7 Most Popular Backend Frameworks for Web Development (2024)

Rajat Chauhan

8 min readDec 1, 2023

7 Best Backend Frameworks for Web Development in 2024

Django

2. Ruby on Rails

3. Laravel

4. ASP.NET Framework

5. Codeigniter

6. Flask

7. Express.js

1) Django for Python Development

Django was first released in July 2005 and is a Python-based open-source framework that encourages rapid development and clean, paradigm design. Built by experienced developers that handle a lot of the effort associated with web development, allowing you to concentrate on building your app without having to invent the wheel.

The most common language, Python, is all you need to know to create a project in Django. There is no need to learn structured query languages like SQL or NO-SQL as Python will take care of it.

Django enables developers to split projects into numerous applications, making it simpler for them to write code and reuse parts of it in other projects.

Django maintains the security and safety of your web app with its improved performance.

Some of the few famous companies using Django:

Instagram
Spotify
Mozilla
National Geographic
Bitbuket

According to Github, Django has 74.3k stars and companies of all sizes, from small to large, are incorporating it into their stacks due to its growing popularity.

Benefits of Using Django

Secure: In this day and age, tech professionals are very concerned about cybersecurity. Fortunately, Django’s security mechanism can guard against attacks like clickjacking, cross-site scripting, and SQL injection and promptly provides updated security fixes.
Scalable: It is yet another benefit of utilizing Django to create web applications. Development can be scaled up or down, changing the number and complexity of Django components as necessary, depending on your particular product requirements.Django helps to maximize scalability and save web hosting costs by handling traffic and mobile app API usage from over 400 million users.
Good Documentation & Tutorials: Django has good documentation and tutorials available. The quality of the official Django documentation is quite good. The framework has excellent community support, and many developers are available to assist newbies.
Rapid Development: Django allows developers to develop applications as quickly as possible. We can work on many components simultaneously and integrate them much more effectively thanks to Django’s MVT framework. Additionally, Python code is straightforward to write and doesn’t require a lot of rules.
Versatile: Django is capable of handling everything; from controlling scientific computing platforms to managing content management systems. Everything falls under the umbrella of Django.

Features of Django

Object Relational Mapper: Django ORM feature makes the developer’s work easy. As a developer, you only require basic knowledge of SQL. Also, record database management is made simple using ORM.
Fully Loaded: Django offers a wide range of features, including user authentication, sitemaps, content management, RSS feeds, robust design, rapid software development, and many more.
Free Flow Coding: Unlike other frameworks, Django doesn’t import any packages. There are no imports or third-party libraries required because it is a complete package. Therefore, developers avoid application bugs before it goes live in the production environment because it doesn’t allow incorrect code or unwanted functions by default.
Admin Interface: With Django’s admin interface you can regulate access for other users and manage your databases. Without the need for commands, a graphical user interface can carry out the necessary CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations.
Batteries: Django adopts a “batteries included” approach. For daily tasks and requirements like security, database manipulation, session management, HTML templating, URL routing, and more, it offers predefined codes. As a result, the overall amount of time needed for web development is drastically reduced.

2) Ruby on Rails for Ruby Development

Ruby on Rails (or Rails) is a free and open-source web app development framework written in Ruby programming language. It was first released in August 2004.

Technically speaking, it is described as a RubyGem package library that is installed through the operating system’s command line interface. The framework offers developers a quicker way to write code. It is a group of code libraries that provide a ready-made solution for regular chores like creating tables, forms, or menus for the website.

It uses Ruby as well as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to create web applications that run on a web server. Ruby on Rails is a back-end or server-side web application development platform since it operates on a web server.

Ruby on Rails is comparable to Python on Django or PHP on Laravel and Symfony. Underneath the language’s elegance and brevity, developers find that Ruby on Rails has a lot to offer. It is intended to assist agile development and give development teams productivity and flexibility. Additionally, it stands as the most popular backend technology for WEB3 development.

Some of the few famous companies using Laravel:

Bloomberg
Dribble
Fiverr
Couchsurfing

According to Github, Ruby on Rails has 53.9k stars and companies of all sizes, from small to large, are incorporating it into their stacks due to its growing popularity.

Benefits of Using Ruby on Rails

Code Quality: When compared to PHP or NodeJS, Ruby code from third parties is much superior in quality.
Automated Testing: Ruby community is active in testing and test automation. This is incredibly valuable for delivering good quality software and is one of the reasons Ruby libraries are so good.
Performance: High-performance applications can be created with Ruby on Rails software development. Developers can create apps that mimic the common architecture of the best applications in the market by adhering to the convention over configuration and don’t repeat principles.
Large Community: On GitHub, Ruby on Rails programmers have one of the biggest communities and one of the biggest repositories. The Ruby on Rails community provides both theoretical and practical knowledge. There is sufficient documentation available for new developers to comprehend the Ruby on Rails development framework’s overall architecture.
Cost Effective: One of the most commonly faced problems for startups is time and budget. Ruby on Rail is cost-effective as it is completely free and open-source. From the perspective of a developer, it is also simple to use. Since there are so many gems (plugins) available, ruby has the advantage of saving developers a tonne of time and effort.

Features of Ruby on Rails

MVC Architecture: Model, View, and Controller is the widely used web application architecture on which Ruby on Rails is based. Therefore, Ruby on Rails can be used easily by developers who are familiar with working with other frameworks that employ MVC principles. With this architecture, the presentation layer, data layer, and resource layer maintenance codes are separated.
Active Record: Ruby on Rails relies on a powerful library called active record which makes it simple for developers to design the database interaction queries. This is because they create the query in the Ruby programming language, which is then automatically translated into a SQL query that accepts the result and returns an object. It is quite rare to create a SQL query because the active record library can handle the majority of the work.
Simple Testing Tool: Ruby on Rails comes with a unit testing setup called RSpec. You can use it to test the functions used in the application by calling each one separately because it is just ordinary Ruby. You can use it to make sure your application has undergone sufficient testing.
Convention Over Configuration: To keep conventions, reflection, and dynamic runtime extensions, Ruby on Rails does not use configuration files. The “Convention over Configuration” philosophy advocates automatically assigning value without user input. The convention feature boosts productivity because it eliminates the need for a lengthy configuration file setup.

3) Laravel for PHP Development

The public release of Laravel was in the year 2011 and since then it is one of the most popular PHP frameworks. There are around 1,14,640+ active Laravel websites. Laravel is a web development framework that is simple and elegant, because of its clean and comprehensive syntax, which combines Model-view-controller architecture to develop web applications.

Laravel, for example, gives us a syntax that is both expressive and elegant. Laravel turns development into a fun, creative, and enjoyable process. Laravel is a useful framework that makes basic operations like routing, authentication, sessions, and caching much easier. It’s not only accessible, but it also comes with a set of strong tools for building large, stable applications.

A flawless simple syntax that can be used to create high-performing web applications implies that Laravel in 2022 and the coming years is promising.