Introduction

Welcome to our vendor neutral, unbiased guide to tech that’s fast, cost effective, and durable.

Our core principles are core to every technology recommendation in our guide.

Core Principles

⚡ Fast

You want tech that can be built fast, and runs fast. No one wants slow technology.

Fast technology means:

• Code can be written, tested, built, and deployed quickly - resulting in good outcomes through measures such as DORA metrics / DORA quick check
• Code and apps are fast to run/load - resulting in good outcomes through measures such as Core Web Vitals (CWV) / PageSpeed Insights

You also need to be able to iterate quickly, which requires:

• Great developer experience and velocity, even for maintenance.
• Programming languages that are easy to understand even in complex codebases.
• Tech that’s AI-optimized and well positioned for AI coding/assistance.

💰 Cost Effective

You shouldn’t pay more than you have to.

You need to:

• Balance raw costs with Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), without the TCO BS.
• Balance upfront investment with ongoing costs

You also need to avoid vendor lock-in which inevitably will cost more over time.

🛡️ Durable

You want tech that’s a safe bet now, and for decades to come.

You must be able to own it:

• Preferrably Open Source / open standards
• Not at the helm of a single company

It must be easy to operate:

• Low risk security and reliability
• Easy to maintain
• Proven that it won’t break any of these Fast/Cost Effective/Durable principals at scale

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Now that you’ve read about how we make these recommendations, you’re ready to explore the rest of the guide.