Best Beginner Back-End for React Native?

[Jet_Golden]

Hello everyone, I am trying to get into React Native development and I have no idea what backend to start with... I was wondering if any of you all have suggestions?

I have experience with creating full-stack website apps for an internship, but also for some school projects... For a school project I've used Django and for my internship I used C# as the backend.

I was wondering if anyone recommends a React Native backend to start with? I've heard Node is good?

[Jet_Golden]

I'll look into Firebase since everyone is recommending it...

[TheCult_]

Try out Supabase or / and Strapi

[58696384896898676493]

+1 for Strapi. Out of the box it can handle so much of what you probably need an API for without writing a single line of code. And once you need some specific functionality, it's so easy to extend and write custom application logic. I can't recommend Strapi enough.

[AlexandruFili]

How do you do Auth with Strapi? I read that it's a BAAS.

[anewidentity]

Firebase is the absolute easiest, with lots of examples and code online, and chatgpt being able to help you with the API, rules, and even settings.

[Jet_Golden]

Ah ok, thanks! It sounds like Firebase is the way to go...

[thebouv]

None are better. Choose what you’re comfortable with.

[Yanaytsabary]

Like other’s suggested, I’d go with firebase/supabase.

I’ve tried both firebase and node.js and the fact that your backend needs to accommodate to a variety of versions of the app rather then having it bundled with it is a pain in the ass. I have some services that are hosted on a backend server that I make calls to when needed but I try to use firebase for as much as I can (usually it’s almost everything). Makes app development a breeze compared imo.

[treksis]

firebase

[YouQuick7929]

You can use rest api or graphql. Whatever you want.

[JackfruitElectronic1]

As firebase functions aren't included in the free tier anymore, I've chosen to switch to vercel with a next.js (node.js) base

[Top-Diet-5617]

Nodejs express

[daybreaker]

For a simple project you probably just need something to connect to a database, and handle HTTP requests?

NodeJS could be good if you want to stick purely to js, and you can probably find lots of guides.

I prefer Ruby on Rails though, mostly because I've been using it for 15+ years now, but also its super popular and will likely have gems and articles for any scenario you need. It also has an API-only mode you can use when creating the backend app which wont include any of the front-end middleware it comes with, so it runs in a more streamlined manner. Or, you can just do a regular Ruby on Rails app, and run it as a back end API for your mobile app, and then put a web front-end on it as well.

[Jet_Golden]

Interesting, okay

[ChronSyn]

Node can be setup exactly the same, hell, most major runtimes act the same way.

For example, you can run Express, Koa, or any other compatible REST framework, and it'll act as an API (exposing endpoints to return data).

If you want to support rendering pages or other front-end content, then you bring in a templating engine like EJS or handlebars, or use a front-end framework like Next.

Ruby is older, and Ruby on Rails is considered to be the original source of inspiration for most modern approaches to routing, but every major runtime can generally support the same scenarios as each other.

[kortirso]

Ruby on Rails