NodeJs vs Golang

Nodejs and Go have always been the topic of discussion for a long time now. In this blog, we have compared both technologies based on their performance, tools, machine learning, etc.

In this article, instead of arguing about which technology is better, Node.js or Go, we will give an overview of the qualities of both languages.

Read further to know the best choice for your project.

Introduction

Both Golang and Node.js are very popular among the developers’ communities. Both languages have made a significant contribution to the field of web development.

Golang

Go is an open-source, compiled, and server-side programming language introduced by Google. Its core structure is built on the principles of Python and C.

The development team at Google wanted to develop a language that has the benefits of another language, so they created Golang. No doubt Golang has won hearts.

Go is mistakenly referred to as “Golang” because of its domain name golang.org.

Node.js

Node.js is typically built on Javascript that helps to cover an entire web app development project. Technically it is not a programming language, it is an open-source, cross-platform built on the V8 Javascript engine of chrome.

Node js run on different platforms, including Windows, iOS, and Linux, and provide many libraries for web app development.

NodeJs vs Golang comparison

Now that we have mentioned the basic information about both languages, let’s compare them based on various factors.

Concurrency

Concurrency is a robust view of Go as it is fully accommodated for big software projects which need thousands of requests to be controlled simultaneously. Go uses routines known as Goroutines and a lightweight thread connection mechanism that allows developers to run their functions concurrently. While users can manage their tasks together using Go, this is unhappily not the case with Node JS.

Node JS is single-threaded and makes use of the event-callback tool. Hence, everything must be done in direct order, and concurrency cannot be obtained.

So, in this case of Go vs. NodeJS, Go is the champion!

Performance

Performance plays an important role in judging which programming language is better. It majorly affects the app’s load and response time directly affects the customer satisfaction with your app.

When it comes to performance, Go is a little better than Node.js. Golang can be directly assembled into machine code, it does not require any interpreter, so it executes fast without warm-up time, the same as the low-level programming language like C and C++.

Go has tools like garbage collector and native goroutines, so it programs on a powerful yet minimalist structure.

Node.js is marginally lagging behind Golang in terms of performance. The single-threaded Node.js enhances efficiency, and V8 Javascript ensures that the application runs without an interpreter.

JavaScript takes longer to execute because it’s dynamically typed and must be interpreted, while Go is statically typed and compiled, so it’s generally just faster.

In the end, Golang has better raw performance and stability, but in a workplace application, they both offer strong benefits.

Salary

As a matter of fact, Go developers earn more money than Node.js developers. Because many Go developers are less in the market and learning it requires fluency in a whole language. It is a great option for developers to switch their language to Go.

On the other hand, Javascript is already known by many developers. So there are more developers than the jobs available.

According to Stack Overflow, the average salary of a Go developer is $75599 per year, and for Node.js, it is $55000 per year.

These are, of course, very general figures, and the salary of developers may vary according to the years of experience and expertise in the respective field, skills, etc.

In conclusion, Go developers are difficult to find and expensive to recruit as compared to Node.js developers. Due to high demand and less supply of Go developers, they earn more than Node.js developers.

Tools

As you know, ready-made solutions are preferred for web development because it is affordable.

Node.js has a large variety of ready-made tools and app development frameworks, which is why developers choose Node.js. Node.js is based on a framework with a microservices architecture, which means one application is divided into smaller modules with well-defined operational interfaces. With the help of microservice architecture, you can easily add new features to your app.

Node.js has Node.js Package Manager (NPM), which consists of approx 800000 ready-made tools for the particular case that can be installed easily. But NPM has one problem: it lacks a well-structured list of blocks, and sometimes, it is difficult to find the right block.

In comparison, Golang has fewer tools than Node.js. Go has a limited number of libraries that don’t need any intermediate. But Golang doesn’t have a GUI library.

Even though Node.js has more tools than Go, Go does have some powerful tools such as Godoc, Go run, and Gofmit.

Community

Both the languages are open source, so the whole community is engaged in improving these languages, fixing errors, and creating new ideas.

As we know, Javascript was developed in 1995, and Node uses Javascript, so it has a larger active developer community with experienced programmers.

Node.js Foundation has a large and vibrant community that works towards the widespread adoption of Node.js.

The active members of the Node.js Foundation are IBM, Microsoft, PayPal, and Intel. Every year this foundation organizes Node+JS interactive events in which developers suggest new ideas and improvements to Node.js.

You won’t believe it, but Node.js has reached one billion downloads and 56000 stars on GitHub.

On the other hand, the Go community is small compared to Node.js. Since it is a product of Google, people are migrating towards Go. The GoperCon event is held every year all over the world to bring new ideas and changes to the language.

Machine Learning

You must be thinking that Nodejs vs Golang may be a strange choice for machine learning, but they have extraordinary capability.

Node js has various libraries that offer machine learning; with the help of these libraries, you can incorporate AI properties into your Java projects.

There are libraries like TorchJS, ONNX.js, and TensorFlow.js. Let me take an example of TensorFlow.js; it has the best support for client and server-side, which is one of the big draws of Node.js.

Node.js has attractive features in case of security risks and has GPU support for faster processing. But this method is a bit difficult. There are quite a lot of loops to jump through, and even then, it may require the use of other languages to handle data that JavaScript doesn’t have the power to do.

On the other hand, Golang is much clearer. It can handle large data, so you don’t need other languages for support. It also has a lot of machine learning tools already built into its library, helping programmers develop models faster and easier.

In short, Node.js is a better option for machine learning if you are aware of JavaScript and focus on smaller data sets. If you’re handling big data and want something to the point, Go is the way to go.

And the winner is…..

As you can see, it isn’t easy to decide which language is better. Both Go and Node.js are good at different things. The winner depends upon which type of application you want to create. In our Go vs Node js blog, we have mentioned all the insights into which technology would be best for your project.

You can hire a mobile app developer from Invedus and start your project immediately.

Can’t decide which tool to choose for your app development? Comment your query below, and we’ll help you make the right decision.

Happy Coding!