Discover the best Node.js courses, voted by backend developers. From Express to microservices, learn to build scalable server applications.
A leaderboard showing which courses developers have upvoted.
A leaderboard showing which courses developers have upvoted.
Node.js turned JavaScript into a legitimate backend language, and fifteen years later, it's running some of the largest applications on the internet. Netflix, LinkedIn, Uber—they're all powered by Node.
But here's what's interesting about learning Node.js today: it's not about Node anymore. It's about the ecosystem. Express, FastAPI alternatives like Fastify, ORMs like Prisma, testing with Vitest, deploying with Docker. Node.js is the foundation, but you're really learning how to architect backend systems.
The Community Node.js Top Picks leaderboard below shows courses ranked by developers who've built production backend systems. Not theoretical courses, but practical guides from people who've shipped real APIs and services with Node.js.
Every course you see has been upvoted by the developer community. These rankings reflect what actually works—courses that teach you to build scalable, maintainable server applications. If you've taken a Node.js course that helped you ship to production, come back and vote to help other developers find the best resources.
Every few months, someone writes an article about how Deno or Bun will replace Node.js. Maybe someday. But today? Node.js is still the backbone of modern web development.
The npm ecosystem is unmatched—over 2 million packages. The performance is solid with V8 improvements. The tooling is mature. And most importantly, if you know JavaScript, you already know the language.
This is Node's killer feature: you can use the same language on frontend and backend. Share code between server and client. Use the same types. Move fluidly between React components and API endpoints.
Modern Node.js looks very different from its early days. Here's what changed:
ES Modules: CommonJS (require()) is legacy. Modern Node uses ES modules (import/export). Good courses teach ES modules from the start.
TypeScript Integration: Most production Node.js is actually TypeScript. Type safety for API contracts, autocomplete in your editor, and catching bugs before deployment.
Modern APIs: Fetch is now built into Node. Web Streams, the newer crypto APIs, native test runner—Node adopted Web Platform standards instead of inventing its own.
Performance Tools: Built-in profiling, memory leak detection, and performance monitoring. Production Node.js needs more than just writing code—it needs understanding where bottlenecks hide.
Here's a controversial take: Express is "done." Not dead—done. It works, it's stable, and it'll keep working. But the ecosystem moved on.
Fastify is faster. Hono works everywhere (Node, Bun, Deno, even Cloudflare Workers). tRPC gives you end-to-end type safety. Even vanilla Node's HTTP module is powerful enough for many use cases.
But Express still dominates tutorials because it's simple to understand. Learn Express first if you're new. Then explore the modern alternatives when you understand the fundamentals.
Node.js courses diverge here. Some teach MongoDB because it's JSON-native and "JavaScript-like." Others teach PostgreSQL because it's production-proven and handles relationships properly.
Here's my advice: learn SQL. PostgreSQL specifically. MongoDB is fine for certain use cases, but SQL databases run the world. Understanding JOINs, indexes, and transactions will serve you better than knowing MongoDB's aggregation pipeline.
Plus, tools like Prisma make working with PostgreSQL from Node.js genuinely pleasant. Type-safe queries, automatic migrations, and a query builder that actually makes sense.
REST is still the standard. GraphQL had its moment but brought complexity that most applications don't need. And tRPC is amazing if you control both frontend and backend.
For most applications, a well-designed REST API with proper caching, rate limiting, and versioning is exactly what you need. Don't overthink it.
The best Node.js courses teach you REST fundamentals—HTTP methods, status codes, resource naming, proper error handling. Once you understand REST deeply, you can evaluate GraphQL or tRPC for your specific use case.
Production Node.js applications need tests. Not because it's "best practice"—because changing code without tests is terrifying.
Good courses teach you Jest or Vitest for unit tests, Supertest for API testing, and how to mock external dependencies. You should be able to refactor with confidence, knowing your tests will catch regressions.
One developer told me they shipped a Node.js API without tests. It worked great... until they needed to add a feature. Every change broke something else. They spent a week adding tests, and then features took hours instead of days.
The Community Node.js Top Picks leaderboard at the top of this page shows live rankings based on developer votes. Each course is ranked by upvotes from real developers who've used these resources to learn Node.js.
You'll find courses covering:
The rankings update in real-time as developers vote. See a course you've taken? Click the upvote button to help others discover it. Looking for recommendations? Start with the top-ranked courses—they're community-tested and production-proven.
Learning Node.js and running Node.js in production are two different skills. Production Node needs:
Logging: Not console.log(), but structured logging with levels, context, and proper log management.
Error Handling: Unhandled promise rejections bring down your server. Good error handling keeps it running.
Monitoring: You need to know when things break before your users do. Health checks, metrics, and alerting aren't optional.
Security: Input validation, rate limiting, helmet middleware, keeping dependencies updated. Security isn't a feature you add later.
The best Node.js courses don't just teach you how to build—they teach you how to build something that stays running.
Ready to learn Node.js? The Community Node.js Top Picks leaderboard at the top of this page is your starting point. Here's how to use it:
Browse the Rankings: Courses are sorted by developer upvotes. The top-ranked courses have helped the most developers build production backend systems.
Read Course Details: Each entry shows the instructor, platform, topics covered, and current vote count. Click through to learn more about courses that match your level and goals.
Vote for Your Favorites: Taken a course that helped you? Click the upvote button. Your vote helps other developers discover quality resources.
Check Back Often: Rankings update in real-time as the community votes. New courses appear as developers discover them. The leaderboard evolves with the community's needs.
The leaderboard helps you find courses that don't just teach Node.js syntax—they prepare you to build backends that handle real traffic, scale under load, and stay running in production. Node.js is mature, battle-tested, and here to stay. Learn it well, and you'll be able to build backends for the next decade.