How to scale NestJS, Prisma and PostgreSQL backends in 2026?
TL;DR - Quick summary
- Connection hygiene: Default Prisma pools can exhaust PostgreSQL under spike load. We add poolers such as PgBouncer before the fleet takes the database down.
- N+1 risk: ORM-generated chatter kills latency. GMI engineers prefer tight
selecttrees over heavyincludegraphs - often 100x faster APIs. - Core stack: NestJS, PostgreSQL and Prisma back our enterprise SaaS builds and bespoke logistics services.
- Audit plus guarantee: DDT (Discovery, Design & Technology) diagnoses struggling systems; we can quote a fixed-price refactor afterward.
The problem: fast in staging, dead at 10k users
Your B2B portal or mobile backend flew at 50 users on staging (~100 ms). Launch hits 10,000 actives and responses stall.
AWS alarms fire. Postgres returns errors like Too many clients already, CPU pegs at 100%, and vertical sizing only buys a week before bills and churn spike again.
GMI Software in Gdansk (16+ years) rescues these monthly. The culprit is rarely Node.js itself-it is how the app talks to PostgreSQL through Prisma.
Prisma vs raw SQL at scale
In 2026 teams still debate ORMs versus handwritten SQL. Compare the trade-offs:
- Raw SQL / query builders (Kysely, Knex): Pros: Full control over plans and indexes. Cons: 30-40% longer delivery and weaker day-one typing.
- Prisma (GMI default): Generated TypeScript models accelerate NestJS delivery and MVP cost. Risk: Without architectural review, Prisma can emit pathological SQL under peak traffic.
GMI take: Prisma is excellent, not magic-it needs disciplined query review.
How we scale NestJS + Prisma (GMI playbook)
Production traffic like SFD (100,000+ downloads, 4.9★ App Store) needs hard patterns when the graph creaks:
- Connection pooling: A thousand concurrent NestJS instances can stampede Postgres. We insert PgBouncer or Prisma Accelerate to serialize and cap real connections.
- Kill N+1: Listing 50 users plus last orders can become 51 round trips. We refactor to joins (
JOIN) or batched selects so one plan serves the screen. - Indexing and JSONB: For MedusaJS style filters we add composite indexes and lean on JSONB operators so Node.js stops doing the heavy lifting in memory.
What does a rescue engagement cost?
Tuning live commerce without stopping sales needs surgical sequencing.
- Audit and refactor: Hardening NestJS, tuning PostgreSQL schemas and fixing Prisma hot paths typically starts around PLN 40,000-80,000 for mid-size B2B/SaaS platforms (for example Berg System-class deployments).
- Time to relief: First critical optimizations usually ship within days to a couple of weeks.
Worried about open-ended T&M? GMI Software starts with DDT code and log review, publishes a blunt diagnosis, and-as one of the few Polish shops in this model-offers a fixed-price remediation quote.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Prisma ORM and why does GMI Software use it?
- Prisma is a TypeScript-first ORM for Node.js. We pair it with NestJS for generated, type-safe data access that catches contract issues at compile time and typically speeds delivery by 30-40%.
- What is PostgreSQL connection exhaustion?
- Each session costs RAM on the database host. When autoscaled services open thousands of connections, Postgres can OOM. Pooling (PgBouncer, Prisma Accelerate) caps real sessions and queues work safely.
- What is the ORM N+1 query problem?
- ORMs fetch a parent list, then issue one query per child row instead of a single join-aware plan, turning one screen into dozens of round trips.
- When should we drop Prisma for raw SQL?
- We keep Prisma for roughly 95% of CRUD work for speed and safety. Raw SQL lands in the remaining 5%-heavy analytics or batch reports over millions of rows where the ORM becomes the bottleneck.
- How does GMI guarantee fixes without blowing the budget?
- DDT adds APM and log analysis so we know what starves Postgres before we quote. The agreed remediation ships under a fixed-price commitment.
Content updated: March 31, 2026