Hey everyone, I need some advice about switching programming languages for my backend server. Right now I have a business management application built with Next.js for the frontend and Node.js with Express for the API backend. The system runs 24/7 on a Windows 10 virtual machine and serves a company that uses it around the clock.
Lately I’ve been having performance issues where the Express server seems to freeze up or become unresponsive. This is causing problems since the application needs to be reliable all the time. I’ve been researching alternatives and Go seems like it might be a good choice for better performance and stability.
Has anyone here made a similar transition from Express to Go? What are your thoughts on whether it’s worth the effort to rewrite the API server? I’m looking for practical advice from people who have experience with both technologies. Thanks for any insights you can share.
Made this exact switch two years ago. Go definitely handles concurrent requests better and uses way less memory. But heads up - the migration ate up 3 months of nights and weekends to get everything working again. Before you rewrite everything, profile your Node.js app first. My freezing issues? Turned out it was a buggy third-party library, not Express. If you’re set on Go, do it gradually. Rewrite your worst endpoints first, keep the rest in Express. You can test stability without nuking your whole operation.
go’s solid for apis, but switching sounds like overkill right now. your express issues might just be bad error handling or you need clustering. I’ve run express servers for months without freezes when they’re set up right. go’s great, but rewriting everything while your business depends on it seems risky.
Don’t rush into a complete rewrite just yet. First, figure out what’s actually causing your Express server to freeze. Usually it’s something specific - memory leaks, blocking operations, or poorly configured database connections. The framework itself isn’t the problem. I’ve seen Express handle heavy traffic just fine when it’s set up right. Sure, Go might give you better stability and concurrency down the road. But rebuilding your entire API takes serious time. Since this is business-critical and needs to stay up 24/7, you’ve got to weigh those migration risks against what you’ll actually gain.