Picking software in 2025 is less about chasing hype and more about fit, speed, and maintainability: start monolith-first (fast delivery, simpler ops) and split only the hot paths later; choose a boring-but-solid backend like Django/DRF or FastAPI (Python) or NestJS (Node) with PostgreSQL as your default datastore, add Redis for queues/cache, and keep APIs REST-first with clean versioning (use GraphQL only where it truly helps).
For the front end, React + Next.js with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS gives you SSR/SSG, routing, and strong DX; for mobile, prefer Flutter or React Native to stay cross-platform. Ship on AWS or DigitalOcean with Docker, start with Compose on a droplet, then graduate to ECS/Kubernetes when you actually need scale; wire GitHub Actions for CI/CD, IaC via Terraform, and observability with Prometheus + Grafana (metrics), structured logs, and a basic APM—treat uptime, latency, and cost-per-request as first-class.
Security is table stakes: MFA, RBAC, secrets in a vault, dependency scanning, and automated backups with periodic restore drills. Don’t build what you can safely buy: offload auth (Auth0/Supabase Auth), payments (Stripe/Razorpay), email/SMS/WhatsApp providers, and analytics; do build your domain logic, data model, and internal dashboards—that’s your moat. Keep docs in the repo (README + ADRs), add unit + integration tests, and maintain a small SLA-backed runbook for incidents. The rule of thumb: pick the smallest stack that can win your next 6 months, instrument it from day one, and upgrade only when real usage—not optimism—demands it.