Entrepreneurs, CEOs, CTOs, and IT executives are often responsible for selecting the optimal SaaS technology stack. Ultimately, this will be a deciding factor in your application’s success. You may have an incredible concept, marketing strategy, and sales staff. On the other hand, if your SaaS tech stack does not grow, develop, and change constantly, you may find yourself reworking your whole SaaS web application every other year. This method is often inefficient in terms of time, resources, and money.

A simple scan of SaaS forums reveals that issues often arise about the ideal SaaS technology stack. A succinct response to this issue would contain a language and tools that accomplish the task at hand. There are, however, languages and technologies that will simplify the life of your engineers and help you save money on web development.

What is a technology stack?

A technological stack is a programming language library, development tools, libraries, frameworks, and other software components needed to create an online or mobile application. It is a critical component of the development process and one of the first stages in developing your application. The technology stack is split into two distinct components: the front end and the back end.

Components of the technology stack for SaaS development

Determining the technology to employ to create your SaaS solution is critical to its success. The technology stack is the bedrock of your program, defining the whole development process. As a result, it has a direct impact on your development budget and timeline.

If your SaaS company currently employs a tech expert, you are already familiar with the technology stack. However, many SaaS entrepreneurs may have just a cursory knowledge of technology. For them, I’ll briefly describe the SaaS technology stack’s main components.

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• A SaaS application’s frontend

The frontend of a SaaS application is the portion of the program visible to and interacted with by the user. The frontend of most web apps requires three primary components to operate properly:

• HTML
• CSS
• Javascript

• A SaaS application’s backend

In a nutshell, the backend is the component that enables the program to operate. Moreover, it entails developing business logic, establishing databases to store data, and hosting the program on servers.

As such, the backend of a SaaS application consists of the following components:

• Languages and frameworks for programming
• A computer server
• A repository of data

• Software architecture for the creation of SaaS applications

After deciding on the fundamental technology stack for SaaS development, you must design the app’s architecture. The industry is split on whether to adopt a single-tenant or multi-tenant architecture for SaaS applications.

In a single-tenant design, each user has their instance of the program (and associated infrastructure). Moreover, this implies that no client must share their database, and each customer gets their dedicated software instance.

On the other hand, multi-tenancy allows you to utilize a single software instance to service many users in SaaS applications. While users share a database, each user’s data is segregated and accessible to just that user.

• Multi-tenancy is cost-effective in SaaS.

The multi-tenant design saves time and money by eliminating the need for a dedicated set of resources.

• It necessitates the creation of a single codebase.

There are no separate code repositories for each tenant in a multi-tenant architecture. Moreover, it utilizes a single code of trust, which increases agility, simplifies software application maintenance, and lowers complexity.

• It creates an environment conducive to creativity.

Since multi-tenancy is based on a single codebase, it enables developers to innovate more quickly. When it comes to improving your SaaS application over time, faster innovation results in increased productivity.

• It enables the most significant updates.

In this case, the vendor is not obliged to upgrade the whole program in bulk; instead, a single core codebase or application is updated. Additionally, with a multi-tenant architecture, the process of spinning up a new cloud for a new client is straightforward.

• Monolith vs. Microservices

Microservices involves breaking an app into small services that are independent. In this case, the development team can handle the development, testing, and deployment tasks separately.

Monolithic architecture, on the other hand, uses a single codebase, hence no separation of the unit’s components. In this case,the monolithic architecture is viewed as obsolete.

Micronaut, GoMirco, Vert.x, and Spring Boot frameworks help streamline the development process, while Kubernetes, Fargate, and Amazon ECS facilitate scalability.

Good read: Microservices vs. Monolithic Architecture

• Cloud Services

The cloud services you select in SaaS development rely on the technical aspects of the business and the unique business requirements. The cloud services, in this case, include the following:

• GCP (Google Cloud Platform) – best for machine learning and data analytics functionalities, especially for businesses already embracing advanced tech innovations.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)– this platform delivers a reliable and solid basis for hosting pre-configured technologies.
• Azure – this is one popular cloud service provider platform that offers extensive services, including integration with a global network of data centers and Microsoft products.

• Event-Driven Architecture

The apps in event-driven architecture rely on user or system actions or events. In this case, the program performs a specific action in response to a specific event that has been triggered by the system or by the user. This architecture boasts effectiveness and better scalability. The only challenge is that it requires proper coordination and integration with the different functions.

How to choose the finest SaaS technology stack

The selection criteria for the best SaaS technology stack are typically based on:

• The current development language is mostly at your business.
• Software language and platforms community size.
• The lower curve of learning. For example, Python is simpler to learn from simple syntax, flexible and very intuitive reading of python code than other programming languages. SaaS businesses are currently adopting technology. For example, the SaaS sector utilizes AWS extensively.
• Easy recruitment of engineers for your SaaS tech stack (Critical).
• Potential support for the future and long term.

Moreover, your SaaS technology stack strategy must keep you nimble, ease maintenance of the development and optimize expenses.

Factors that influence the selection of Tech stack for SaaS app development

You will realize that different tech stack suits different SaaS app project development. Here’s the following reasons:

• Size of the project

Some projects are small, and some are bigger. Therefore, the magnitude of the project plays a key role in determining the ideal SaaS app development tech stack. Below is a detailed description of the project’s size in relation to the best tech stack for SaaS apps:

Large projects – larger projects mean more features. Such apps are highly interactive, and this means they require a sophisticated tech stack from the tools, coding languages, and SaaS frameworks used. Ideally, such projects will require top talents who understand the advanced technology required to make the SaaS apps successful.

Middle-sized projects – middle-sized projects require several layers of frameworks that interact with different APIs to make the app fully functional. Examples of such projects include banking and online store applications.

Small projects – Even a beginner can work on such projects successfully without experiencing technical mishaps. The developer will only require a single framework to bring the project to life. Examples of such projects are presentations and blogs.

• Scalability

Scalability makes it possible to monitor business growth and work on some areas to enhance improvement. Therefore, application scalability plays a key role in selecting the tech stack for SaaS app development. Depending on the magnitude of the SaaS app development, you should choose a technology stack that will enable you to integrate the project details with other software applications to enhance scalability.

Note: scalability is divided into two: horizontal and vertical scalability, where horizontal scalability helps to determine business growth while vertical scalability enhances the addition of new complex tasks.

• Security

Security is one of the major aspects of a successful SaaS app. In fact, most users want SaaS apps they can feel secure with. That is why it is crucial to select a tech stack that will enhance the security of the app, especially when developing a large and highly interactive app. Some of the security concerns to look into include limited time to access the data, regular backups, using credible servers, and authorization algorithms.

• Maintenance costs

After the deployment of the app is done, there is a need for maintenance to enhance the functionality of the app. Such costs, therefore, influence the tech stack required for developing SaaS apps. In this case, using open-source software will minimize the maintenance costs and enhance the consistency of the app.

• Skills of the development team

Of course, the team working on your SaaS app project development plays a significant role in choosing an appropriate tech stack. Besides, the skill levels or experience of your SaaS app development team will determine the tech stack for your project. Therefore, it is essential to choose the tech stack that works best with your team. A complex or difficult tech stack for your app development team will make the project fail. Besides, selecting an appropriate tech stack will help you minimize the costs of having to rework some parts of the project.

• Cost

Different cloud providers, such as Google Cloud, Azure, or AWS, offer reliable and scalable solutions. However, the costs differ based on resource usage and usage patterns.

For instance, you may incur licensing costs with some technologies while the same costs don’t reflect on the other technologies.

What’s more, some technologies require specific expertise or specialized skillset, thus impacting the costs of SaaS development costs. Therefore, when choosing your ideal SaaS tech stack, the costs

• Time to Market

When your time to market is shorter, it means you have higher chances of penetrating the market smoothly and outperforming other competitors in your niche. So, when selecting the ideal SaaS tech stack, consider the tools and resources that will accelerate your SaaS product delivery. For instance, go for tools that can automate repetitive processes and save the developers much hassle and time, which will definitely speed up time to market.

• Reliability

When developing your SaaS app, you need to ensure the app or system remains fully functional in all circumstances, even when experiencing system failure and related issues. This means having readily available backups and similar plans in case an issue emerges.

In this regard, choose a SaaS tech stack with tools that can monitor and optimize the app’s overall performance and functionality, ensuring the tools can identify issues and activities and take the right action to redeem the issues before they affect user experience.

Best Tech Stack for SaaS app development

This section describes the different SaaS tech stacks that can be applied in frontend development, backend development, databases, and DevOps & Cloud services. Check out below:

• Frontend technologies for SaaS

The right frontend technologies are the basis of building user interfaces and web pages effectively. The best SaaS tech stack for frontend development includes the following:

• Angular – developed by Google, Angular is a TypeScript framework that plays a big role in developing large and complex apps. Angular boasts a reliable toolset and solid structure that best suits frontend development.
• React – Developed by Facebook, React is a JavaScript-based library ideal for creating user interfaces, thanks to its efficient rendering and component-based architecture. Apps built with React boast responsive and dynamic user interfaces.
• js – This is a JavaScript-based framework used to develop well-performing and flexible user interfaces. Its unique feature is the fact that it focuses on the view layer. Xiaomi and Alibaba are top brands using Vue.js for excellence performance and overall flexibility.
• HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language –HTML makes the basis of the web page structures. It guides the browser on images, links, heading, and paragraphs, among other content placements. Choose the latest version for extensive features and better performance.
• CSS – Cascading Style Sheets –CSS plays a big role in styling web pages, including their overall looks in terms of fonts, colors, and spacing. The goal is to ensure consistency across different devices.

With these tools, you can be sure to build an interactive and responsive website for SaaS development. Ideally, keep updated with the emerging technologies and trends in the web development field.

• Backend technologies

Backend development is the basis of the server side of web apps. The tools you choose, in this case, will help you produce reliable, fast, and scalable applications for SaaS development. These technologies include the following:

• js – Developed in Chrome’s V8 engine, Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment for server-side scripting. Netflix and LinkedIn are typical examples of using Node.js, thanks to its non-blocking and event-driven architecture features for instant data processing and handling high traffic.
• Django – This is a Python framework that facilitates rapid development pragmatic, and uncluttered design. It comes with reliable, in-built features for accelerated development. Pinterest and Instagram are examples of apps using Django for better security and scalability.
• Ruby on Rails – Written in Ruby, this is a server-side framework that works with the DTY (don’t repeat yourself) and (convention over configuration) principles. Shopify and GitHub use Ruby on Rails, thanks to its ease of maintenance and rapid development capabilities.
• Java – Java is a high-performing language that is compatible with diverse platforms, ideal for building big enterprise apps. When used with some frameworks like Spring Boot, the development process becomes streamlined and faster.
• Go (Golang) – Created at Google, Go is a compiled and statically typed language known for its efficiency and better performance for tasks running instantaneously.

• Databases

Databases hold the basis of your SaaS tech stack. It is where the app’s data and information are kept, secure, and retrieved when needed in a streamlined manner.

Choosing the right database SaaS tech stack will help manage your SaaS app data in a secure and effective manner. When building the database of your SaaS app, think of the following technologies:

• PostgreSQL – this is an open-source relational (SQL) database known for its support for advanced data types, strength, performance optimization, and ability to grow. TripAdvisor and Skype users PostgreSQL, thanks to its ability to support complex queries and reliability.
• MongoDB – this is a NoSQL database that offers scalability and flexibility when handling huge volumes of unstructured data. eBay and Uber are examples of apps using MongoDB for real-time analytics and managing lager volumes of datasets.
• MySQL – this is a relational database that boasts reliability and speed used in web app development. Facebook and WordPress use MySQL, thanks to its ease of use and better performance.

Note: you can choose any database for your SaaS app development. However, make sure you factor in scalability, complexity in query processing, and data storage requirements. Most importantly, understand the different types of databases, their advantages and disadvantages to make the right choice.

• ‍DevOps and Cloud Services

These are platforms that enhance operation efficiency and facilitate seamless integration processes. They enhance the overall software delivery requirements. They include the following:

• AWS – Amazon Web Services – this is a cloud-based platform offering database, storage facilities, and computing power functionalities for business growth and scalability. Slack and Airbnb use AWS for enhanced functionalities and improved scalability.
• Docker – this platform offers containerization functionalities, where it puts the apps and their components in a container for streamlined operations across diverse environments. As long as the operating system supports Docker, it will support the containerization approach. Spotify and PayPal use Docker for streamed CI/CD pipelines and provide a consistent environment for deployment.
• Kubernetes – this is another open-source cloud platform that automates processes such as deployment, management, and scaling of containerized apps. These help the development teams optimize resource utilization. Shopify and Google, for instance, use Kubernetes to manage their apps for enhanced availability.

With these tools and resources, you can create secure, scalable, and reliable SaaS applications in a streamlined manner.

Conclusion 

This guide explores the ideal SaaS technology stack and helps you grasp the benefits and inconveniences of all associated IT layers. Finally, if you attempted to avoid it, it would help the usual errors made by founders and CTOs

Keeping educated, using ready-made or pre-configured solutions such as Amazon Cognito, and using popular programming languages like Python should ideally assist put you on the correct road.

Back to You!

Building a scalable and successful SaaS product starts with choosing the right tech stack. Unsure about which tech stack is best for your project? Contact Aalpha Information Systems, a top-rated SaaS development company. Our experts will analyze your project requirements and recommend the right tech stack for your needs.