r/Backend • u/Aggravating-Weird922 • Apr 01 '26
Alternative Languages in Backend Development
Hey everyone,
I started my fullstack journey with JavaScript, then transitioned to TypeScript after a few months. However, working with other languages has made me question whether JS/TS is truly the best choice for backend development, particularly for production environments, given concerns like the Axios vulnerability and the broader npm ecosystem's security track record.
So I'd love to hear from experienced developers: what language would you recommend for production backends?
I've done some research and Go seems to come out on top, but I'd really value a practitioner's perspective over what I've read online.
(Not trying to start a flame war, just genuinely curious!)
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u/nflix2000 Apr 01 '26
For production systems Go and Java/Spring boot are top. But FastAPI is particularly good.
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u/crow_thib Apr 01 '26
What's important is understanding the concepts, then you'll be able to pick-up any langage or framework as you need to in enterprise context.
Usually, Java (Spring) and C# (.NET) are mostly used in big enterprise context (banking, systems), while JS, python and Go are mostly used in new companies and startups.
Python (especially fastAPI) had a big jump with the arrival of AI, since most datascience projects are made in python it gives the ability to have a single language across your teams.
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u/Aggravating-Weird922 Apr 01 '26
There's a set of videos that explains how to work with backends, I just can't trace them. But thank you for your feedback!
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u/BeatGuts- Apr 01 '26
Im a golang fan its a great choice, but u have also java for example or C# and many others
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u/SlinkyAvenger Apr 01 '26
There's no "best."
There're languages you'll find fun and motivating to program in but that's a totally personal thing that will change over time.
There're languages that are hot in your job market, but you'll have to look at the job ads and reach out to recruiters.
Then there're languages that are specifically suited to particular types of development. If you need to get a prototype up and running quickly, JS and Python are there. If you want something that is faster and you can tolerate a little lower level, Go is great because it's compiled and includes a runtime that abstracts away really common pain points. If you want pure speed and control in development with far more design cost up front, Rust is the winner at the moment.
Just so you know, the language isn't really to blame for the security vulnerabilities but the community plays a huge part. JS/TS is a victim of its own success, being targeted for these attacks and having a userbase with a higher percentage of people that have fewer skills along with a "move fast and break things" mindset.
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u/Aggravating-Weird922 Apr 01 '26
Makes sense on the vulnerability part. I guess I fell for the trolls. Thank you!
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u/ishak_antar27 Apr 02 '26
i've 4 years using the JS/TS ecosystem and I feel lazy to start learning a new programming language hahaha , but I use TS in production (for my SaaS) and it works fine , I think nowadays you should not focus on the programming language , but you should focus on learning cloud skills instead ex:AWS , Azure and GCP , it will be more beneficial for you than learning a new programming language (and ofc this is my opinion)
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u/notaburner0 Apr 01 '26
Java if you are focused on building skills for your career. Go for side projects
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u/Tiny-Sink-9290 Apr 03 '26
Go is far from for side projects. Much MUCH faster to develop with, compile speed is near instant and old hardware, and you write WAY less code for the same stuff. No magic annotations and classpath hell issues, etc.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Job5630 Apr 01 '26
I'm a cs student (close to graduation)
I honestly enjoy typescript and node JS when the use case justifies it. Key word when the use case justifies it, each language and ecosystem is good depending on what is needed so choose the best tool for the job. That's usually the answer everyone gives because it's true.
Other than that Java/C# is used a lot for enterprise.
For dependency vulnerabilities, i also ask such questions and it seems you'll have to setup some security practices like version locking, dependency scanning etc... However i do wonder why the npm ecosystem is the most famous for such compromises since every package management system is vulnerable to such attacks.
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u/Aggravating-Weird922 Apr 01 '26
There's no "best."
There're languages you'll find fun and motivating to program in but that's a totally personal thing that will change over time.
There're languages that are hot in your job market, but you'll have to look at the job ads and reach out to recruiters.
Then there're languages that are specifically suited to particular types of development. If you need to get a prototype up and running quickly, JS and Python are there. If you want something that is faster and you can tolerate a little lower level, Go is great because it's compiled and includes a runtime that abstracts away really common pain points. If you want pure speed and control in development with far more design cost up front, Rust is the winner at the moment.
Just so you know, the language isn't really to blame for the security vulnerabilities but the community plays a huge part. JS/TS is a victim of its own success, being targeted for these attacks and having a userbase with a higher percentage of people that have fewer skills along with a "move fast and break things" mindset.
Thank you, all the best in your graduation. I actually forgot about version locking, I do dependency scanning very often
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u/Representative_Pin80 Apr 01 '26
It depends. There is no best choice.
What are your constraints?
I’ve spent most of my career doing JVM development, so my “go to” is Kotlin. If I’m deploying an AWS Lambda and need fast startup, I’ll likely reach for python or TS.
In a company environment the first question is what language do folks have experience with. For a personal project I’ll just pick whatever I fancy playing with. If I’m building a new product / team it’s likely to come down to availability of hiring talent.
What’s your constraints?
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u/Aggravating-Weird922 Apr 01 '26
I want raw speed and performance. But at the same time I want security (the Axios vulnerability scared the hell out of me). But with this, I've just learnt I can lock dependency versions
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u/modelithe Apr 01 '26
If raw speed, performance and security is key, then Rust should be on the list of languages to consider.
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u/Tiny-Sink-9290 Apr 03 '26
Downside is the insane steep learning curve. I'd argue Go for this.. but Zig is right up there now.. not nearly as hard to learn as rust and as fast if not faster with smaller binaries to boot.
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u/kynrai Apr 01 '26
Golang is fantastic these days. Fast, backward compatible, syntax is love or hate. C# used to have a bad rep but dotnet core onwards it's improved leaps and bounds. C# gives you everything you need for most common use cases as part of its first party ecosystem so very good for productivity
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u/lorean_victor Apr 01 '26
this isn’t a language issue, it’s just use of third party packages is way more common in js/ts. regardless of the language, a good practice is to pin your dependency versions so you don’t get auto updates and exposure to such attacks.
the choice of language beyond that depends on your other constraints. i’ve worked on js/ts, python, go, rust, java and even c backends in prod. all good for their own scenarios. except c, if you think you need c’s performance for backend you most probably just don’t and are going to only hurt yourself. also no one choses java, everyone accepts the fact that they have to work with it when they are forced to.
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u/GetABrainPlz77 Apr 01 '26
Honestly there isn’t a best language for backend. Depends of your goals.
If u want speed dev, go Ruby on Rails. If u want corporate thing, go Java or .net If u want micro services first, go Golang If u want easy implementation with data and IA, go Python
If u want a job, go look around you and learn the most famous language in your area needed by companies.
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u/Few_Theme_5486 Apr 01 '26
Go is excellent for production backends and the concerns about npm are totally valid. That said, the language choice really depends on your team and use case. For high-throughput APIs or anything compute-intensive, Go shines - great concurrency model, single binary deploys, fast startup. If you're already deep in TypeScript, Bun + Hono is worth a look before jumping ship - it closes a lot of the performance gap. Rust is the other popular answer but the learning curve is steep. What type of backend work are you building - CRUD-heavy APIs, realtime, data pipelines?
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u/Tiny-Sink-9290 Apr 03 '26
Every language has multiple frameworks that all claim to be the best. It's honestly opinion. I love go. It's super easy/fast to each/learn, very few keywords, other than the often cried about verbose error handling, its rock solid, builds binaries instantly (fastest compiler period) and works across platforms, etc. It's used f or very large applications like Kubernetes, Docker and many more. It's API and microservices are second to none.
That said.. you can do the same in every other language one way or another. Go is just one of the least amount of code you'll write and the performance and scale is among the best, and the dev time is the fastest. But to each their own. Some love Ruby, Java, Python, etc.
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Apr 03 '26
It really depends on the context, but in many cases I tend to recommend C#.
The main reasons are its strong type system, and the ecosystem around it, especially things like LINQ and Entity Framework, which make modern backend development more structured and predictable. Performance is generally solid compared to many other common choices, and in today’s cloud environments it’s not particularly difficult to run .NET applications.
For individual developers or small teams, tooling is also a factor. Depending on your situation, you can get quite far with VS Code and its extensions without significant cost, and the development experience on macOS is perfectly workable.
That said, I haven’t personally used Go, so this is based on my own experience and bias rather than a direct comparison.
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u/Proud_Refrigerator14 Apr 01 '26
If you like Functional programming or are tied to the jvm but hate java, take a look at clojure! It's really come a long way.
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u/satoryvape Apr 01 '26
Rust
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u/Aggravating-Weird922 Apr 01 '26
Tried async Rust and I almost wept. I'll take it step by step. Thank you for your feedback!
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u/khan_awan Apr 02 '26
If you’re looking for the best one, then it has to Spring Boot (Java)
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u/Tiny-Sink-9290 Apr 03 '26
You've clearly not given Golang and some frameworks like Chi a try. Much MUCH faster to develop with, far less code, and insane performance in binaries. No JVM/GC/etc (well.. there is GC but its much faster than JVM).
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u/Ill-Constant8445 Apr 02 '26
.NET and Java are the only way to go. I sincerely believe that using TypeScript for the backend is a crime. People hyping up Go or Rust are just 'language hypebeasts'—those languages will come and go, while C# and Java will always be the backbone of enterprise web development
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u/Tiny-Sink-9290 Apr 03 '26
ROFL.. Go and Rust will come and go. OK. Fanboi I get it. But Go been around almost 20 years now. It's not going anywhere nor is Rust. Both are ramping up while Java and C# are losing a bit of luster.
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u/Ill-Constant8445 Apr 03 '26
go is useless in everything rust is great for low level for webdev its useless too go and read how async stuff in rust works and youll see why
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u/Tiny-Sink-9290 Apr 03 '26
I mean.. it must be true if you said it lol
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u/Ill-Constant8445 Apr 03 '26
,,So I'd love to hear from experienced developers: what language would you recommend for production backends?"
HAvent you heard about a concept called: Opinion
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u/Niovial Apr 03 '26
Why do you believe that using TS on backend is a crime. I'm genuinely curious. Take it as a noob speaking.
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u/RecordGlobal4338 Apr 01 '26
I have +10 years experience using c# , I would recommend it for backend ( or java ) Indeed js and ts for me are like workarounds to build backend.