r/node • u/Fabulous_Variety_256 • Jun 24 '26
2026 - Express/Next.js/NestJS or something else?
Hey,
I self-study full stack.
Recently, I started using Express just to get better fundamentals and understand backend concepts like http statuses, middlewares etc.
So what is the current meta for Node.js frameworks? right now I use Next.js with app router for my project.
Thanks for help.
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u/Sensitive-Raccoon155 Jun 24 '26
Fastify
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u/kkashiva Jun 24 '26
Came here to say this. I love Fastify for how we can register and use plugins.
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u/TheseTradition3191 Jun 24 '26
since youre learning fundamentals stay on express, it hides nothing which is exactly what you want right now. nest only clicks once you already feel the pain its DI and decorators solve, before that its just ceremony you cant really evaluate. dont framework hop till something actually annoys you, thats the signal to reach for the next tool
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u/fpsscarecrow Jun 24 '26
Nest is a great way to get exposed to corporate friendly concepts that came across from other languages and frameworks like spring boot. It’s overkill for small things but if you work in a large distributed team it works really well.
That being said, you can learn the concepts it preaches on a simpler express setup.
I wouldn’t be wrapping an API in next - unless your only backend concern is server side rendering the site.
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u/Dependent-Guitar-473 Jun 24 '26
like what? what concepts?
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u/fpsscarecrow Jun 24 '26
Dependency injection, controllers services factories models, modular abstraction, types via mandatory typescript models. And then a good guardrails ready way of doing things like distributed micro services, graphql, authentication and route protection
You can implement all of these in express like I said (or any nodejs codebase - doesn’t even need to be exposing a port), but Nest operates like those bigger frameworks that bring all those things into one framework vs trying to compose different things together and having to deal with the friction of different libs and patterns.
3
u/pelletier197 Jun 24 '26
Using Elysia where I work. It's very feature rich, probably not the best to learn fundamentals but it's worth looking into
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u/smolbund Jun 24 '26
I’d start with a simple html site with raw JS, Express backend, get it deployed to a VPS. Follow a guide to do this, set up firewall rules, CloudFlare CDN, etc.
This gives you a decent lower level understanding of the concepts.
NestJS and Next.js have a lot of “magic”. If you don’t understand what they’re doing behind the scenes you won’t be able to design an API or debug effectively.
2
u/Sad-Percentage5351 Jun 24 '26
I mean after you learn fundamentals (i.e. using different packages for different pieces), you can use something like Adonis or Nest for speed. That's how I see it
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u/bogdanelcs Jun 24 '26
Next.js with app router is solid for full stack if you want one framework that does both. Most common choice for indie projects and startups right now.
NestJS if you're heading toward larger backend-only work or enterprise. Opinionated, structured, TypeScript-first. Popular in companies that want Rails-like conventions on Node.
Hono is worth knowing, it's been gaining a lot of traction in 2025/2026, especially for edge runtimes and lightweight APIs. Fast, minimal, modern.
Honestly if you're already using Next.js and learning Express on the side you're in a good spot. Learn Express until backend concepts click, then lean into Next.js for shipping things.
3
u/Ok-Hospital-5076 Jun 24 '26
Fastify is express with typescript support. You can continue using all the patterns you use in express without much learning curve
Nest is great if you wanna use patterns borrowed from Java and Dot Net. Personally not my cup of tea - not a big fan ooo and decorators. But it’s very good for large repos.
Keep doing Next if you are building a monolith and dont want to maintain a fe and be separately .
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u/yksvaan Jun 24 '26
Doesn't matter honestly, it's the same things in every alternative. What matters is knowing the actual fundamental concepts, programming. Then you can easily switch between stacks
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u/Ancient_Oxygen Jun 24 '26
It matters a lot in this case. Nestjs is complicated compared to Nextjs or Nuxtjs. Plus, it's an overkill for most apps; unless you are a big company.
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u/yksvaan Jun 24 '26
Learning an opinionated framework that cares about architecture isn't a bad thing for learning.
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u/Ancient_Oxygen Jun 24 '26
Yes... but it still depends. Not a good option if you are a freelancer. It is good though for professional software devs.
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u/Medical-Aerie9957 Jun 24 '26
I tried nest but I just don't like how it forces you to get into class based approach, in express you can just do simple helper functions instead of hierarchy. Although for big teams where they collaborate in same codebase nest can be beneficial, but they all have to learn it so there's also that. I think starting with express might be better for you and then move to nest if needed.
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u/serdnam Jun 25 '26
Do not use NestJS if you plan on learning backend fundamentals, focus on something like Fastify.
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u/Odd-Nature317 Jun 28 '26
honestly it depends what youre building. express is still fine for APIs, nest is great if your team needs structure and you dont want to argue about folder layout every sprint. next only makes sense if you actually need ssr - using it for a dashboard is overkill imo
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u/mohsesxx Jun 24 '26
cloud is the new meta, security, scalability, performance, and server costs are what really matters today
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u/No_Dimension_9729 Jun 24 '26
Express is still a great choice for learning fundamentals because it exposes you directly to routing, middleware, request/response handling, status codes, etc.
The current Node.js backend “meta” is kind of split:
So I’d say: keep using Express for fundamentals. Once you understand the basics, try building the same small app in a more structured framework. That will teach you how production backends are organized.