Emil Waszkowski
VP of Commercial Development
Node.js has come a long way from being a niche runtime environment to powering the backbone of modern digital infrastructure. While industry giants typically use a polyglot architecture (the right tool for the right job), Node.js has become the go-to choice for orchestration, API gateways, and real-time data handling.
We’ve already discussed whether you should choose Node.js as your backend - now when you’re familiar with its advantages, it’s time to see it action. Here are the best examples of apps that fully embrace Node.js as part of a modern technology stack.
As already mentioned , Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment, which enables developing web apps with a single programming language (rather than use different languages for server- and client-side scripts) and serving multiple concurrent events in a single thread thanks to non-blocking I/O (Input/Output), among other things. This, in turn, makes Node.js fast, scalable and efficient in handling both data- and I/O-heavy workloads that are typical for various types of apps.
Thanks to its Stream API, Node.js a great choice for streaming applications. Basically, it makes it possible to transmit parts of the app’s code to a local machine without closing the connection, caching, or temporary data - which means that new components can easily be downloaded on demand.
Netflix had a fragmentation problem. Their Java-based backend was too monolithic, making it hard to serve tailored data to thousands of different device types (TVs, mobiles, consoles). The solution? Node.js—which let UI engineers manage the server layer that serves their specific client applications.
The result: Netflix didn't just improve startup time (70% reduction); they empowered frontend teams to control their own data endpoints, which significantly sped up the development cycle.
How it works: Netflix popularized the Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) pattern with Node.js. Instead of one giant API, they run smaller Node.js applications that pull data from various microservices and format it specifically for the requesting device. A 4K TV gets high-res assets, while a mobile phone gets lighter data. This cuts down network latency and device processing overhead.
What’s more, one of the primary reasons for Netflix to switch to Node was the ability to build a single-page application. SPAs might come in different shapes and sizes - yet, they can all benefit from Node’s asynchronous data flow. Thanks to the event loop, the app receives new data without the need to refresh, which makes Node.js a popular choice for social networking apps.
In a historic move, LinkedIn replaced its synchronous Ruby on Rails mobile backend with Node.js. The goal was to handle persistent connections efficiently—crucial for a social app where users are constantly "online."
The result: The migration proved that Node.js is vastly more efficient at managing idle connections and high-traffic loads. LinkedIn reduced their server footprint by nearly 90% at the time of transition.
How it works: LinkedIn uses Node.js for its event loop mechanism. Unlike thread-based models that eat up memory for every connected user, Node.js stays lightweight. This lets the backend maintain open connections for millions of users to push instant notifications and feed updates without overwhelming the infrastructure.
Node.js also happens to be a powerful solution for collecting, visualising and analysing data in real-time. It’s probably the reason why there are increasingly more startups that revolve around data in particular, and take advantage of Node.js once they’re at it. Take Heap, as an example. It’s said to capture every web, mobile, and cloud interaction automatically (be it clicks, submits, transactions, emails, or any behavioural data), in order to understand and serve customers better.
The result: Heap demonstrates Node.js power in handling massive amounts of real-time event data. Instead of sampling or batching, they process interactions as they happen, giving product teams instant insights into user behavior.
How it works: Node.js handles the constant flood of incoming events from multiple sources simultaneously. Its non-blocking I/O means Heap can ingest thousands of user actions per second without dropping data or creating bottlenecks. The event loop processes each interaction, routes it to the appropriate data pipeline, and makes it queryable almost instantly.
When it comes to data visualisation, though, it’s rather YCharts that deserves more attention. It happens to be a cloud-based investment decision-making platform, which makes it easy to create technical charts in seconds to compare stocks and funds, just to name a few.
The result: YCharts shows how Node.js excels at pulling data from multiple financial APIs, processing it, and pushing updates to connected clients. Investors get live chart updates without manual refreshes.
How it works: Node.js manages persistent connections to various market data feeds and handles thousands of concurrent user sessions viewing different charts. When market data changes, Node immediately processes the update and pushes it to all relevant connected clients via WebSockets. This keeps charts current without overwhelming the server or forcing users to constantly refresh.
Speaking of financial data, Node.js also seems to be a good fit for handling digital payments. In fact, PayPal was one of the first company that gave Node.js a chance back in the days when this technology was just starting to gain some traction. This decision quickly resulted in improved performance: 35% decrease in the average response time for the same page, to be exact.
The result: PayPal highlights the Developer Experience (DX) advantage. By using JavaScript (Node.js) on the server and the browser, they removed the "context switch" for developers, letting teams move faster and share code (like validation logic) between frontend and backend.
How it works: PayPal uses Node.js as a lightweight middle-tier application. It handles the presentation logic and orchestrates calls to deeper Java-based core services (which handle the heavy lifting of money movement). This separation lets the UI/UX team iterate rapidly on user flows without touching the complex core banking systems.
It might be the reason why some startups, such as JUSPAY, seem to be following PayPal’s footsteps.
Let’s go back to maintaining live connections with the server and handling a lot of requests at the same time for a moment, which Node.js is definitely known for. These were one of the reasons why eBay decided to go for Node - along with its speed and simplicity, performance, scalability, and “feeling of control” it gives the developers. It should come as no surprise, then, that Node.js is also used by Alibaba for both frontend toolchains and backend servers.
Walmart also provides an interesting Node.js example. The company re-engineered its mobile app to provide more features on the client side, and decided to build a fast, reliable and usable system with Node in order to become a leader in the online retail space. Given its current position, Node.js definitely brought Walmart closer to this goal.
Walmart is not the only enterprise-level company that’s been successfully using Node.js, though. According to the Node.js User Survey, 43% of Node.js programmers claim to have used it for enterprise apps - and, interestingly, the majority of them seems to be working for Fortune 500 companies.
The biggest Central and Eastern European convenience store chain Żabka has its own example of an enterprise solution powered by Node.js: an award-winning “frappka” app. The aim here was to meet the needs of the franchisees and make it easier for them to manage Żabka stores, which wouldn’t be that easy to achieve without Node and microservices architecture. Basically, microservices are single self-contained units which make up an application, yet, can be independently deployable and scalable. This architecture works very well with complex applications, which is probably why many well-known enterprises have already embraced it.
Real-time applications, such as project management and communication tools that run across distributed devices, are also a common case of Node.js in use. Usually, such apps have plenty of users and thus, might be subject to heavy I/O operations (for example, a few users can edit, comment, post or attach something at the same time). This is when Node comes in useful - it makes the collaboration environment update seamlessly, handling both big traffic and intensive data exchange (mainly thanks to Event API and WebSockets).
Trello is the textbook example of real-time interactivity. Node.js was chosen specifically for its ability to handle thousands of open WebSocket connections simultaneously. As written on the company’s blog, Node.js was first helpful when Trello was templating a tool for a one-page application. Yet, Node.js proved to have more benefits than that, which is why it eventually became the server-side of the application, along with MongoDB, Redis, and HAProxy.
Notion needed to deliver a consistent, high-performance experience across web, Mac, and Windows—without maintaining three completely separate codebases.
Using Node.js (via the Electron framework), they deploy their web application as a native desktop app, sharing nearly all logic between platforms.
Since Node.js can easily form part of collaboration tools, it shouldn’t be surprising that it happens to power e-learning platforms as well. Quizlet, for example, is said to be one of the largest online education platforms in the world with its 30 million active learners. Apparently, Node.js allowed scaling the app to handle over 600,000 visits a day.
CreativeLive also serves as a good example of a Node.js app that offers free live online classes in creative topics (such as photography, design, and craft). At the same time, Clever seems to be taking e-learning to the next level as it “powers technology in the classroom” and enables the management of all learning resources that every school owns.
Node.js has also become one of the preferred solutions for IoT development. The reason behind it it’s mostly its capability to handle multiple concurrent requests and events coming from multiple IoT devices, which are known for generating a large volume of data.
Skycatch is an interesting example of such a solution. Essentially, it uses drones to take photos of construction sites, then analyses and exports multiple data types, and, at last, makes it possible to create and work with customized maps and 3D models.
Connected Boat, on the other hand, is meant for fleet owners to ensure the safety of boats at all times. It constantly monitors key parameters of the vessels through smart IoT sensors and provides easy access to relevant information that streamlines servicing and maintenance of each boat thanks to its mobile app. With the growing popularity of both IoT and Node.js, however, we’re bound to see more examples of such a combination.
As can be seen, Node.js can be a good choice for developing many different types of applications, especially due to its ability to handle multiple concurrent requests and asynchronous data flow. Data streaming, social networking or project management apps are only a few popular use cases of Node.js that are worth exploring. In fact, Node.js applications happen to be increasingly more common as the technology becomes more mature.
Even though it might still be treated as a fairly new solution and has some drawbacks (such as not being a good fit for CPU-intensive apps), Node.js is definitely worth considering - if you’re in need of a data-driven app in particular.
Node.js is the industry standard for:
Feeling inspired already? Let’s talk about developing your own Node.js application with us.
I. Franke - Head of Advisory
K. Borowiec - Business Development Manager
I. Franke - Head of Advisory
J. Dogadalski - Business Development Lead
