Best technology stack for SaaS applications

What do you need to develop a SaaS product? The answer can depend on the application’s complexity, but generally includes programming languages, technologies, libraries, development tools, and other software components. All of these are the SaaS tech stack. Usually, choosing a technology stack is one of the first things you do before starting the development process.

Why? Because the software development market is one of the most powerful yet competitive ones these days. The market's revenue is forecasted to reach $698.80 billion this year and potentially grow to $858.10 billion by 2028.

For the SaaS market in particular, the predictions are no less impressive, as the market size is projected to reach around $1,016.44 billion by 2032. To keep up with this competition, you need to focus on developing and delivering top-quality SaaS applications — and selecting the proper tech stack can help you with that greatly.

Why? Because the technology stack for SaaS has a massive impact on the app's performance in the future. Its programming languages and frameworks define the responsiveness of an app in general. The front-end code helps make an app user-friendly, while the database management system (DBMS) selection directly affects the efficiency of the app's data storage and retrieval.

To put it simply, the SaaS tech stack can influence the functionality, viability, and scalability of your app. That's why it's important to choose it carefully and thoughtfully.

How tech stack affects SaaS development cost

The performance and technical characteristics of an app aren't always the main factors influencing SaaS development choices. Business owners can focus more on optimizing finances and therefore opt for solutions that can help them save more funds. So, let's discuss how tech stack can potentially affect the cost of software development.

The best technology stack for SaaS should align with the specific goals and requirements of your project. In this case, popular solutions are often a good choice, even if they seem to be more pricey. When you opt for widely adopted and tested programming languages, this can lead to quicker development, fewer bugs, and quite an extensive amount of knowledgeable developers to help you. Basically, paying more for trusted solutions can help you minimize unexpected issues and, therefore, save costs that could be spent on fixing them.

Here's what else can affect the cost of technology stack for your project:

• The costs of technology licensing. In some cases, you need to purchase subscriptions or licenses when you work with certain languages and frameworks. This could affect the final development cost.

• The time spent on development. Some programming languages are easier to use or have certain pre-built components. That's why selecting them for your project can help you speed up the SaaS development process and, therefore, save costs — for instance, when you are paying developers per hour.

• The ease of integration. Certain software development technologies can integrate with existing systems quickly and are compatible with other tools. Opting for them in your projects can help you save costs on integration and generally quicken your SaaS development processes.

• The cost of infrastructure. The chosen SaaS technology stack can also influence the selection of infrastructure and hosting for your project. These solutions, in turn, differ in cost depending on their scalability, reliability, and performance requirements.

SaaS tech stack components

The SaaS tech stack has two main components — front-end and back-end. However, there's more than just that. To ensure the success of your SaaS development, you need to pay attention to other essential components of the stack — tools and technologies used for database management and infrastructure.

Now, let's further explore these components of the SaaS technology stack.

Front-end technologies

The front-end is basically what users see when they interact with your app. Choosing the optimal SaaS tech stack for the front-end ensures that your target audience gets a great first impression. The interface has to work well, be pleasant to the eye, and efficiently convey the key benefits and values of your product or service.

Key components of the front-end SaaS technology stack are:

• React: It's basically a UI library created and supported by developers from many various industries and companies, Meta included. React is a great option for software development that requires utilizing complex front-end logics — for instance, a rich app interface and lots of reusable components.

• Angular: Unlike React, Angular is a framework backed by Google and is another popular front-end option for building Software as a Service app. It requires longer development but is an amazing option for applications that are either large and complex or require lots of scalability.

• Vue.js: This is also a UI library, but the one that's a bit easier to maintain than React and simpler to grasp than both React and Angular. It is known for its performance and efficiency, especially in terms of its size and speed. Due to its benefits, such as fast rendering and low latency that directly impact the user experience, Vue.js is one of the popular choices for SaaS applications.

• JavaScript: It's a programming language. Many SaaS platforms are built as Single Page Applications (SPAs). JavaScript, on the other hand, dynamically updates the current page instead of uploading a new one from the server. That’s why it is a great solution for apps that feature animation, multimedia, or other types of dynamic content.

• TypeScript: This is a more advanced version of JavaScript that helps catch errors in your code before you even run it. Due to this, TypeScript is an amazing solution for complex apps and projects that require lots of code.

Back-end technologies

The back-end might not seem as flashy as the front-end because it's not visible to users' eyes. However, it's the back-end that is responsible for all the important work behind the scenes. It ensures that your app will be functional and will perform well.

As for the back-end SaaS tech stack, the key technologies are:

• Node.js is a great choice for SaaS apps that require real-time interactions — for instance, messaging apps, collaboration tools, or streaming platforms. Due to its event-driven architecture and non-blocking I/O, it can handle multiple simultaneous connections efficiently.

• Nest.js is built on top of Node.js, and allows you to build complex and scalable SaaS applications, especially those who have large codebases. If your project prioritizes modularity, maintainability, and code organization, Nest.js can be a technology of choice for your needs.

• ASP.NET Core helps build SaaS solutions that are quite demanding in terms of performance, security, and interoperability with Microsoft technologies. It is a popular choice for CRM systems or business intelligence tools.

• With the help of PHP, you can create a wide range of SaaS apps, especially those that target small to medium-sized businesses or startups. This technology is often used to create CMS, e-commerce platforms, or customer support portals.

• Laravel is a technology that fits diverse SaaS solutions, from simple web apps to more complex business tools. It is suitable for quick and productive development.

• C# can be your language of choice if you want to create scalable Software as a Service solutions, especially the ones that target  large enterprises or industries with strict regulatory requirements.

Database management

When it comes to SaaS development, people often pay more attention to front-end and back-end technologies. However, let's not forget about the database.

The database is like the quiet hero that does a lot of work behind the curtain. Managing a database requires storing, getting, keeping safe, and organizing data in a SaaS app. This helps ensure that an app performs, scales well, and is reliable overall.

There is no best database management tech stack for SaaS that would fit all companies equally. The final choice often depends on many factors, such as scalability and performance requirements, data complexity, and other specific needs of a certain app. However, the most common options are: PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL), MongoDB, Snowflake, MySQL, Redis, and Elasticsearch.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure of your app is its foundation, which defines how the other aspects will work. It is especially important when you're building an application with multi-tenant architecture and is definitely useful in any other case. That's why there is no complete SaaS tech stack without infrastructure solutions.

These are the key infrastructure technologies of tech stack for SaaS:

• AWS: This infrastructure can offer a variety of services, from storage to advanced analytical tools. Besides that, AWS is known for its robust security and scalability, as well as auto-scaling capabilities. That’s why it’s one of the best options for SaaS businesses with scalability and security requirements.

• GCP: It offers all that AWS can provide, but also has the benefit of seamless integration with Google Suite. Due to that, GCP is a great choice for those SaaS businesses that extensively rely on Google services or need advanced analytics, data processing, and AI-driven features.

• Microsoft Azure: This infrastructure, on the other hand, can be preferred by those who often use Microsoft's software. Microsoft Azure can offer an extensive list of cloud services with a strong focus on enterprises. Because of that, it fits SaaS apps targeting corporate clients or industries that mostly rely on Microsoft technologies, such as finance, healthcare, or manufacturing.

• Heroku: This smart cloud platform can help companies quickly modernize their existing apps and build efficient new ones that immediately start generating value. That’s why it’s a great option for startups and small to medium-sized SaaS businesses that want to save cost and create solutions that are simple to develop and manage.

Learning from the experience of other companies can help you make better, more informed choices. So, let’s explore the tech stack of these two successful SaaS products.

HubSpot's tech stack

HubSpot is a company that helps businesses improve their sales and grow better. They offer different products, like Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub, to help with various aspects of running a business.

HubSpot's tech stack used for the company’s apps and data includes the following technologies: JavaScript, React, Java, My SQL, NGINX, CloudFlare, ES6, Amazon S3, Sass, Kafka, Swift, Apache Spark, Hadoop, Java 8, HBase, and Vitess.

For the utilities, HubSpot's tech stack includes the following technologies: Elasticsearch, Stripe, GitHub Pages, Okta, and FullContact.

The HubSpot's DevOps tech stack is the following: Git, GitHub and GitHub Enterprise, Docker, Kubernetes, IntelliJ IDEA, Sublime Text, Kibana, Atom, Selenium, Sentry, PagerDuty, OpenStack, and Apache Mesos.

The company also uses the following business tools: Slack, Jira, Confluence, and InVision.

Notion’s tech stack

Notion app that helps you stay organized and work with others efficiently. It's flexible, easy to use, and suitable for a variety of things, such as making to-do lists, taking notes, and working on projects together. It has different tools like calendars, lists, and notes, all in one place. It also supports integration with services like Google Drive, GitHub, and Slack.

This was achieved with the help of the following tech stack.

Front-end: React, Redux, TypeScript, and Webpack.

Back-end: Node.js, Express.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, and WebRTC.

Infrastructure and deployment: AWS, Docker, and Kubernetes.

Version control and collaboration: Git and GitLab.

Webflow’s tech stack

Webflow is a responsive tool that allows people to build, design, and launch websites with little or no coding skills. It also allows you to connect domains and use Webflow CMS for an additional fee.

To achieve this, Webflow developers used the following languages and frameworks: Node.js, JavaScript, Python, HTML5, CSS 3, Scala, R Language, ExpressJS, Linux, GraphQL, Flow, and SQL. They also use React and Flux libraries, Apollo, AWS Lambda, and AWS for application hosting, and Snowflake, Stitch, dbt, MongoDB, and Kafka for data storage.

The Brights team has vast experience in software development. When choosing the technology stack, we usually consider the following things:

• the needs of your project

• the project’s size

• the skill set of the team

Let’s check out one of the tech stack examples we used to build a SaaS app.

Signal Intent's tech stack

Signal Intent platform allows users to create online calculators that are easy to customize and configure. The users can change their interface and constants for calculation formulas, create widgets, monitor views and clicks, and many more.

The Brights team has been working on this platform, trying to make it clear and easy to use, integrate, and customize. To achieve this, we used the following tech stack: