Introduction

This site is a curated reference for builders working in the modern JavaScript / TypeScript web ecosystem. It is organized around two questions:

1. What stack should I use? — see Stacks
2. What library do I reach for in category X? — see Categories

Who this is for

You're already comfortable in Node, Next.js, React, TypeScript, Postgres, and a job runner like pg-boss. You want to know:

• Is this the most popular stack right now?
• What are the legitimate alternatives, and what do you give up by switching?
• For each category — auth, ORMs, editors, page builders, PDF generation, validation, UI kits, etc. — what are the 3–6 options actually worth considering, and how do they differ?

Every tool listed here is free to use (open source, or with a generous free tier and no required paid plan to get started). Many have paid hosted versions; that's noted where relevant.

The TL;DR on your stack

Yes — Node + Next.js + React + TypeScript + Postgres is one of the two or three most popular stacks for new web apps in 2026. It's mainstream enough that hiring, libraries, hosting, and AI assistance all assume it as a default. Adding pg-boss (Postgres-backed job queue) is a strong choice if you're already on Postgres and want fewer moving parts than Redis-based queues.

The main things worth dabbling with to broaden your reach:

• A non-React reactive framework — Svelte 5 (runes) or Vue 3.5+ — to understand reactivity primitives that aren't useState/useEffect.
• Edge-first runtime — Cloudflare Workers + Hono + D1/R2 — to see how much of Node you actually need.
• A full-stack-as-a-platform service — Convex, Supabase, or Encore — to feel the productivity ceiling of "all infra is one thing."
• A typed RPC layer — tRPC or oRPC — if you haven't yet committed to one.
• TanStack Start / TanStack Router — for client-first React apps with first-class type-safe routing.

See Stacks → User Stack for a deeper read.

How to use this site

• Each Category page lists ~3–8 popular tools with a one-paragraph description, what makes it distinct, and a "pick this if…" line.
• Tools that are dominant in a category are marked with a ★. That's not a recommendation — it's a popularity signal.
• The data here is correct as of May 2026, but the JS ecosystem moves fast. Treat the site as a starting point, then verify with each project's docs and recent release notes.

Caveats

• "Most popular" is measured loosely (GitHub stars, npm weekly downloads, recent release velocity, presence in starter templates). Popularity is not the same as best fit for your project.
• Some tools changed names recently — Framer Motion became Motion, NextUI became HeroUI, etc. Where ambiguous, both names are listed.
• Hosted SaaS-only tools (no free tier, no self-host option) are intentionally excluded.