Is node.js ready for production use? [closed]

Question

Starting a new project. It's basically a blogging/commenting system.

We're considering node.js as the back end server. Is node.js ready for this sort of thing or is it too early and experimental?

We need HTTPS and gzip compression - perhaps a front end nginx server could provide this?

What's missing from node.js that would make developing a web app difficult?

From a production ready perspective, we're wondering if it is stable enough for building a commercial app on top of.

Thanks

Carpic

Voting to close as opinion based. – Delano

Well, this is as much opinion based as the question wether water is wet. Although I don't like node.js at all, there are some impressing reference users, such as eBay, GoDaddy, LinkedIn, PayPal, Shutterstock, Trello and Zendesk. – Morrie

Answer 1

UPDATE: Almost a year has passed and now I'd definitely use node.js for live systems.

It's not ready. It sure is an awesome piece of software but it's not suitable for production use yet. The developer of node.js himself stated in a talk, that it's probably full of bugs and security issues.

This is the talk: http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2010/05/20/video-dahl/

He recommends that IF it is to be used in a production environment, you should place it behind a stable http proxy like nginx but he discourages doing that at all.

I'll wait for a production release and until then, play with it on my local machine.

Crayton

I thought he was just being modest ;) – Ipsus

Note that that was almost a year ago. Here is an example of a high volume production use: serverfault.com/questions/133784/…. – Windshield

Yes, by now I would actually use node.js for production. – Crayton

Answer 2

Node.js is really great. But it's complicated for a production use now. Actually, the API change several times in each version and can be change again a lot of time. So you need fix to a particular version. The migration can be painful.

Invertase

Answer 3

I'm using it for a production site. It's been live for a few months and I've had no issues with the node runtime. Stick with the latest stable release (currently 0.2.6).

The 3rd party modules written by the community are where you may run into issues. Some modules are more stable than others. The node community has standardized on github, so it's pretty easy to fork and fix things you run into. But be prepared to roll up your sleeves and hack -- it's probable that you'll need to fix a few bugs in the modules you use.

Overall I've been happy using node.js

Scolecite

Answer 4

It's just another tool, with different pros and cons. If your project is planned carefully you shouldn't run into major problems. Node.js is a very active project and it shouldn't be long before it reaches stable. If your team finally decides to use node.js please contribute any findings / solutions / code or any kind of valuable information back to the community while you're at it. That would really help. The more people active, the faster node.js will progress.

Ipsus

Answer 5

It's still got some rough edges, but I'd say it's ready to use (I'm about to launch a production site based on it). Here's an article describing how 3 companies are using it in production.

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You may still find yourself finding/fixing the occasional bug, but that's where the community really shines.

Bohon

Answer 6

(Updated answer) On June 2013 (version 0.10.12):

Node.js is ready for production, it's stable and really fast.

I am using it on live servers with Redis, using a SmartOS VM with dtrace and flamegraph for profiling (on a dev server). It also replaced quite well my Apache/PHP stack for creating websites.

The best ways to find up-to-date modules are Nipster and npmjs.

As some modules are not mature enough, finding the right one is sometimes an iterative process.

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(Old answer) On May 2012 (version 0.6.18):

Node.js and its API seems stable enough for production use.

However, its ecosystem isn't: most modules are not stable yet and a lot of them aren't maintained anymore (last commits from 8 to 18 months - you can check on the github pages of modules)

Currently, using a module often require an active participation: subscribing to its mailing list and patch it when needed.

Mannuela