Alternatives to Koa logo

Alternatives to Koa

Fastify, hapi, ExpressJS, Flask, and Django REST framework are the most popular alternatives and competitors to Koa.
800
482
+ 1
12

What is Koa and what are its top alternatives?

Koa aims to be a smaller, more expressive, and more robust foundation for web applications and APIs. Through leveraging generators Koa allows you to ditch callbacks and greatly increase error-handling. Koa does not bundle any middleware.
Koa is a tool in the Microframeworks (Backend) category of a tech stack.
Koa is an open source tool with 34.7K GitHub stars and 3.2K GitHub forks. Here’s a link to Koa's open source repository on GitHub

Top Alternatives to Koa

  • Fastify
    Fastify

    Fastify is a web framework highly focused on speed and low overhead. It is inspired from Hapi and Express and as far as we know, it is one of the fastest web frameworks in town. Use Fastify can increase your throughput up to 100%. ...

  • hapi
    hapi

    hapi is a simple to use configuration-centric framework with built-in support for input validation, caching, authentication, and other essential facilities for building web applications and services. ...

  • ExpressJS
    ExpressJS

    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. ...

  • Flask
    Flask

    Flask is intended for getting started very quickly and was developed with best intentions in mind. ...

  • Django REST framework
    Django REST framework

    It is a powerful and flexible toolkit that makes it easy to build Web APIs.

  • Sinatra
    Sinatra

    Sinatra is a DSL for quickly creating web applications in Ruby with minimal effort. ...

  • FastAPI
    FastAPI

    It is a modern, fast (high-performance), web framework for building APIs with Python 3.6+ based on standard Python type hints. ...

  • TypeORM
    TypeORM

    It supports both Active Record and Data Mapper patterns, unlike all other JavaScript ORMs currently in existence, which means you can write high quality, loosely coupled, scalable, maintainable applications the most productive way. ...

Koa alternatives & related posts

Fastify logo

Fastify

463
501
95
Fast and low overhead web framework, for Node.js
463
501
+ 1
95
PROS OF FASTIFY
  • 21
    Performance
  • 13
    Easy to use
  • 12
    Lightweight
  • 9
    Open source
  • 9
    Middleware
  • 6
    Highly customizable
  • 4
    Developer friendly
  • 4
    Decorators
  • 4
    Low overhead
  • 4
    Built-in Typescript support
  • 3
    Mature
  • 3
    Schema based
  • 3
    Plugins
CONS OF FASTIFY
  • 1
    Small community

related Fastify posts

Paul Whittemore
Developer and Owner at Appurist Software · | 15 upvotes · 1.1M views

I'm building most projects using: Server: either Fastify (all projects going forward) or ExpressJS on Node.js (existing, previously) on the server side, and Client app: either Vuetify (currently) or Quasar Framework (going forward) on Vue.js with vuex on Electron for the UI to deliver both web-based and desktop applications for multiple platforms.

The direct support for Android and iOS in Quasar Framework will make it my go-to client UI platform for any new client-side or web work. On the server, I'll probably use Fastly for all my server work, unless I get into Go more in the future.

Update: The mobile support in Quasar is not a sufficiently compelling reason to move me from Vuetify. I have decided to stick with Vuetify for a UI for Vue, as it is richer in components and enables a really great-looking professional result. For mobile platforms, I will just use Cordova to wrap the Vue+Vuetify app for mobile, and Electron to wrap it for desktop platforms.

See more
Paul Whittemore
Developer and Owner at Appurist Software · | 1 upvote · 210.9K views
Shared insights
on
FastifyFastifyKoaKoaExpressJSExpressJS

Will base most server-side APIs on Fastify . Smaller, faster, easier. Faster than Koa; and twice as fast as ExpressJS.

See more
hapi logo

hapi

436
452
87
Server Framework for Node.js
436
452
+ 1
87
PROS OF HAPI
  • 27
    Makes me Hapi making REST APIs
  • 14
    Simpler than other REST libraries
  • 14
    Configuration
  • 13
    Quality Driven Ecosystem
  • 13
    Modularization
  • 5
    Easy testability
  • 1
    Better validation
  • 0
    Restify
CONS OF HAPI
    Be the first to leave a con

    related hapi posts

    What is the best way to increase your income as a freelancer in 2019? What frameworks should be the best to learn? React Node.js Docker Kubernetes Sequelize Mongoose MongoDB ExpressJS hapi Based on trends I've picked up a JS full stack. If you need to work under startups you may replace React with Vue.js . If you want to work in outsourcing Angular 2+ may be better.

    What is your opinion?

    See more
    ExpressJS logo

    ExpressJS

    33.8K
    23.1K
    1.6K
    Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple
    33.8K
    23.1K
    + 1
    1.6K
    PROS OF EXPRESSJS
    • 380
      Simple
    • 336
      Node.js
    • 244
      Javascript
    • 193
      High performance
    • 152
      Robust routing
    • 73
      Middlewares
    • 71
      Open source
    • 59
      Great community
    • 37
      Hybrid web applications
    • 16
      Well documented
    • 9
      Sinatra inspired
    • 9
      Rapid development
    • 7
      Socket connection
    • 7
      Isomorphic js.. superfast and easy
    • 5
      Light weight
    • 4
      Resource available for learning
    • 4
      Npm
    • 3
      Event loop
    • 3
      Callbacks
    • 2
      Data stream
    CONS OF EXPRESSJS
    • 27
      Not python
    • 17
      Overrated
    • 14
      No multithreading
    • 9
      Javascript
    • 5
      Not fast
    • 2
      Easily Insecure for Novices

    related ExpressJS posts

    Simon Reymann
    Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH · | 27 upvotes · 4.6M views

    Our whole Node.js backend stack consists of the following tools:

    • Lerna as a tool for multi package and multi repository management
    • npm as package manager
    • NestJS as Node.js framework
    • TypeScript as programming language
    • ExpressJS as web server
    • Swagger UI for visualizing and interacting with the API’s resources
    • Postman as a tool for API development
    • TypeORM as object relational mapping layer
    • JSON Web Token for access token management

    The main reason we have chosen Node.js over PHP is related to the following artifacts:

    • Made for the web and widely in use: Node.js is a software platform for developing server-side network services. Well-known projects that rely on Node.js include the blogging software Ghost, the project management tool Trello and the operating system WebOS. Node.js requires the JavaScript runtime environment V8, which was specially developed by Google for the popular Chrome browser. This guarantees a very resource-saving architecture, which qualifies Node.js especially for the operation of a web server. Ryan Dahl, the developer of Node.js, released the first stable version on May 27, 2009. He developed Node.js out of dissatisfaction with the possibilities that JavaScript offered at the time. The basic functionality of Node.js has been mapped with JavaScript since the first version, which can be expanded with a large number of different modules. The current package managers (npm or Yarn) for Node.js know more than 1,000,000 of these modules.
    • Fast server-side solutions: Node.js adopts the JavaScript "event-loop" to create non-blocking I/O applications that conveniently serve simultaneous events. With the standard available asynchronous processing within JavaScript/TypeScript, highly scalable, server-side solutions can be realized. The efficient use of the CPU and the RAM is maximized and more simultaneous requests can be processed than with conventional multi-thread servers.
    • A language along the entire stack: Widely used frameworks such as React or AngularJS or Vue.js, which we prefer, are written in JavaScript/TypeScript. If Node.js is now used on the server side, you can use all the advantages of a uniform script language throughout the entire application development. The same language in the back- and frontend simplifies the maintenance of the application and also the coordination within the development team.
    • Flexibility: Node.js sets very few strict dependencies, rules and guidelines and thus grants a high degree of flexibility in application development. There are no strict conventions so that the appropriate architecture, design structures, modules and features can be freely selected for the development.
    See more

    Repost

    Overview: To put it simply, we plan to use the MERN stack to build our web application. MongoDB will be used as our primary database. We will use ExpressJS alongside Node.js to set up our API endpoints. Additionally, we plan to use React to build our SPA on the client side and use Redis on the server side as our primary caching solution. Initially, while working on the project, we plan to deploy our server and client both on Heroku . However, Heroku is very limited and we will need the benefits of an Infrastructure as a Service so we will use Amazon EC2 to later deploy our final version of the application.

    Serverside: nodemon will allow us to automatically restart a running instance of our node app when files changes take place. We decided to use MongoDB because it is a non relational database which uses the Document Object Model. This allows a lot of flexibility as compared to a RDMS like SQL which requires a very structural model of data that does not change too much. Another strength of MongoDB is its ease in scalability. We will use Mongoose along side MongoDB to model our application data. Additionally, we will host our MongoDB cluster remotely on MongoDB Atlas. Bcrypt will be used to encrypt user passwords that will be stored in the DB. This is to avoid the risks of storing plain text passwords. Moreover, we will use Cloudinary to store images uploaded by the user. We will also use the Twilio SendGrid API to enable automated emails sent by our application. To protect private API endpoints, we will use JSON Web Token and Passport. Also, PayPal will be used as a payment gateway to accept payments from users.

    Client Side: As mentioned earlier, we will use React to build our SPA. React uses a virtual DOM which is very efficient in rendering a page. Also React will allow us to reuse components. Furthermore, it is very popular and there is a large community that uses React so it can be helpful if we run into issues. We also plan to make a cross platform mobile application later and using React will allow us to reuse a lot of our code with React Native. Redux will be used to manage state. Redux works great with React and will help us manage a global state in the app and avoid the complications of each component having its own state. Additionally, we will use Bootstrap components and custom CSS to style our app.

    Other: Git will be used for version control. During the later stages of our project, we will use Google Analytics to collect useful data regarding user interactions. Moreover, Slack will be our primary communication tool. Also, we will use Visual Studio Code as our primary code editor because it is very light weight and has a wide variety of extensions that will boost productivity. Postman will be used to interact with and debug our API endpoints.

    See more
    Flask logo

    Flask

    18.9K
    15.8K
    82
    A microframework for Python based on Werkzeug, Jinja 2 and good intentions
    18.9K
    15.8K
    + 1
    82
    PROS OF FLASK
    • 14
      Flexibilty
    • 10
      For it flexibility
    • 9
      Flexibilty and easy to use
    • 8
      Flask
    • 7
      User friendly
    • 6
      Secured
    • 5
      Unopinionated
    • 3
      Orm
    • 2
      Secure
    • 1
      Beautiful code
    • 1
      Easy to get started
    • 1
      Easy to develop and maintain applications
    • 1
      Not JS
    • 1
      Easy to use
    • 1
      Documentation
    • 1
      Python
    • 1
      Minimal
    • 1
      Lightweight
    • 1
      Easy to setup and get it going
    • 1
      Perfect for small to large projects with superb docs.
    • 1
      Easy to integrate
    • 1
      Speed
    • 1
      Get started quickly
    • 1
      Customizable
    • 1
      Simple to use
    • 1
      Powerful
    • 1
      Rapid development
    • 0
      Open source
    • 0
      Well designed
    • 0
      Productive
    • 0
      Awesome
    • 0
      Expressive
    • 0
      Love it
    CONS OF FLASK
    • 10
      Not JS
    • 7
      Context
    • 5
      Not fast
    • 1
      Don't has many module as in spring

    related Flask posts

    James Man
    Software Engineer at Pinterest · | 45 upvotes · 2.7M views
    Shared insights
    on
    FlaskFlaskReactReact
    at

    One of our top priorities at Pinterest is fostering a safe and trustworthy experience for all Pinners. As Pinterest’s user base and ads business grow, the review volume has been increasing exponentially, and more content types require moderation support. To solve greater engineering and operational challenges at scale, we needed a highly-reliable and performant system to detect, report, evaluate, and act on abusive content and users and so we created Pinqueue.

    Pinqueue-3.0 serves as a generic platform for content moderation and human labeling. Under the hood, Pinqueue3.0 is a Flask + React app powered by Pinterest’s very own Gestalt UI framework. On the backend, Pinqueue3.0 heavily relies on PinLater, a Pinterest-built reliable asynchronous job execution system, to handle the requests for enqueueing and action-taking. Using PinLater has significantly strengthened Pinqueue3.0’s overall infra with its capability of processing a massive load of events with configurable retry policies.

    Hundreds of millions of people around the world use Pinterest to discover and do what they love, and our job is to protect them from abusive and harmful content. We’re committed to providing an inspirational yet safe experience to all Pinners. Solving trust & safety problems is a joint effort requiring expertise across multiple domains. Pinqueue3.0 not only plays a critical role in responsively taking down unsafe content, it also has become an enabler for future ML/automation initiatives by providing high-quality human labels. Going forward, we will continue to improve the review experience, measure review quality and collaborate with our machine learning teams to solve content moderation beyond manual reviews at an even larger scale.

    See more

    Hey, so I developed a basic application with Python. But to use it, you need a python interpreter. I want to add a GUI to make it more appealing. What should I choose to develop a GUI? I have very basic skills in front end development (CSS, JavaScript). I am fluent in python. I'm looking for a tool that is easy to use and doesn't require too much code knowledge. I have recently tried out Flask, but it is kinda complicated. Should I stick with it, move to Django, or is there another nice framework to use?

    See more
    Django REST framework logo

    Django REST framework

    1.9K
    2K
    310
    Web APIs for Django
    1.9K
    2K
    + 1
    310
    PROS OF DJANGO REST FRAMEWORK
    • 66
      Easy to use
    • 65
      Browsable api
    • 53
      Great documentation
    • 50
      Customizable
    • 42
      Fast development
    • 9
      Easy to use, customizable, pluggable, serializer
    • 8
      Python
    • 7
      Django ORM
    • 5
      FastSerialize
    • 3
      Less code
    • 2
      Easy implementation
    CONS OF DJANGO REST FRAMEWORK
    • 2
      Bad documentation
    • 2
      Reimplements Django functionality
    • 1
      No support for URL Namespaces
    • 0
      Bad CSRF handling

    related Django REST framework posts

    Arjiv Jivithkumar
    Junior Product Manager at Vozz · | 13 upvotes · 71.6K views

    Hey everyone! I'm planning on building a personal project - this will be my first full-stack project and will be a web app.

    The way it will work is that users will be able to post groups. This can be, groups for studying or groups for work, etc. They can also set the desired group size (e.g. limit the group to 3 members). Other users can then join said group - once the group is full, it will automatically close.

    What tech stack would you all recommend for this? I have a lot of experience with Django so maybe that will be good for the backend but I'm not sure where to go from there. I've heard using the Django REST framework with a React frontend might be good. Always open to learning new technologies and thanks in advance!

    See more

    I am planning on creating an application using the following tech-stack. Vue.js (TypeScript) for the front-end, Django (specifically Django REST framework) for the server-side work, and using PostgreSQL as the database. Is there any reason NOT to use this tech stack mentioned or are there better options? Without giving away too much info, my app will be logging information from the user, displaying this information, setting goals, displaying visual graphs, a friend system where you can add other people etc...

    See more
    Sinatra logo

    Sinatra

    1.1K
    498
    212
    Classy web-development dressed in a DSL
    1.1K
    498
    + 1
    212
    PROS OF SINATRA
    • 65
      Lightweight
    • 50
      Simple
    • 35
      Open source
    • 20
      Ruby
    • 13
      Great ecosystem of tools
    • 10
      Ease of use
    • 8
      If you know http you know sinatra
    • 5
      Large Community
    • 5
      Fast
    • 1
      Flexibilty and easy to use
    CONS OF SINATRA
      Be the first to leave a con

      related Sinatra posts

      FastAPI logo

      FastAPI

      1.1K
      587
      37
      A high performance, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for production web framework
      1.1K
      587
      + 1
      37
      PROS OF FASTAPI
      • 10
        Python
      • 8
        Rapid Development
      • 6
        Documentation
      • 5
        Super Lightweight
      • 5
        Open Source
      • 2
        Fast performance
      • 1
        Add a pro
      CONS OF FASTAPI
        Be the first to leave a con

        related FastAPI posts

        TypeORM logo

        TypeORM

        717
        800
        78
        An ORM that can run in NodeJS and others
        717
        800
        + 1
        78
        PROS OF TYPEORM
        • 29
          Typescript
        • 11
          Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQLite, MS SQL Ser
        • 9
          Easy setup
        • 8
          Cons of TypeORM
        • 7
          Promise Based
        • 7
          Works in NodeJS, Browser, Ionic, Cordova and Electron p
        • 6
          Support MySQL & MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, Sqlite
        • 1
          Support MongoDB
        CONS OF TYPEORM
        • 5
          Completely abandoned by its creator
        • 3
          Too complex for what it does
        • 2
          Doesn't really support native javascript
        • 1
          Not proper/real type safety
        • 1
          Cannot use query on any relation

        related TypeORM posts

        Simon Reymann
        Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH · | 27 upvotes · 4.6M views

        Our whole Node.js backend stack consists of the following tools:

        • Lerna as a tool for multi package and multi repository management
        • npm as package manager
        • NestJS as Node.js framework
        • TypeScript as programming language
        • ExpressJS as web server
        • Swagger UI for visualizing and interacting with the API’s resources
        • Postman as a tool for API development
        • TypeORM as object relational mapping layer
        • JSON Web Token for access token management

        The main reason we have chosen Node.js over PHP is related to the following artifacts:

        • Made for the web and widely in use: Node.js is a software platform for developing server-side network services. Well-known projects that rely on Node.js include the blogging software Ghost, the project management tool Trello and the operating system WebOS. Node.js requires the JavaScript runtime environment V8, which was specially developed by Google for the popular Chrome browser. This guarantees a very resource-saving architecture, which qualifies Node.js especially for the operation of a web server. Ryan Dahl, the developer of Node.js, released the first stable version on May 27, 2009. He developed Node.js out of dissatisfaction with the possibilities that JavaScript offered at the time. The basic functionality of Node.js has been mapped with JavaScript since the first version, which can be expanded with a large number of different modules. The current package managers (npm or Yarn) for Node.js know more than 1,000,000 of these modules.
        • Fast server-side solutions: Node.js adopts the JavaScript "event-loop" to create non-blocking I/O applications that conveniently serve simultaneous events. With the standard available asynchronous processing within JavaScript/TypeScript, highly scalable, server-side solutions can be realized. The efficient use of the CPU and the RAM is maximized and more simultaneous requests can be processed than with conventional multi-thread servers.
        • A language along the entire stack: Widely used frameworks such as React or AngularJS or Vue.js, which we prefer, are written in JavaScript/TypeScript. If Node.js is now used on the server side, you can use all the advantages of a uniform script language throughout the entire application development. The same language in the back- and frontend simplifies the maintenance of the application and also the coordination within the development team.
        • Flexibility: Node.js sets very few strict dependencies, rules and guidelines and thus grants a high degree of flexibility in application development. There are no strict conventions so that the appropriate architecture, design structures, modules and features can be freely selected for the development.
        See more
        Martin Johannesson
        Senior Software Developer at IT Minds · | 14 upvotes · 2.8M views

        At IT Minds we create customized internal or #B2B web and mobile apps. I have a go to stack that I pitch to our customers consisting of 3 core areas. 1) A data core #backend . 2) A micro #serverless #backend. 3) A user client #frontend.

        For the Data Core I create a backend using TypeScript Node.js and with TypeORM connecting to a PostgreSQL Exposing an action based api with Apollo GraphQL

        For the micro serverless backend, which purpose is verification for authentication, autorization, logins and the likes. It is created with Next.js api pages. Using MongoDB to store essential information, caching etc.

        Finally the frontend is built with React using Next.js , TypeScript and @Apollo. We create the frontend as a PWA and have a AMP landing page by default.

        See more