From Node.js To Go, Why One Startup Made The Switch – InApps 2025

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Key Summary

Overview: The article, likely published by InApps Technology in 2022, details a startup’s decision to switch from Node.js to Go (Golang) for backend development, highlighting motivations, benefits, and challenges of the transition.
Key Points:
- Node.js Context:
  - JavaScript-based runtime, popular for asynchronous, non-blocking APIs (e.g., Express).
  - Strengths: Large ecosystem (NPM), rapid prototyping, JavaScript familiarity.
  - Weaknesses: Single-threaded, performance issues for CPU-intensive tasks.
- Go Context:
  - Developed by Google, known for simplicity, concurrency (goroutines), and compiled performance.
  - Strengths: Fast execution, minimal memory footprint, built-in concurrency.
  - Weaknesses: Smaller ecosystem, steeper learning curve for dynamic language users.
- Reasons for the Switch (Likely):
  - Performance Needs:
    - Startup required faster response times for high-traffic APIs (e.g., e-commerce, fintech).
    - Go’s compiled nature outperforms Node.js in compute-heavy tasks.
  - Concurrency:
    - Go’s goroutines handle concurrent requests more efficiently than Node.js’s event loop.
    - Ideal for real-time apps (e.g., chat, streaming).
  - Simplicity and Maintainability:
    - Go’s minimal syntax and static typing reduce code complexity vs. Node.js’s dynamic JavaScript.
    - Easier to maintain for growing teams.
  - Scalability:
    - Go’s lightweight binaries and low memory usage suit microservices in Kubernetes.
    - Node.js struggles with resource-intensive scaling.
  - Developer Productivity:
    - Go’s standard library and tools (e.g., go fmt, go test) streamline development.
- Benefits of Switching to Go:
  - Faster API response times, improving user experience.
  - Lower cloud costs (e.g., AWS) due to efficient resource usage.
  - Simplified codebase, reducing technical debt.
  - Robust concurrency for handling peak loads.
- Challenges of the Switch:
  - Learning Curve: Team needed to learn Go’s syntax and concurrency model.
  - Ecosystem Gap: Go’s smaller library ecosystem (vs. NPM) required custom solutions.
  - Migration Effort: Rewriting Node.js APIs in Go was time-intensive.
  - Hiring: Fewer Go developers available compared to JavaScript experts in 2022.
- Development Context:
  - Tech Stack:
    - Node.js: Express, MongoDB, Redis for caching.
    - Go: Gin, Echo for APIs; PostgreSQL for data; gRPC for microservices.
    - Both: Docker, Kubernetes for deployment; Prometheus for monitoring.
  - Migration Strategy: Likely incremental, with new services in Go and legacy Node.js phased out.
  - Tools: Go modules for dependencies, GitHub Actions for CI/CD.
- Startup Use Case (Speculative):
  - Example: A food delivery or fintech startup needing low-latency APIs for order processing.
  - Go enabled faster transaction handling and better scaling for user spikes.
- 2022 Trends:
  - Growing Go adoption for cloud-native apps (e.g., 13% of developers per Stack Overflow Survey).
  - Node.js dominance for rapid prototyping but challenges in high-performance use cases.
  - Rise of microservices and serverless, favoring Go’s efficiency.
  - Increased focus on backend performance amid economic pressures.
Conclusion: In 2022, as likely outlined by InApps Technology, a startup switched from Node.js to Go for superior performance, concurrency, and simplicity, achieving scalability and cost savings, though navigating migration and hiring challenges was critical.

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At Gophercon, the Go conference this past April 24-26 in Denver, Kelsey Falter, CEO and founder of PopTip, made the case for choosing Go over Node.js for her company’s backend servers. Her story is an example of a company choosing Go for its ability to excel at systems level management. As for Node.js, there are numerous examples of how the service is used in the enterprise. We will explore how companies are using Node.js in future posts about the new stacks that organizations are building. This post is simply about one company and how it solved the challenges it encountered with Node.js by turning to Go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBy20FgB68Q

PopTip’s problems with Node started about two years ago. Falter said she knew how to write JavaScript and thought she could use that background to learn Node. The speed of development made it easy for the company to get started with Node. It had modern features such as WebSockets. It was also free and cost little to administer. The Node community had momentum, language homogeneity and a talent pool. At the time, it had that coolness factor, too. Here are her overall grades:

nodegrades

PopTip helps companies provide a statistical breakdown on public consensus. Its clients include CNN, L’Oreal, Spotify and a host of others. The size of these customers required PopTip to scale its code. Its service depends on machine learning and streaming data. As the company scaled, the task of administration became increasingly complex, due to “call-back soup”, a common complaint with Node.js. It was easy to get Node going, but PopTip’s growth created a variety of problems, which Falter described in her presentation:

Multiple application layers could not be brought up in tandem.
The infrastructure had a single point of failure if the instances went down.
All functions of the service ran on a single process.
Latency became an issue due to high CPU and network load during peak usage.
There was an inability to scale horizontally.

But Why Go?

There came a point when the technical debt became too much, due especially to the scaling of the PopTip service. It was also a business decision: the company had received venture financing and there were customers to manage.

The switch came when one of PopTip’s engineers spent a weekend replicating the core processing structure with Go. Text processing increased 64 percent just by moving from Node to Go. PopTip formally evaluated Go,and it passed the scorecard test: it had the runtime speed, the cost to administer was minimal, the talent pool was excellent, and competing frameworks were not vying for the attention of the developers.

gograde

PopTip started using Go with the app server, then ripped out the proxies, Falter said. This past fall, the company did the web front end in Golang, as well.

Since adopting Go, PopTip has been able to scale its infrastructure in a manner not possible with Node. Is this your experience? Did your company make the switch from Node to Go? Why?

Source: InApps.net

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Phu Nguyen

As a Senior Tech Enthusiast, I bring a decade of experience to the realm of tech writing, blending deep industry knowledge with a passion for storytelling. With expertise in software development to emerging tech trends like AI and IoT—my articles not only inform but also inspire. My journey in tech writing has been marked by a commitment to accuracy, clarity, and engaging storytelling, making me a trusted voice in the tech community.