~/posts/backend/go-vs-rust-for-backend-services.md
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Go vs Rust for Backend Services

Not a language war — a practical comparison. When does Rust's safety pay for its complexity, and when does Go's simplicity win?

9 min read by admin backend go languages performance rust
~/posts/backend/go-vs-rust-for-backend-services.md $ cat go-vs-rust-for-backend-services.md

The Core Trade-off

Go trades raw performance and memory safety guarantees for developer speed. Rust trades developer speed for predictable performance and memory safety without a GC. Neither is wrong — they optimise for different constraints.

When to Choose Go

  • You need to hire quickly (larger talent pool)
  • You're building networked services where GC pauses are acceptable
  • Developer iteration speed is more valuable than single-digit millisecond latency
  • Your team is coming from Python or Java

When to Choose Rust

  • You're writing systems code: databases, runtimes, embedded
  • GC pauses are unacceptable (real-time, trading systems)
  • You need to manage memory layout precisely
  • You're writing security-critical code where memory safety is paramount