Nodejs + typescript is superior across almost every dimension other than data science and familiarity.
People think it’s apples and oranges but it’s not. Also don’t forget golang too.
If your app is Python in the beginning then you’re pretty much locked in. It’s doable, but you’re going to be dealing with a lot of Python specific warts.
Python is a perfectly fine choice for a tech stack. Just because you don't like something doesn't make it an anti-pattern. NodeJs + TypeScript have tons of warts of their own that you have to deal with as well. Every language does.
There’s a third type of language: Python. Actual poor choice for a startup, independent of complaints.
You’ll note my complaint here is actually remarkably unique. You will rarely hear a person who is an expert in both TS and Python say definitively TS is better.
Many people who know both stacks well always maintains some kind of apples and oranges opinion about it. It’s like agnosticism.
Nah but the warts are minor compared with other languages. Python is guaranteed to hold you back.
First it’s the worst performing language for the application stack (only among the most languages for that area). Second type checking on Python is raw garbage.
Third you’re going to have to use TS for the frontend anyway. You can’t escape ts. Choosing Python(or any other language) forces you to have redundant code in two languages. Ts is the overall best startup stack and a huge part of it is because the frontend requires ts anyway.
> Third you’re going to have to use TS for the frontend anyway. You can’t escape ts.
This is obviously wrong. Sure you have to use Javascript for the web frontend that has interactivity without round-tripping to the server. Typescript compiles to Javascript, but its hardly the only language that does.
If you're frontend is a mobile app only then you don't even have to use Javascript for it all.
I’m talking about mainstream choices. I’m well aware of alternatives.
Would not recommend alternative choices for a startup. Those offer a larger element of risk. I would choose Python over any other non mainstream alternative.
Wow. I cannot believe in good ‘ol 2026 there are still people who believe a whole successful programming language could be the reason for a failed experiment (startup). If your startup is solving a real problem, choosing the “wrong” language could never be the reason it fails.
Except I never said it’s the whole reason for a failed startup. You’re just making shit up out of thin air.
Choosing a wrong language can be a factor for failure. This is possible but rare. For example choosing Python for a triple A game engine.
Mostly choosing the wrong language results in pain and friction and extra work. These things are enough for me to consider a choice wrong. You don’t need the language to bring down the entire startup for me to consider to to be wrong.
For example if you chose nodejs. One application server instance is enough to serve the website and scale for a couple years. If you chose flask… well… setting that up for the same scale would be complicated. Your choice here is proportional to the amount of pain you feel later.
The Python stack is a huge wart. First performance is shit. Second type checking is shit.
The only benefit is familiarity and data science. That’s literally it. No one in this thread has stated any benefit Python brings to the table on top of other popular web application languages.
I don't see how it's a bad choice on its own merit. Lang choice will always be a mixture of familiarity (team or individual) and niche problem needs (some edge cases need specific tools).
I personally avoid to touch anything that is nodejs related because I do not trust its ecosystem (npms).
having built two enterprise data platforms in python, I can't disagree more. for a startup, development velocity matters more than code performance especially for a CRUD app even at medium scale. Frameworks like Django simply enable you to do so much and so quickly. and you can reach world scale, that's what Instagram did!
Having built more than two enterprise apps in Python and many others in many other languages I can say it is certainly possible to build it in Python. But it is one of the worst choices out of all possible languages out of all the other mainstream languages.
Django is fast but has become much less relevant in the age of AI. The issue with Django is you hit issues very early. Within 2 to 3 years of using Django the warts of using Django become apparent. Django is mostly a good tool for the first year, but if the tool survives beyond that, Django becomes more of a liability.
You get 80 percent of the convenience of Django with just popular nodejs libs like prisma, zod and express. Once you add in LLS it’s 100 percent.
Nodejs + typescript is superior across almost every dimension other than data science and familiarity.
People think it’s apples and oranges but it’s not. Also don’t forget golang too.
If your app is Python in the beginning then you’re pretty much locked in. It’s doable, but you’re going to be dealing with a lot of Python specific warts.