Architecture · Startups
Best tech stack for startups (without resume-driven choices)
The best stack is the one your team can ship and support in six months. Trends matter less than hiring, hosting cost, and your core workflow.
A sane default in 2026
Many SA MVPs ship on Next.js or Vite + React for web, React Native or Expo when notifications and device APIs matter, Node or serverless APIs, Postgres via Supabase or managed cloud SQL, and Paystack when money moves.
That stack is boring on purpose. Boring stacks hire faster and break less mysteriously.
When to choose native or cross-platform mobile
- Choose mobile when push notifications, offline, or device hardware are core
- Choose responsive web when distribution via link matters more than App Store discovery
- Expo is often enough until you hit niche native modules
Where AI fits
Use AI on bounded tasks: support drafts, document search, classification. Do not bolt a chatbot on top of a broken process.
If AI is the product, budget for evaluation, logging, and human review from week one.
Frequently asked questions
Not sure what to standardise on?
Describe your v1 workflow. We recommend stack and hosting with tradeoffs in plain language.