In this comparison, I will compare hono vs express.js. Some of the things I will compare are documentation, community, performance, and feature completeness.
Documentation
Like most major frameworks. Hono and Express have complete documentation. Which can even be used by beginners. Having easy navigation, which we can even know where we should start learning this from. However, in terms of the beauty of the interface, I personally prefer the Hono documentation website, because Hono has a menu on the left (sidebar), which is easier to reach.
Community
If we look now, express has a much larger number of downloads than hono.
Current number of express downloads:
Current number of hono downloads:
From the numbers above, we can see that express has a higher number of communities than hono. However, historically, since 2023, hono has had a greater increase in the number of downloads, while express remains at the same number.
History of express download count on NPM:
History of hono download count on NPM:
From the number of histories, it is possible that the number of hono users will increase even more in the future.
Performance
In performance testing, I tried to compare hono fairly with express. Starting from ping trials with several virtual users, and experiments using several features that might be comparable. The comparison of these three frameworks only compares hono typescript with runtime type bun, hono javascript with runtime type node.js, and express javascript with runtime type node.js.
Testing 1000 Virtual Users with K6
This time, we try to compare the results of testing using k6 with 1000 virtual users in 1 second. The test was carried out in 30 seconds. and here are the results.
K6 Testing Only with Ping Pong Code
In this test, I tried to create a code with a /ping route that returns pong! and logs "someone pinged me". Here is the code from the 2 frameworks.
Ping Hono Code Typescript Bun & Ping Hono Code Javascript Node.js
import { Hono } from 'hono'
const app = new Hono()
app.get( '/ping', ( c ) =>
{
console.log( "someone pinged me" )
return c.text( 'pong!' )
} )
export default {
port: 3001,
fetch: app.fetch,
}Node.js Express Javascript Ping Code
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const port = 3001;
app.get('/ping', (req, res) => {
console.log("someone pinged me");
res.send('pong!');
});
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log(`Example app listening on port ${port}`);
});Ping Hono Typescript Bun Test Results
data_received..................: 3.6 MB 119 kB/s
data_sent......................: 2.5 MB 83 kB/s
http_req_blocked...............: avg=225.58µs min=1µs med=3µs max=31.66ms p(90)=7µs p(95)=16.04µs
http_req_connecting............: avg=206.36µs min=0s med=0s max=17.92ms p(90)=0s p(95)=0s
http_req_duration..............: avg=4.24ms min=48µs med=3.18ms max=39.06ms p(90)=9.37ms p(95)=10.78ms
{ expected_response:true }...: avg=4.24ms min=48µs med=3.18ms max=39.06ms p(90)=9.37ms p(95)=10.78ms
http_req_failed................: 0.00% 0 out of 30000
http_req_receiving.............: avg=126.23µs min=4µs med=17µs max=16.26ms p(90)=55µs p(95)=102µs
http_req_sending...............: avg=336.67µs min=2µs med=9µs max=28.52ms p(90)=642µs p(95)=1.45ms
http_req_tls_handshaking.......: avg=0s min=0s med=0s max=0s p(90)=0s p(95)=0s
http_req_waiting...............: avg=3.77ms min=34µs med=2.96ms max=29.01ms p(90)=8.55ms p(95)=9.6ms
http_reqs......................: 30000 992.329853/s
iteration_duration.............: avg=1s min=1s med=1s max=1.04s p(90)=1.01s p(95)=1.01s
iterations.....................: 30000 992.329853/s
vus............................: 1000 min=1000 max=1000
vus_max........................: 1000 min=1000 max=1000Ping Hono Javascript Node.js Test Results
data_received..................: 4.9 MB 164 kB/s
data_sent......................: 2.5 MB 83 kB/s
http_req_blocked...............: avg=4.9ms min=0s med=2µs max=1.01s p(90)=6µs p(95)=31µs
http_req_connecting............: avg=4.88ms min=0s med=0s max=1s p(90)=0s p(95)=0s
http_req_duration..............: avg=2.22ms min=0s med=1.05ms max=57.11ms p(90)=3.31ms p(95)=4.12ms
{ expected_response:true }...: avg=2.21ms min=44µs med=1.03ms max=57.11ms p(90)=3.24ms p(95)=4.08ms
http_req_failed................: 1.53% 459 out of 29866
http_req_receiving.............: avg=27.26µs min=0s med=13µs max=7.84ms p(90)=45µs p(95)=68µs
http_req_sending...............: avg=54.76µs min=0s med=5µs max=4.3ms p(90)=55µs p(95)=172µs
http_req_tls_handshaking.......: avg=0s min=0s med=0s max=0s p(90)=0s p(95)=0s
http_req_waiting...............: avg=2.14ms min=0s med=985µs max=56.35ms p(90)=3.23ms p(95)=4.05ms
http_reqs......................: 29866 991.048311/s
iteration_duration.............: avg=1s min=1s med=1s max=2.02s p(90)=1s p(95)=1s
iterations.....................: 29866 991.048311/s
vus............................: 1000 min=1000 max=1000
vus_max........................: 1000 min=1000 max=1000Node.js Javascript Ping Express Test Results
data_received..................: 6.6 MB 217 kB/s
data_sent......................: 2.5 MB 83 kB/s
http_req_blocked...............: avg=2.16ms min=0s med=2µs max=202.62ms p(90)=8µs p(95)=8.53ms
http_req_connecting............: avg=2.15ms min=0s med=0s max=202.49ms p(90)=0s p(95)=8.41ms
http_req_duration..............: avg=2.37ms min=0s med=707µs max=61.1ms p(90)=4.95ms p(95)=8.48ms
{ expected_response:true }...: avg=2.08ms min=77µs med=630µs max=61.1ms p(90)=3.61ms p(95)=5.99ms
http_req_failed................: 5.13% 1539 out of 30000
http_req_receiving.............: avg=12.69µs min=0s med=9µs max=862µs p(90)=25µs p(95)=32µs
http_req_sending...............: avg=35.86µs min=0s med=3µs max=4.04ms p(90)=15µs p(95)=51.04µs
http_req_tls_handshaking.......: avg=0s min=0s med=0s max=0s p(90)=0s p(95)=0s
http_req_waiting...............: avg=2.32ms min=0s med=688µs max=61.08ms p(90)=4.9ms p(95)=8.24ms
http_reqs......................: 30000 989.805596/s
iteration_duration.............: avg=1s min=1s med=1s max=1.2s p(90)=1s p(95)=1.03s
iterations.....................: 30000 989.805596/s
vus............................: 1000 min=1000 max=1000
vus_max........................: 1000 min=1000 max=1000Ping Test Results Conclusion
Overall, hono typescript bun is superior to express. Especially in stability and efficiency in receiving HTTP requests.
Here are the reasons why hono is superior to express.
- Hono typescript bun has no failed requests at all, unlike the express results which have a failure rate of around 5.13%.
- Hono typescript bun has faster blocking and request connection times, where Hono has an average blocked time of 225.58µs and an average request connection time of 206.36µs, in contrast to Hono which is only in micro seconds, Express has an average blocked time of 2.16ms and an average request connection time of 2.15ms.
- Hono has a more stable request waiting compared to express, although express has a lower average request waiting (2.32ms) and hono reaches (3.77ms), but hono has a lower maximum value, namely 29.01ms while express reaches 61.08ms.
Although express has a slightly faster average request time, hono's stability and reliability are better than express. So the overall result is hono bun typescript is better than express node javascript in this test. Need further testing? we can discuss here.
Next let's compare, hono javascript node.js vs express javascript node.js.
Overall hono javascript node.js is superior to express javascript node.js. Here are the reasons why hono is superior:
- Hono javascript node.js is superior in speed, having a faster average request time of 2.22ms with a maximum value of 57.11ms while express javascript node.js has an average request time of 2.37ms with a maximum value of 61.1ms.
- Hono javascript node.js has a lower request failed rate, which is 1.53%, while express has a request failed rate of 5.13%.
- Hono javascript node.js is slightly faster in completing requests, which is 991 per second while express is 990 per second.
From these results, it can be concluded that hono typescript bun or hono javascript node.js is better than express javascript node.js.
Completeness of Features
In this session we will discuss middleware and utilities. Because both hono and express. Have features that I think are more than enough for making production applications.
Middleware
Hono has a lot of middleware, from basic auth to including 3rd Party middleware, but express also has a lot of middleware. So for this comparison, it might depend on our respective projects, what kind of middleware we need. So I think they both provide middleware services that are very helpful for our projects. But if we dive a little into what middleware is in their documentation, maybe for a start up project, hono middleware will be very helpful for us.
Utility
On the utility side, the features provided in the hono and express documentation have relatively the same number. However, hono has more advantages. Like helpers for css, html helpers that we can use by rendering jsx, which even from the three things I have not found any helpers in the express utility documentation. But basically, because express has a large community, we can use 3rd party for this.
Conclusion
Don't hesitate to try using hono, even though this framework is relatively new, but the stability, completeness of features, and comfort in coding are extraordinary. And we can use the typescript language which makes it easier for us to identify data types. As for which one is better, you decide for your project.
Don't forget to keep smile 😊, and always be happy 😃
