How to Choose the Right Stack as a Solo Developer

I've shipped 7 products as a solo developer in the past 3 years.

None of them failed because of my tech stack choice.

But I've wasted weeks sometimes months choosing the "perfect" stack when I should've been building. If you're reading this at 11 PM trying to decide between Next.js and Django, or wondering if you really need microservices, this is for you.

Here's what I wish someone told me before I burned 3 weeks learning Kubernetes for a product with zero users.

Why Most Solo Developers Choose the Wrong Stack

The problem isn't that you pick bad tools.

It's that you optimize for the wrong thing.

I used to choose stacks based on what big tech companies use. Facebook runs React at scale, so React must be the answer, right? Amazon uses microservices, so I built my SaaS with 6 different services before writing a single feature.

That product took 4 months to launch. It should've taken 3 weeks.

The real question isn't "What's the best stack?" It's "What gets me to shipped fastest with the least ongoing maintenance?"

When you're a team of one, your time is the constraint. Not your database. Not your framework. You.

My Decision Framework for Choosing Stacks

After building multiple products alone, I've developed a framework that cuts through the noise.

Here's what actually matters..

Speed to first deployment How fast can I go from idea to a working prototype that real users can test? If it takes more than a weekend to get something live, the stack is too complex for solo work.

Maintenance overhead Will I spend Saturdays debugging deployment pipelines or writing features? The best stack is the one that runs itself while I sleep.

Community size When something breaks at 2 AM (and it will), can I Google the error and find 10 Stack Overflow answers? Or will I be reading source code to debug a niche framework?

Cognitive load Can I hold the entire stack in my head? When you're managing frontend, backend, DevOps, and marketing, you can't afford to context-switch between 8 different paradigms.

I use this framework every time I start a new project. It's saved me countless hours of "evaluation paralysis."

What I Actually Use (And Why)

Let me show you what I reach for in 2025 and the specific tradeoffs.

For Web Apps That Need to Ship Fast

Django + HTMX + Tailwind CSS

This is my default stack for 80% of projects.

I can go from django-admin startproject to a live app with authentication, database, and admin panel in under 4 hours. Django gives me batteries-included functionality user management, database ORM, admin interface, security defaults. I don't write boilerplate.

HTMX lets me add interactivity without maintaining a separate React/Vue codebase. One language. One codebase. One deployment.

The result.. I shipped a SaaS product for schedule management in 3 weeks using this exact stack. It handles 2,000+ users on a single $12/month server.

For High-Performance Frontends

Next.js + TypeScript + Vercel

When the project needs serious interactivity or performance (real-time dashboards, complex UI states), I use Next.js.

The framework does the heavy lifting.. server-side rendering, static generation, API routes, and image optimization all configured out of the box. TypeScript catches my mistakes before users do.

Vercel deployment is one command.. vercel deploy. No Docker configs. No CI/CD pipelines. It just works.

I built an analytics dashboard with this stack live data, infinite scroll, complex filters. Deployed to production in 18 days. The Next.js app router saved me weeks of routing logic I would've written manually.

For Quick MVPs and Content Sites

Astro + Markdown + Netlify

When I need a landing page, documentation site, or content-heavy marketing site, Astro is unbeatable.

Zero JavaScript by default. Pages load in under 1 second. Google loves it. Users love it.

I can write content in Markdown, deploy to Netlify, and have a blazing-fast site live in 2 hours. No build complexity. No frontend framework overhead.

This exact blog you're reading? Astro. 10/10 Lighthouse scores across the board.

The Stacks That Sound Great But Burned Me

Let me save you some pain.

Microservices Before 10K Users

I built a project management tool with 4 separate services.. API gateway, auth service, task service, notification service.

Total users.. 23.

The overhead of managing 4 deployments, 4 databases, inter-service communication, and distributed debugging was absurd. I spent more time on DevOps than features.

Lesson learned.. Monoliths scale further than you think. Reddit ran on a Python monolith for years. You can too.

The "Coolest" New Framework

In 2023, I rebuilt a profitable side project in a hot new framework because Hacker News was raving about it.

The rewrite took 6 weeks. The framework had breaking changes every minor version. Documentation was sparse. Community support was nonexistent.

I eventually reverted to the old stack and lost a month and a half.

Lesson learned.. Boring technology wins for solo developers. React has 10 years of Stack Overflow answers. That new framework has a Discord server with 400 people.

Over-Optimization Before Validation

I spent 2 weeks setting up Redis caching, database read replicas, and CDN configurations for a SaaS I hadn't launched yet.

Launch day.. 14 signups.

The product could've handled 10,000 users without any of that infrastructure. I optimized for scale I didn't have.

Lesson learned.. Ship first. Optimize when users complain. They won't complain if the product doesn't exist.

The 2025 Stack Landscape for Solo Developers

Here's what's actually trending based on developer surveys and my network of indie hackers..

Python + FastAPI is having a moment. FastAPI saw +5 percentage points growth in 2025 one of the biggest jumps for any backend framework. It's fast, async by default, and has excellent documentation. If you're comfortable with Python, this is worth exploring.

Ruby on Rails is back. Seriously. DHH and the Rails team have been shipping features specifically for solo developers.. Hotwire for frontend interactivity, built-in async jobs, and one-command deployments. Rails still wins on speed-to-ship.

Tailwind CSS is now the standard. The debate is over. If you're building UIs solo, Tailwind's utility-first approach means you're not juggling separate CSS files. I haven't written a traditional CSS class in 2 years.

Platform-as-a-Service tools like Railway, Render, and Fly.io are replacing AWS for solo devs. I moved all my projects off AWS in 2024 and cut infrastructure management time by 80%. Click deploy. It runs. That's it.

AI-assisted coding with tools like GitHub Copilot is no longer optional. I write boilerplate code 3x faster. Authentication logic, API endpoints, database models Copilot handles the patterns I've written 100 times before.

The common thread.. tools that eliminate decisions and reduce cognitive load.

How to Actually Make the Decision

Stop reading blog posts (after this one).

Here's what to do right now..

Pick the stack you already know best. If you're proficient in JavaScript, use Next.js or Remix. If Python is your strength, use Django or FastAPI. Don't learn a new language and framework while building your first product. That's two hard problems at once.

Choose boring, proven technology. React is boring. Django is boring. Postgres is boring. They're boring because they work, have massive communities, and won't surprise you with breaking changes.

Optimize for your weakest skill. If you hate CSS, use Tailwind and component libraries like shadcn/ui. If DevOps is painful, use Vercel or Railway. If databases stress you out, use Supabase. Pick tools that compensate for your gaps.

Test your decision in one weekend. Build a simple CRUD app with your chosen stack. Deploy it. If you can't get a working product online in 48 hours, the stack is too complex.

The goal isn't to pick the "best" stack. It's to pick the stack that doesn't slow you down.

What You Should Do Next

Here's what actually matters..

• Speed to ship beats technical perfection Users don't care what framework you used. They care if your product solves their problem.
• Maintenance time is invisible until it's not Every extra tool in your stack is cognitive overhead you'll pay back later with compound interest.
• Your time is the bottleneck, not your tech The stack that saves you 5 hours a week is worth more than the stack that handles 1 million requests per second you don't have yet.

Start here..

Pick one stack this week. Build a simple feature. Deploy it. If you shipped something users can touch, you made the right choice.

Everything else is just optimization you can do later.