Modern social networking with JavaScript, what are the best technologies to use?

Question

JavaScript

It is necessary to make a social network where there will be registration, chats, and paid subscriptions, preferably in JS, since I know it well.

I don't want to use any CMS like WordPress, I was thinking about doing it on React.js, because in the future I want to make a mobile application and in this case React Native would be a great option. I also read about the MERN technology stack, it seems like a good combination. I would also like to hear advice from you about deploying an application, I read about Firebase, Heroku, AWS and more on Habré.

What do you advise? What is the best way to make a social network today?

PS The app should technically be like Discord. And I would also like to get an answer to the question - what is better to use rendering on the client or server side for this type of application?

Thanks everyone for the replies and comments!

Answer 1

React will do. Express too. Nginx too. As for mongo, I would think fifteen times, it's better to take sql.
"Firebase, Heroku, Aws, etc" is also suitable
for thinking about how best to build an architecture - you must first designate at least something on which it depends - at least the planned load, number of users, data volumes, desktop/mobile ratio, regions, and so on .
And so an abstract "social network" can be made on jquery + a bunch of php files, and uploaded to shared hosting via ftp.

Answer 2

I also made a social network, but no one visited the site) For now, you don’t have to worry. I just used PHP and jQuery.

Answer 3

And why develop anything at all when everything is ready? - Launch today!
There is such a thing Matrix: https://matrix.org/discover
It combines many different functions related to peer-to-peer data transfer.
There are private messages between two friends.
It is possible to connect several friends to conversations.
There is support for open rooms (channels) where you can post news with connected bots, for example, from the same telegram.
There is support for transparent peer-to-peer encryption. It is necessary to verify keys like OTR in Jabber. There is also support for encrypted rooms, paid rooms, and so on.
Full list of articles from the creators here: https://matrix.org/docs/develop/
Pluggable bridges: https://matrix.org/bridges/
API description: https://matrix.org/docs/spec/
Source codes: https://github.com/matrix-org
Now about the client to this farm.
There are a lot of clients for the matrix (there are only about 20 official ones): https://matrix.org/clients/
One of the most advanced clients for Desktop is Riot. As you ordered - the spitting image of Discord (see screenshot below).
Project site: https://riot.im/
Source code: https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/