Ask ten developers which framework to use and you’ll get ten confident answers, each delivered as if it were obvious. The truth is less exciting: the right stack depends entirely on your project, your team and your constraints.
Here’s the framework we use to choose a framework.
Start with the problem, not the tool
Before anyone mentions a technology, we ask what the thing actually needs to do. A content-heavy marketing site has wildly different needs from a real-time dashboard. Choosing the tool first is like buying a van before you know whether you’re moving house or doing the weekly shop.
The questions that actually matter
- Who maintains it? The best stack is one your team can confidently own.
- How does it need to scale? Traffic, content, or feature complexity?
- What’s the content model? Editorial workflows shape everything.
- What’s the budget — now and ongoing? Hosting and maintenance count.
Why we like boring, proven tools
We tend to reach for technologies that have been around long enough to be dependable: Laravel for application backends, Astro for fast content sites, Vue and Nuxt for rich interfaces, WordPress when editors need a familiar home. None of these are fashionable for fashion’s sake — they’re chosen because they’ll still be well-supported and hireable-for in five years.
The honest answer
Sometimes the right answer is the unglamorous one. If WordPress will serve you well for the next three years, we’ll tell you that — even though a bespoke build would be more fun for us to make.
Want a straight recommendation for your project? Get in touch.