This could be an API call, or a database query. Hey man, I'm relatively new to Node.js and I've built some small apps in Express.js and Koa.js. While it is a convenient and easy-to-use tool, Express does have some drawbacks. Do logging correctly (for debugging, use a special module like, Ensure your app automatically restarts by using a process manager or use an. Express is a minimal and flexible node.js web application framework, providing a robust set of features for building single and multi-page, and hybrid web applications. Open-source community is relatively small as compared to Express.js. Let’s differentiate the three most popular Node.js frameworks to find which is the best for your project. }); The performance is, for the most parts, one of the most important parameters for you to evaluate its quality as well as the suitability of it to your business model. Koa uses generators which are not compatible with any other type of Node.js framework middleware. Still, what makes Koa really separates from Express, as introduced in the first part, is its way to ditch callback completely by either using ES6 function generators or the newer async/await control flow. You can quickly install a supported version of node.js with your favorite version manager: This is the most basic example of a “Hello World!” app on Koa that listens on the port 3000. A NodeJS application can “chain” middleware routines into a custom request/response pipeline. With no “res.send()” paradigm in the Koa middleware, the response could be sent after the middleware stack execution itself. Examine Node.js applications with unparalleled visibility, Analysis and advice from our team of experts, Empower your team with Node.js best practices. Now, let's sum up the main Koa vs Express differences by putting Koa into the spotlight: Compared to Koa's “fix and replace node” philosophy, Express is built to “augment node”. }); Right away you can see the similarities., but essentially you just required Koa instead of Express. In other cases, GitHub stars can be useful for making a quick decision. Applications with significant performance requirements should consider the advantage Express has over Hapi. ExpressJS vs Koa: What are the differences? Unlike the Koa.js which is based on middleware, Sails.js is supported by the MVC framework that can help in developing a robust and useful web application. Your information is safe with us. ')), app.listen(port, () => console.log(`Example app listening on port ${port}!`)). path:'/hello', A lot of manual labor is required, since you need to create all endpoints. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. In this way, this can eventually help strengthen the coding standards across the team of developers. Detailed API reference and good support for document generation. Koa still edges out Express by a narrow margin for raw performance. It is a mobile and web application framework that is a combination of libraries, helpers and tools to provide a way to effortlessly build and run web and mobile applications. It has more than 11000 stars on GitHub and over 250000 npm downloads each week. }); Middleware registration in Koa is similar to Express. Express has the biggest community of users out of all existed web application frameworks for Node.js, with a history of over 9 years of development behind it. Understanding that you might be tired after reading the wall of text I’ve just written above and because it is too long of information for you to swallow, you probably missed out somewhere; I will summarise the upper and lower hands of each so that you’re easier to compare among three of them. ExpressJS v4.16.3 Koa uses async/await “out of the box.” Express is callback-oriented. Simple, minimalistic, flexible and scalable. This is because you can stop using callbacks, deal with errors faster, and because Koa itself is a very lightweight framework. Node.js: Node.js is an open-source and cross-platform runtime environment for executing JavaScript code outside a browser. console.log('Server running at:', server.info.uri); I’ll compare and contrast them, demonstrate the “ergonomics” of the code, and talk about scenarios in which you might prefer one over the other. console.log(`Express is listening to http://localhost:${PORT}`); If you prefer to use a complete framework without having to pull in multiple dependencies, Express is the better choice. Node.js is designed to be lightweight and provides only fundamental functionalities as a web server to boost web application development speed. Blankie: Allows developers to set the Content-Security-Policy header directives easily. The best practices for improving express performance includes: A simple “Hello World” app has the following performance request per second: A 2017 study on Node.js frameworks, showed that Hapi performed the worst compared to the other frameworks. As Koa is a lightweight and modular framework, you can create a web application from scratch, upon request and without tonnes of unwanted materials. Using a reverse proxy that performs supporting operations on the requests, handle error pages, caching, compression, serving files and load balancing among other things. In a future post, we will look into Next, Nuxt and Nest.