My Tech Stack I've Used To Build 10+ Apps Over 2+ Years
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the app developer shares insights into his tech stack, focusing on Next.js for frontend development, Vercel for hosting, Planetscale for databases, and Clerk for authentication. He also discusses alternatives like Superbase and recommends PostHog for analytics, highlighting the importance of choosing the right tools for app development.
Takeaways
- 😀 The speaker is an app developer with over 2.5 years of experience building web applications, occasionally dabbling in mobile development.
- 🛠️ The speaker primarily uses React for the frontend of their apps and Next.js as the go-to framework, with a preference for the App Router since version 13.
- 🌐 They host their applications on Vercel, a platform created by the creators of Next.js, appreciating its seamless hosting and deployment process.
- 💾 For backend needs, the speaker uses PlanetScale as their SQL database provider, running everything on a serverless architecture to avoid managing servers manually.
- 🚀 They mention Render as an alternative for hosting, which has been recommended by other developers and could be used for non-serverless applications.
- 🙅♂️ The speaker expresses a dislike for dealing with AWS and GCP, preferring services that handle infrastructure and deployment for them.
- 🔒 For authentication, Clerk is the chosen provider, valued for its out-of-the-box functionality and helpful UI components for user authentication flows.
- 📈 Analytics are crucial for understanding user interaction, and the speaker uses PostHog, an open-source product analytics provider, for this purpose.
- 🆓 The speaker acknowledges the importance of a generous free tier for new developers, noting that PlanetScale's recent removal of their free plan makes it less recommendable for new projects.
- 🔄 They suggest Superbase as an alternative for new developers due to its open-source nature, comprehensive features, and continued generous free tier.
- 📱 If starting from scratch or focusing on mobile apps, the speaker would consider React Native with Expo, despite having prior experience with Flutter and Swift.
- 🔄 The preference for React Native is attributed to the speaker's familiarity with React, although they acknowledge that mobile app development is not their primary expertise.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of the video?
-The video focuses on discussing the technology stack and tools used by the speaker to build web and potentially mobile applications.
How long has the speaker been developing apps?
-The speaker has been developing apps for about two and a half to three years.
What front-end framework does the speaker use for web development?
-The speaker uses Next.js as the go-to front-end framework for web development.
Why did the speaker choose Next.js over other frameworks?
-The speaker chose Next.js because of its familiarity with React, ease of picking up Next.js, and having enough knowledge to reuse template code across apps.
What hosting platform does the speaker recommend for applications built with Next.js?
-The speaker recommends Vercel, a hosting platform created by the creators of Next.js, for its seamless hosting and deployment process.
What are the downsides mentioned about hosting applications on Vercel?
-The downside is that Vercel can get expensive once you exceed the free tier, particularly due to high charges for bandwidth.
What is the speaker's choice for an SQL database provider?
-The speaker uses PlanetScale as the SQL database provider of choice.
Why did the speaker initially choose PlanetScale?
-The speaker initially chose PlanetScale due to its incredibly generous free tier that offered a billion row reads for free every month.
What has changed recently with PlanetScale's pricing that might affect new developers?
-PlanetScale has removed their free hobby plan, and the cheapest option now starts at $140 a month, which is quite expensive for new developers.
What alternative does the speaker recommend for new developers looking for a free tier?
-The speaker recommends Superbase, an open-source Firebase alternative, for its generous free tier and comprehensive features.
What is the speaker's preferred tool for user authentication in applications?
-The speaker prefers Clerk as the authentication provider for its out-of-the-box functionality and helpful UI components.
What analytics provider does the speaker use and why is it recommended?
-The speaker uses PostHog, an open-source product analytics provider, for its comprehensive features including surveys, analytics tracking, funnel step-throughs, event tracking, and A/B testing.
What is the speaker's stance on using React Native for mobile app development?
-The speaker would consider using React Native for mobile app development due to their comfort with React code, despite not being an expert in mobile app development.
What are the speaker's thoughts on Flutter compared to React Native?
-The speaker prefers React Native over Flutter because they are more comfortable with React code, but they acknowledge that this preference might not apply to everyone.
Outlines
💻 Web Development Stack and Hosting
The speaker discusses their experience as an app developer, focusing on their choice of technology for building web applications. They primarily use React and Next.js as their frontend framework, noting the ease of transitioning from React to Next.js. The speaker emphasizes their preference for Next.js due to its features like server-side rendering and app router. They also mention hosting their applications on Vercel, highlighting its seamless deployment process and the ability to focus on product development without worrying about infrastructure. However, they caution about the potential high costs of Vercel once the free tier is exceeded. Additionally, they discuss their backend setup, using Planet Scale as their SQL database provider and a serverless architecture, which they find beneficial for avoiding server management.
🔍 Alternatives and Analytics
Continuing the discussion, the speaker addresses the removal of Planet Scale's free tier and suggests Superbase as an alternative for new developers due to its generous free tier and comprehensive features. Superbase is described as an open-source alternative that includes database, authentication, and serverless functions. The speaker then shifts focus to the importance of analytics in app development, recommending PostHog for its open-source nature and extensive features like surveys, event tracking, and A/B testing. They appreciate PostHog's ability to handle multiple aspects of user interaction analysis and its generous free tier. The speaker also briefly touches on their experience with mobile app development, expressing a preference for React Native over Flutter for cross-platform app distribution, despite not being a mobile app expert.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡App Developer
💡React
💡Next.js
💡Vercel
💡PlanetScale
💡Serverless Architecture
💡Clerk
💡Superbase
💡PostHog
💡React Native
💡Expo
Highlights
The app developer has been building apps for 2.5 years and will discuss the tech stack used.
Primarily builds web applications, occasionally mobile apps, focusing on web development stack.
Uses React for front-end development, with a background in React making Next.js an easy choice.
Utilizes Next.js as the go-to frontend framework, starting with version 12 and moving to app router in 13 and 14.
Recommends not jumping straight into Next.js unless deeply invested, suggesting trying other frameworks first.
Hosts applications on Vercel, appreciating its seamless hosting and deployment process.
Vercel can be expensive beyond the free tier due to high bandwidth charges.
Uses PlanetScale as the SQL database provider, favoring its serverless architecture.
Mentions Render as an alternative for non-serverless needs, with positive feedback from peers.
Avoids AWS and GCP due to complexity, preferring services that abstract infrastructure management.
Uses Clerk for authentication, praising its out-of-the-box functionality and UI components.
PlanetScale's free tier is being removed, making it less recommendable for new developers.
Recommends Superbase for new developers due to its generous free tier and comprehensive features.
Superbase is an open-source alternative to Firebase, offering database, authentication, and serverless functions.
Uses PostHog for analytics, appreciating its open-source nature and comprehensive feature set.
PostHog offers surveys, analytics tracking, funnel analysis, event tracking, and A/B testing.
Recommends PostHog for early-stage products or solo developers needing a multifunctional tool.
Considers React Native and Expo for mobile app development, valuing cross-platform distribution.
Prefers React Native over Flutter due to familiarity with React, but acknowledges limited mobile app development experience.
Transcripts
as an app developer that's been building
his own apps for the past two and a half
years one of the most commonly asked
questions I get asked is what textt do
you use to build your apps and I've been
telling people in my comments don't
worry I'll make a video about it and
I've been putting it off for so long but
I'm finally making the video today so
without further Ado let me go into
talking about the exact text that I use
to build my own apps and I will also
talk about some Alternatives that you
can use as well so I've been building my
own apps for probably the past 2 and a
half almost 3 years at this point and
I've gone through a lot of variation as
of right now probably for the past year
or so nothing has changed and everything
is staying completely the same so let's
start off with the front end side of
things so for the front end I build all
of my apps in react so before getting
into this video I just want to say that
I primarily build web applications every
now and then in the past I've done some
mobile development but I'm much more
comfortable much more proficient with
the web development side of things so
I'm going to be talking about my web
development stack to build out my apps
but I'll also give out some
recommendations on what I would do if I
were to build out my own mobile apps in
the future again which I kind of want to
do because I have a couple in the back
of my mind of things that I want to
build so in terms of the frontend code
that I write everything in I use nextjs
as my go-to frontend framework I've been
using it since nextjs 12 with the pages
router and then since nextjs 13 and 14
onwards I've been doing everything with
the app router and overall it's pretty
good I originally had a background as a
react developer so picking up nextjs was
honestly pretty straightforward there's
since it's still very very largely react
Bas besides a couple of other
improvements very specific to nextjs
like service side rendering as well as
app routers server actions all that I'm
sure that I would like those Frameworks
as well really I'm just settling on
nextjs because it gained enough
knowledge about it that like the
opportunity cost to learn a completely
brand new framework is pretty high I
have a lot of template code that I have
for myself that I can just reuse across
every single app that I built so if you
don't really have a front end framework
of choice that you are already like very
deeply invested in don't jump straight
into nextjs just try out anything else
that you want I'm really only sticking
with nextjs because it's good enough for
me to just keep building apps with it
and and I'm also deeply invested enough
all right the cost to get out is pretty
high so I like nextjs but I'm not one of
those people that are like nextjs is the
greatest framework in the world nothing
can beat it no I'm sure there are pros
and cons to every single framework so
just up to you to pick one dive deep
into it and really commit to it and then
I host all of my applications on versel
which is a hosting platform created by
the creators of nextjs I really love
working on versell it is just so
seamless in terms of Hosting my
applications the building and deployment
process is super seamless as well and I
really love that it lets me not think at
all about the infrastructure of my
deployments of my code of my app it lets
me focus on building the product and it
handles all the heavy lifting infra
deployment stuff on its own now I will
say it can get pretty expensive once you
start breaking out of the free tier
because they charge a crazy amount for
the bandwidth but For Better or For
Worse I haven't really built an app big
enough to cross that bandwidth yet and
now moving on to the back inside of
things I use Planet scale as my SQL
database provider of choice and I run
everything on a serverless architecture
which makes versel really great once
again I don't have to worry about
spinning my own servers as of right now
I haven't built anything out really
doing enough heavy lifting to justify
renting out some servers but if I were
to I would probably choose something
like render there's been a lot of great
things about it some of my other
developer friends and colleagues have
used it as well and have great things to
say about it so if I ever had to do
something that isn't supported on server
list I will probably end up
transitioning to hosting it on render
instead I know some of you are going to
be like bro you don't use AWS bro you
don't use gcp uh yeah no I don't I hate
dealing with AWS I hate dealing with gcp
if there is any type of software that I
can use that that lets me avoid using
AWS or gcp I'm probably going to use it
I don't have much of an interest in
learning it and I'd much rather just
focus on building the product letting
the infra and the deployments being
handled by some other service that I'll
just happily pay for instead so now
taking a step back in terms of all of my
authentication I use clerk as my
authentication provider of choice I love
using clerk it just works so nicely out
of the box and they provide really
helpful UI components that help users go
through the authentication flow
themselves highly recommend using clerk
you've been using them for probably the
past year year and a half or so I've
used it across various applications no
regrets no desires to change to anything
else so taking one step back now let's
transition to talking about the database
provider that I use and this is the
platform that I use but I don't know if
it's the best platform that you should
use so for myself personally I use
Planet scale as my SQL database provider
of choice I've been using them for a
long time and I love them originally the
reason why I chose Planet scale over
other database provided is the fact that
they used to have an incredibly generous
free tier that had like a billion row
reads for free every single month which
is so crazy I never even got close to
hitting the free limits at all but just
recently in the past couple of weeks
Planet scale announced that they are
getting rid of their free hobby plan and
now the cheapest option that planet
scale provides is a $140 a month option
which is honestly really really
expensive now for the apps that I'm
currently building right now they make
enough money where I can cover this $40
a month cost and I've already built too
much of the app around Planet scale
where the migration cost is a little bit
too high for me to migrate but because
there's no free tier anymore it's hard
for me to recommend this to any new
developer out there that wants to go out
and build their own apps and honestly if
I were to build an app completely from
scratch right now and I wanted to keep
cost as low as possible I would end up
using super base instead and I actually
used super base in the past and I really
enjoyed it and honestly I don't have a
good reason as to why I ended up
switching away from it but super base if
you haven't heard of it is an open
source fire BAS alternative it's like a
One-Stop shop for everything you need
database authentication serverless
functions everything you need they will
host all of that and what's even better
is the fact that they still have a very
very generous free tier so if I were to
do this completely from scratch where I
had to build an app with no users no
Revenue I probably at this point would
go back to using stupid base just
because so much for you completely for
free and they're super generous about it
so that is my recommendation now you may
think that that is all the technology
required to build an app but wait
there's more hold up one important part
of building out an app is the analytics
that you track on your users how exactly
are your users using your application
where are they dropping up in your
application analytics are so important
for any type of product that you're
building and for me the analytics
provider that I use is post hog I've
talked about post hog in the past I'm a
huge fan of them and I cannot recommend
them enough they are an open-source
product analytics provider and they do
so much for you they have surveys they
have analytics tracking they have like
funnel step throughs they have event
tracking they have AB testing feature
plag they truly do so many things
because they do so many things at once
it often times makes them like a jack of
all trades master of none but let's be
honest if you're watching this video
your product is probably so early or you
haven't even started building your
product yet where you really need the
best-in-class experimentation platform
or best in flat you probably just need
something that's cheap does a job really
well and does a lot of things for you at
once and I think post hog is a great
choice for that I use post hog and all
my applications I use them to see how
many users are visiting my website every
single day how are the users of my
websites interacting with my
applications what buttons are they
pressing what screens are they going to
what screens are they not going to how
can I improve that user experience for
them host hog handles all that for me
and because they're open source you can
self-host it if you want but they also
have an incredibly generous free tier
that you probably will not cross into
their premium tier offering once again
it's a great product for anybody that's
just getting started building out their
own products or for any solo developer
that just needs one tool that will do
everything for you highly highly recm
recommend it honestly if you were to ask
me right now which framework I would
probably use I would probably go through
and just absorb the high learning curve
of learning react native and building
apps with Expo because I've actually
never used that framework before I've
tried it like once or twice but it
wasn't too successful with it but in the
past I have built apps with flutter I
have built apps with swift to build
native iOS applications using Swift and
xcode but right now if I were to build
out an application I think the most
important part for me would just be
distribution across both Android and iOS
and with that in mind I personally
prefer using react native over flutter
just because I'm much more comfortable
with writing react code compared to
flutter code but once again I'm not a
mobile app expert I'm just somebody
that's built like two or three mobile
apps in his lifetime but right now if I
were to choose I would probably choose
react native and the biggest reason for
that is because a lot of sdks and apis
they have they often times have native
support for like native cotlin code to
write Android applications native Swift
code to write iOS applications or react
native support but take my mobile app
recommendations with a grain of salt all
right so that is my tech stack of what I
used currently to build out my
application hope you enjoyed it let me
know if you have any questions in the
comments down below
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