NodeJs vs. Golang: Which One is the Best Backend Development?

Many people focus entirely on the front-end User Interface when developing a website or web application. However, the backend is the heart of your website or application; it ensures all your business logic runs smoothly.

This is where the battle between the best backend development starts, i.e., Node.js vs. Golang. These two major programming languages compete for dominance in backend development.

Each is a highly powerful, fast backend development capable of handling complex requests. When you partner with Node.JS Development Company, you can take your application development to the next level.

It is worth noting that both languages were developed around the same time to achieve a divergence from standard server-side languages such as PHP and Java.

Which one should you pick for your next development project?

We have compared Node.js and Golang (GO) in this article across several parameters to help you decide which is best for your business.

What is Node.js?

Known as a Jscript runtime, Node.js has been around since 2009 and is a platform-independent runtime that can run on Mac, Linux, and Windows platforms.

A top-of-the-line Node.js implementation easily stands out because it uses Google Chrome's V8 engine, making it heavy-weight, easy to maintain, and quick to deploy.

Using the event-driven multithreaded I/O architecture of Node.js, developers can create highly scalable apps suitable for real-time applications with high concurrency.

The Statista Reports states that Node.js is the most widely used framework globally.

For these reasons, many big brands use NodeJS Development Services & Solutions, including LinkedIn, PayPal, Uber, eBay, Trello, and more.

Pros

The NodeJS framework is considered one of the best for building scalable applications.

It's easy to add backend functionality and speed up frontend capabilities with NodeJS.

Developers can easily build RESTful APIs for NoSQL databases with NodeJS' JSON support.

Cons

It cannot handle heavy computations.

The API changes it makes recur are backward incompatible, resulting in heavy code changes.

Due to the small standard library in Node JS, developers must rely on various third-party libraries.

What is Golang?

Golang or Go is a relatively new general-purpose programming language created at Google in 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. In addition to its open-source nature, it has some characteristics of other languages, such as its syntax.

An experimental project by Google, Goland development was designed to be a powerful and practical programming language. A couple of years later, the language became open-source. Memory safety, concurrency, and garbage collection make Golang popular among developers.

Pros

Using static typing in Golang, the compiler can detect and fix complete classes of bugs.

There is structural typing in the language (also known as duck typing), which enables any struct to satisfy an interface as long as it supports the necessary methods.

It also provides testing support, so there are no other dependencies.

With garbage collection, Go makes managing memory much easier.

Cons

Generics are not available in the language, causing copy-paste style of coding in certain situations.

There is no tunable GC in Go, as there is in Java.

With Golang being such a relatively new language, the market currently needs an effective way to hire Golang developers.

Golang vs. NodeJS: Which one to choose?

Node.js and Go technologies are both good development technologies. The following is a breakdown of how they do in various areas.

Performance

Although NodeJS and Golang can handle heavy loads without a problem, there are some points you need to pay attention to. In comparison with NodeJS, Golang is better suited to raw computations and performance-oriented tasks. Unlike low-level programming languages, this language has no interpreter or virtual machine requirements because its code can be compiled directly into machine code.

On the other side, NodeJS uses the JavaScript V8 engine, which makes code reuse easy. As such, it's perfect for developing apps based on events. Although NodeJS may appear faster on the surface, it's less effective on memory-based tasks and raw execution speed.

Handling errors

Go Language has a unique approach to error handling compared to other programming languages. While compiling, it checks for errors differently, and Golang requires explicit error checking to be performed along with each line of code. By using it, you will be able to achieve flawless consistency and greater accuracy.

Using Node JS can lead to inconsistent error handling, and Node JS's throw-catch functionality offers clearer error handling than Golang's throw-catch. Most developers are familiar with the way Node JS handles errors, and this technology is well-known among developers.

Concurrency

The Node.js framework enables concurrency with APIs such as clusters, child processes, worker threads, and many more. This API enables you to process incoming requests with utmost reliability and seamlessness without running into choke points.

Meanwhile, Golang has an unparalleled ability to handle simultaneous tasks.

Community

With Node.js Foundation, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM on board, it is one of the most popular programming languages. The number of NodeJS downloads is surpased 1 billion in 2020, demonstrating how dominant Node.js is and how much support it receives from its community.

When it comes to popularity and community support, Golang is aiming to be as strong as Node.js. According to GitHub, Golang has more than 85k stars, while NodeJS has 77.6k stars. It is also evident from the pull requests opened for both projects that they are similar.

While Golang is catching up quickly with Node.js regarding community support, it still needs to catch up regarding adoption.

Scalability

Unlike other programming languages, Golang offers seamless scaling. Using goroutines and other functions within Golang makes it an ideal solution for developing scalable applications.

Unlike Node.js, it is single-threaded and designed to execute instructions sequentially. Despite its continuous scalability and agility, Node.js lacks seamless scalability.

Learning Curve

As a relatively new language, Golang has a lot of advantages. For example, it's very easy to learn. Although developer resources are limited compared to Node.js, it offers fewer tutorials and courses.

On the contrary, JavaScript has become the most widely used programming language worldwide. Hence, NodeJS is easy for developers to learn, compared with Go, which is more complicated.

Conclusion

Choosing between Node.js and Golang takes a lot of work, and these are both good in their own right and useful for backend apps of different types. With Node.js, you can handle multiple requests, while Golang handles the complex coding. On top of that, with a reputable NodeJS development services provider, you can bring your vision to life.