How to Choose the Best Framework for SaaS Applications

Are you searching for the best framework for saas applications? This article is all about the best framework for saas applications and guidelines.

SaaS business strategy is key to success. This is a topic plenty of businesses worldwide are interested in. Entrepreneurs dedicate their attention, time and skills to SaaS strategy implementation. Although the industry looks quite profitable, and real use cases amaze with proven success, launching a SaaS solution is not a piece of cake.

 

 

Braking into the industry, you must be aware of market demands and pitfalls. Along with that, you should have a concept of an excellent solution and a detailed vision of the architecture. A to-do list continues with a clear understanding of what tools to use to turn an idea into reality.

Our team has analyzed the challenges our partners come with, and prepared the report on how to choose the right technologies and create SaaS application. Let’s find out which frameworks will come in handy!

3 questions to answer before the start

But wait, can we start with technical definitions just like that? No, we don’t. Proper planning is the cornerstone of your business success, so let’s begin with essentials:

Have you defined technical requirements?

There are several fundamental programming languages, and many other ones are just based upon them. However, each of the existing tools is built to fulfil a specific mission, to cater to particular needs.

First and foremost, define your needs. Clarify your own vision of the project, build a prototype and make sure you have someone who can give you a hand with technical details.

How do you see its future?

You probably plan to start with an MVP and then upgrade it to the advanced solution. Or don’t you? You can also take the first step with a “proof of concept” and then ask your development team to reconstruct it completely.

Make sure you see your SaaS product’s future clearly. Here, we mean not only short-term but also long-term goals: project upgrade, customization and maintenance.

What tech stack does your development team use currently?

JavaScript is the most popular language nowadays. However, it doesn’t mean you should support JS hype and make your team of, for instance, PHP programmers improve their proficiency in JS. On the contrary, you should listen to their opinions, measure their best expertise and compare it to your requirements. It is very likely there is no need to look for a perfect framework for SaaS; your team may already have a splendid idea.

Tips for the right decision

Now when the first steps are taken, have a glance at significant framework’s features. Pay attention to:

Scalability

It is very likely that in future, the need will appear to extend an app or your entire team. Thus, you need to focus on frameworks that demonstrate high scalability in order to simplify possible efforts.

Community

This is not just about a tool; this is also about engineers that contribute to its development. Get acquainted with GitHub and find out what engineers think about the tool you’d like to use.

Integration capabilities

The framework is not the one and only thing you need to employ to bring your idea to reality. Thus, analyze the framework’s integration capabilities and make sure they can deal with your needs.

Security

SaaS business is about handling huge amount of data, both sensitive and non-sensitive. Don’t overlook information security features and increase your overall awareness in SaaS security.

Licensing and prices

Most of the powerful solutions are open-source but you may also need to employ third-party extensions to strengthen a framework you have picked. Calculate your expenses and make sure it is not out of your estimated budget.

5 best frameworks for SaaS product development

Now, take a look at the list of top powerful programming tools for viable SaaS application according to Clockwise Software team:

Ruby on Rails

• Language: Ruby
• Stars: 43,500

This tool is a great servant for back-end development. With RoR, a software engineer gets an opportunity to create reusable pieces of code as well as use the tried and tested existing development approaches. Thus, there is no need to re-invent a wheel: all you need was once developed by someone else, and you just need to look for it, understand its specifics and implement in your own solution.

With Ruby on Rails, the development process may get faster and simpler so your development team saves time and efforts for more significant project’s parts.

Express.js

• Language: JavaScript
• Stars: 44,400

As one of the frameworks built on Node.js, Express implements similar principles and provides great functionality for high-quality web development. The framework is powered by numerous plugins with different useful features.

Besides, software engineers familiar with markup languages and JS can build a mobile app on Express.js. Why not give a try?

Django

• Language: Python
• Stars: 42,400

Django is a brilliant example of MVC architecture. Python/ Django development is a challenge for a junior specialist; however, it opens wide horizons for great products development and professional improvement. The framework demonstrates impressive security features. With common practices of SQL injection, click-jacking and request forgery, Django website gets almost unbreakable.

This framework may become the best choice for high-load products development. So if you expect your website to handle high traffic, take a close look at this option.

Laravel

• Language: PHP
• Stars: 53,100

With no exaggeration, Laravel is the most popular PHP frameworks. It caters to the needs of both small companies and large enterprises. It is rather flexible and simple: engineers find it easy to start working with Laravel. Due to the autoloading feature, you don’t need to maintain it manually. Using Laravel, you get access to numerous object-oriented libraries, database migration, authorization techniques, MVC support etc.

Are you looking for ways to solve a hard task in a simple way? Laravel may be great for that.

Symfony

• Language: PHP
• Stars: 21,000

This is a great set of reusable PHP components. Its main goal is to speed app web app development and maintenance. It minimizes repetitive actions and is a good fit for enterprise products development. A built-in convenient testing framework enables delivering high-quality code. Frequent updates give us confidence that contributors continuously work on Symfony improvement.

With Symfony, a development team gains full control over the project’s configurations.

In conclusion

What do you think about these frameworks? Have you ever used any of them for a different purpose? Let us know about your experience.

The choice of framework for SaaS development may be hard but your project’s success depends on it. Stop hesitating, select the most suitable option and start working on a business of your life!