Which is the best stack for the web today? MERN vs MEAN vs Spring Boot

Many devs nowadays have a common question in their mind, which web frameworks and stacks are best to make a career? Well the question itself is unanswerable looking at the circumstances today. However, I will try to provide the best answer based on my experience and current market trends.

Let's consider the three most used and popular stacks in the market today which are MERN, MEAN and Spring. All three of these stacks come with unique functionalities and applications fulfilling different use cases. If we look at MERN Or MEAN, They are more likely to be used for complete dynamic web application development while on the other hand, spring boot is suited for microservices and loosely coupled REST API-based enterprise applications.

MERN and MEAN use javascript which makes it easy to write but still allows us to use it with modern features like NoSQL datasets, Caching etc. Similarly, Spring boot uses Java which is a language that is part of most of the legacy applications. Spring Boot makes a powerful framework that allows us to develop loosely coupled and serverless architectures. Looking at other features all stacks allow support for REST APIs, Scalability, and Fault tolerance by integrating with the cloud.

key features of MEAN, MERN, and Spring Boot:

Aspect	MEAN Stack	MERN Stack	Spring Boot
Database	MongoDB (NoSQL)	MongoDB (NoSQL)	SQL/NoSQL Databases
Server-Side Framework	Express.js	Express.js	Spring Framework
Development Paradigm	Full-Stack JavaScript, Single Page Application (SPA)	Full-Stack JavaScript, Component-Based Architecture	Enterprise-Level Application, Microservices Architecture
Auto-Configuration	No	No	Yes
Embedded Servers	No	No	Yes (e.g., Tomcat, Jetty, Undertow)
Microservices Support	Limited, typically not the primary focus	Limited, typically not the primary focus	Strong support for microservices
Production-Ready Features	Depends on configuration	Depends on configuration	Yes, includes metrics, health checks, etc.
Security	Depends on additional libraries	Depends on additional libraries	Built-in with Spring Security
Scalability	MongoDB provides scalability for data	MongoDB provides scalability for data	High scalability, especially in microservices architecture
Ecosystem	Angular ecosystem for front-end	React ecosystem for front-end	Comprehensive Spring ecosystem, including Spring Cloud, Spring Data, etc.
Development Speed	Fast due to full-stack JavaScript and easy to understand	Fast due to full-stack JavaScript and easy to understand	Fast with Spring Boot’s auto-configuration and Spring Initializr but little bit complicated

Aspect

MEAN Stack

MERN Stack

Spring Boot

Database

MongoDB (NoSQL)

MongoDB (NoSQL)

SQL/NoSQL Databases

Server-Side Framework

Express.js

Express.js

Spring Framework

Development Paradigm

Full-Stack JavaScript, Single Page Application (SPA)

Full-Stack JavaScript, Component-Based Architecture

Enterprise-Level Application, Microservices Architecture

Auto-Configuration

No

No

Yes

Embedded Servers

No

No

Yes (e.g., Tomcat, Jetty, Undertow)

Microservices Support

Limited, typically not the primary focus

Limited, typically not the primary focus

Strong support for microservices

Production-Ready Features

Depends on configuration

Depends on configuration

Yes, includes metrics, health checks, etc.

Security

Depends on additional libraries

Depends on additional libraries

Built-in with Spring Security

Scalability

MongoDB provides scalability for data

MongoDB provides scalability for data

High scalability, especially in microservices architecture

Ecosystem

Angular ecosystem for front-end

React ecosystem for front-end

Comprehensive Spring ecosystem, including Spring Cloud, Spring Data, etc.

Development Speed

Fast due to full-stack JavaScript and easy to understand

Fast due to full-stack JavaScript and easy to understand

Fast with Spring Boot’s auto-configuration and Spring Initializr but little bit complicated

So deciding which is better is not possible. But according to me for learning a framework as a novice, MERN or MEAN stacks are the best. Because it will give a proper understanding of how web applications or REST APIs work. On another hand, if you are already well familiar with working with Java-based applications and technologies like servlets, hibernate etc. It is better to advance yourself with the power of Spring Boot. Whichever framework you choose I prefer to dive deeper into it unless you feel lost in it and then you start exploring endless possibilities with it. Once you gain so much knowledge about a particular technology the question of the best stack to make career? becomes trivial.

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