Well in my experience I must say: Node.js+Express is the way to go for making simple page-serving servers that can handle many many clients. If you wish to do

Well in my experience I must say: Node.js+Express is the way to go for making simple page-serving servers that can handle many many clients. If you wish to do something more complex with the front-end, I have been using socket.io and also Angular.js. Angular adds to the mix a "controller" that holds a per-client state so that you have your node "server," your angular-based "client" and then the view (which is the browser/html+css). So, since your question says "basic" I'll leave it at that.