

So, what are the advantages of Node.js that make it so popular nowadays?

Key Benefits of Node.js for Startups

Easy to Learn and Use

Node.js does not require advanced knowledge of coding. It is relatively easy to learn, especially if you have already mastered some of JavaScript. There is no steep learning curve in it if you know the basics of Object-Oriented Programming. Plenty of online tutorials, interactive courses all over the web, and multiple examples on GitHub are at your disposal and can make your studies really enjoyable. 

The biggest challenge in learning Node.js is mastering the client-server model and asynchronous flow. However, if you manage to cope with these two aspects, it will be easy and exciting to proceed with Node.js coding further on. It makes the technology easily adoptable and thus good for startups.

Low Complexity

Switching between the back- and the front- end is usually tiresome and challenging. It becomes even more complicated when different specialists handle these tasks.

Node.js removes this hassle, introducing one and the same language for both server and client sides. It makes the process much simpler. Having the same framework, a full stack developer does not need to switch between front- and back-end. The software solutions in Node.js have less code and fewer files. More than that, a developer can reuse and share parts of code and design, if there is a need. Without any doubt, it’s one of the major advantages of writing in Node.js.

One language, one code, and one database allow cutting development costs and result in one deployment. In such a way, Node.js also guarantees a better return on investments.

Faster Time-To-Market

The way from ideation to launching a product is often long and drawn-out. However, one of the major benefits of Node.js is that it allows to significantly reduce the time of development and consequently time-to-market. At the same time, it’s possible to run more tests within shorter periods to make sure you launch a really functional solution.

Scalability

Every startup is willing to grow and scale in course of the time. Software solutions development contributes to this process to a great extent at the same time when business grows, the app should also be able to scale and enhance performance. Otherwise, it won’t handle all the users and the huge number of simultaneous concurrent connections. 

Node.js has scalability baked into its core through the load balancing capability. It is well-suited for lightweight solutions with microservices architecture that can be scaled later based on user feedback or business requirements.

What is important, the Node-based solutions support both vertical and horizontal scaling. Consequent modules can be added up to those already existing, as well as certain systems can be scaled separately. 

Tested Tool

At the beginning of this article, we have mentioned the giants from various industries that have joined the hype of Node.js. Being relatively young, this technology is already mature, well-tested, and not going to go away any time soon.

MVP Development

Among the benefits of using Node.js we are discussing, this one is of critical importance. Quick MVP (minimal Viable Product) development is crucial for solution feasibility and marketability validation without much investment. 

Through an MVP, a startup can quickly ensure that the new product is welcome by the users within a tight timeframe and with the least effort and resources. On getting feedback from the first customers, you can go on development a scale your product further on to finally get a full-fledged solution.

Community

We refer to an active development community as one of the advantages of Node.js as well.  Node community is a supportive environment eager to offer proper feedback and advice to a developer facing some issue because somebody has already had a similar problem and knows the solution. 

More than that Node’s package ecosystem, NPM (a node package manager) is acknowledged as the fastest growing software registry worldwide. It comprises multifaceted libraries, modules, and reusable templates that can be incorporated into the code to get value in no time with little effort. 

Thus, all the Node.js developers can network, quickly learn and enhance expertise through their community.

Now, speaking about the pros and cons of Node.js, let’s also mention its drawbacks.

Disadvantages of Node.js

Even though now, as we have answered the question of what are the advantages of using node.js, it seems almost ideal to you, we’ll admit it still has a few downsides. 

It’s difficult to maintain the written code, and the performance of a solution can decrease when heavy computing tasks are carried out or if the API is not stable. 

Still, Node.js provides a serverless framework and good real-time communication support.

Additionally, it allows to combine backend and frontend development in one language of programming, and in such a way avoid hiring and onboarding several specialists for these tasks. Let’s look into this aspect as well.

What Does a Node.js Developer Do?

In fact, Node.js developers have a unique set of responsibilities and skills.  They should know both Node.js and JavaScript,  as well as popular frameworks and extensions. 

Dealing with the backend requires the knowledge of corresponding technologies and databases, yet it allows crafting server-side applications. Front-end development is impossible without skills in HTML and CSS and JavaScript for usage on the client side. 

Node.js developer is very much like full-stack specialists, that’s why the knowledge and implementation of secure programming standards are also essential. 

So, if you are going to hire a Node.js specialist, your ideal developer will be a jack of all trades to some extent. But what it will cost you? 

The average salary of a Node.js developer runs on the higher end, it exceeds the average salary of a JavaScript developer and differs depending on the locale. 

However, the average numbers estimated by ZipRecruiter look like this: a freelance Node.js developer makes $118k a year or $57/hour. CodeMentor gives an even higher median hourly rate – $61–80 with $127k–166k a year.

You should consider these figures, to estimate your startup budget. But do not be afraid of the high rates. Keep it in mind that hiring one developer for back- and front-end will still pay because you get all things done by a single expert. 

Conclusion

At present, Node.js is an obvious winner of the competition among the other platforms. Its prospects are bright and hopeful due to its speed, convenience, and supportive community that is growing and developing as well. Scalability, high performance, and a vast ecosystem of modules add up to its rating and give it an edge over its rivals.

The possibilities of Node.js are wide, you can use it for real-time chats and collaboration tools, applications based on the Internet of Things technology and streaming solutions, social media and real-time web apps, and much more.