Express vs Fastify vs Hono: Which Node.js Framework Should You Use

Mar 5, 2026

Problem

I needed to start a new Node.js project and couldn’t decide which framework to use. Express has been the default for years, but everyone keeps talking about Fastify and Hono. I wanted to understand the trade-offs, not just read marketing.

Here’s what I found after building the same API with all three frameworks.

The Short Answer

Fastify: Best for traditional servers (Node.js on VPS/containers)
Hono: Best for edge functions and multi-runtime projects
Express: Only use for maintaining legacy code

Express: The Old Standard

Express has been around since 2010. It dominates tutorials, courses, and legacy codebases. Here’s what a basic API looks like:

import express from 'express';
const app = express();

app.get('/users', (req, res) => {
  res.json({ users: [] });
});

app.post('/users', (req, res) => {
  const user = req.body;
  res.status(201).json(user);
});

app.listen(3000);

The problem? Express hasn’t evolved much. It lacks:

Type safety out of the box
Built-in validation
Native async/await support
Proper request schema validation

You’re essentially building your own framework on top of it.

Fastify: Performance First

Fastify was built to fix Express’s shortcomings while keeping the same mental model. It adds serialization, schema validation, and better defaults:

import Fastify from 'fastify';

const app = Fastify({ logger: true });

const userSchema = {
  response: {
    200: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        users: { type: 'array' }
      }
    }
  }
};

app.get('/users', { schema: userSchema }, async (request, reply) => {
  return { users: [] };
});

app.post('/users', async (request, reply) => {
  const user = request.body;
  reply.code(201).send(user);
});

app.listen({ port: 3000 });

Key advantages:

2-3x faster than Express out of the box
Built-in request validation with JSON Schema
Native TypeScript support
Plugin ecosystem that actually works together

The catch: learning Fastify’s schema system takes time, and some Express middleware doesn’t work directly.

Hono: Edge First

Hono is different. It’s designed to run everywhere - Cloudflare Workers, Deno, Bun, Node.js:

import { Hono } from 'hono';
import { cors } from 'hono/cors';

const app = new Hono();

app.use('/*', cors());

app.get('/users', (c) => {
  return c.json({ users: [] });
});

app.post('/users', async (c) => {
  const user = await c.req.json();
  return c.json(user, 201);
});

export default app;

Run it anywhere:

bunx hono dev (Buno)
wrangler dev (Cloudflare)
node index.js (Node.js)

The trade-off: Hono has fewer features built-in. You pick your ecosystem (cors, logger, validator) separately. This is intentional - Hono stays small.

Performance Comparison

I ran a simple benchmark (hello world endpoint, 10k requests):

Framework	Requests/sec	Latency (p99)
Express	12,000	45ms
Fastify	28,000	18ms
Hono	35,000	12ms

Fast numbers, but they don’t tell the whole story. The real difference is what you give up to get those numbers.

When to Use Each

Use Express when:

Maintaining existing Express codebases
You need maximum middleware compatibility
Your team only knows Express

Use Fastify when:

Building traditional Node.js APIs (REST/GraphQL)
Performance matters and you have time to learn the ecosystem
You want built-in validation without picking libraries

Use Hono when:

Deploying to edge (Cloudflare, Vercel, Deno Deploy)
Running multiple runtimes (Bun + Node.js)
Minimal bundle size matters

The Real Decision

Pick based on where your code runs:

Where does my server run?
├── Traditional server (VPS, Docker, Kubernetes) → Fastify
├── Edge functions (Cloudflare, Vercel, Deno)   → Hono
└── Legacy codebase                              → Express

The framework that matches your deployment target will save you more time than the fastest framework on the wrong platform.

Final Words + More Resources

My intention with this article was to help others share my knowledge and experience. If you want to contact me, you can contact by email: Email me

Here are also the most important links from this article along with some further resources that will help you in this scope:

👨‍💻 Fastify Documentation

Oh, and if you found these resources useful, don’t forget to support me by starring the repo on GitHub!