Node.js vs. CakePHP vs. Meteor

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

CakePHP makes building web applications simpler, faster, while requiring less code. A modern PHP 7 framework offering a flexible database access layer and a powerful scaffolding system.

A Meteor application is a mix of JavaScript that runs inside a client web browser, JavaScript that runs on the Meteor server inside a Node.js container, and all the supporting HTML fragments, CSS rules, and static assets.