Fastify and Hono: Modern Alternatives to Express, with a Look at Bun

In recent years, Express has established itself as the de facto standard for back-end development with Node.js. However, its development has slowed down, prompting the community to explore more modern and high-performance alternatives. In this article, we analyze two emerging frameworks, Fastify and Hono, as possible alternatives to Express, and Bun as an innovative option to replace Node.js and npm. Let’s take a closer look at the features of these technologies and how they can enhance the developer experience.

_Alternatives to Express: Fastify and Hono

Fastify: Performance and Plugins

Fastify is a well-established framework that offers a plugin-based architecture, improving code modularity and making it easier to integrate new features. Some key characteristics include:

• High Performance: Fastify is designed to be one of the fastest web frameworks available, capable of handling up to 76,000 requests per second, depending on code complexity (GitHub – Fastify).
• Plugin Ecosystem: Fastify is fully extensible through hooks, plugins, and decorators, allowing for easy feature additions.
• Similar Experience to Express: The syntax and approach of Fastify are familiar to Express users, making migration more intuitive.

Despite its strengths, Fastify can be complex for those accustomed to a more linear development flow, as every element is treated as a plugin.

Hono: Lightweight and Serverless-Compatible

Hono is a more recent alternative that stands out for its lightweight nature and optimization for serverless environments like Vercel and Cloudflare Workers. Its main features include:

• Built on Web Standards: Since it is based on web standards, it is compatible with Bun, Deno, AWS Lambda, Netlify, Vercel, and other platforms. With an adapter, it is also compatible with Node.
• Flexible Middleware: Hono offers flexible middleware that enables more refined request handling compared to Express (Hono Docs).
• Integrated Validation with Zod: Hono integrates data validation using Zod, making input management easier.
• Automatic Route Typing: Hono supports automatic route typing, improving code security.
• RPC Support: Hono allows type sharing between back-end and front-end, facilitating RPC implementation.

Hono’s syntax is familiar to those who already use Express, making it an appealing option for those seeking a more modern solution without drastically changing their development approach.

Bun: An Alternative to Node.js and npm

Bun is a high-performance JavaScript runtime designed to be a more efficient and faster alternative to Node.js. Additionally, it includes a highly performant package manager to replace npm. Bun offers:

• Compatibility with Node: Bun aims to be compatible with most existing Node modules, making the transition easier for developers.
• Superior Performance: Bun is designed to be faster than Node.js, with reduced execution times.
• Native TypeScript Support: Bun natively supports TypeScript, eliminating the need for a separate build step.

Bun represents an intriguing alternative for those seeking greater efficiency in their Node.js applications, though some modules still require work to achieve full compatibility.

_Conclusions: The Future of Back-End Development?

Fastify, Hono, and Bun represent a new generation of tools aimed at making back-end development more efficient and high-performing. Hono emerges as an especially interesting option for those looking for a lightweight and scalable framework, while Bun offers an innovative alternative to Node.js. For those seeking an experience similar to Express but with greater modularity and performance, Fastify remains a solid choice. Exploring these alternatives can make a significant difference in improving productivity and efficiency in one’s technology stack.