Javalin vs Ktor

Overview

Javalin

Stacks30

Followers64

Votes3

Ktor

Stacks173

Followers339

Votes27

GitHub Stars14.1K

Forks1.2K

Javalin vs Ktor: What are the differences?

Routing and handling: Javalin provides a straightforward routing API where routes can be defined using lambda functions, making it easy to handle HTTP requests and define custom endpoints. On the other hand, Ktor uses a more declarative approach with a DSL (Domain Specific Language) for routing and handling requests, allowing for greater flexibility in defining routes and handling different types of requests.
Scalability: Javalin is lightweight and optimized for small to medium-sized projects, making it a good choice for building microservices or simple web applications. Ktor, on the other hand, is built on an asynchronous programming model, making it well-suited for high-traffic and scalable applications that need to handle many concurrent requests.
Framework complexity: Javalin aims to be minimalistic and easy to use, providing only the essential features required for building web applications. Ktor, on the other hand, provides a more feature-rich framework with built-in support for features like authentication, sessions, and server-sent events, making it a better choice for complex enterprise applications that need these additional features out of the box.
Coroutines vs Threads: Javalin uses traditional threads for handling concurrency, which can have limitations in terms of scalability and resource usage. Ktor, on the other hand, uses coroutines, which are lightweight and more efficient, allowing for better concurrency and resource utilization.
Integration with other libraries: Javalin has better integration with third-party libraries and frameworks, as it has been around for longer and has a larger community. Ktor, on the other hand, has been developed by JetBrains, the creators of Kotlin, and provides seamless integration with other JetBrains tools, making it a good choice for Kotlin developers who already use JetBrains tools like IntelliJ IDEA.
Framework popularity: Javalin has been around since 2017 and has gained popularity among Java developers due to its simplicity and ease of use. Ktor, on the other hand, is a relatively newer framework but has been steadily gaining popularity with Kotlin developers, especially those who prefer a more modern and asynchronous programming model.

In Summary, Javalin and Ktor differ in their routing and handling approach, scalability, framework complexity, concurrency model, integration with other libraries, and popularity among developers.

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Advice on Javalin, Ktor

Juan José

May 1, 2020

Decided

I developed Hexagon heavily inspired in these great tools because of the following reasons:

Take full advantage of the Kotlin programming language without any strings attached to Java (as a language).
I wanted to be able to replace the HTTP server library used with different adapters (Jetty, Netty, etc.) and though right now there is only one, more are coming.
Have a complete tool to do full applications, though you can use other libraries, Hexagon comes with a dependency injection helper, settings loading from different sources and HTTP Client, so it comes with (batteries included).

Right now I'm using it for my pet projects, and I'm happy with it.

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Javalin	Ktor
Javalin started as a fork of the Spark framework but quickly turned into a ground-up rewrite influenced by express.js. Both of these web frameworks are inspired by the modern micro web framework grandfather: Sinatra, so if you’re coming from Ruby then Javalin shouldn’t feel too unfamiliar.	It is a framework for building asynchronous servers and clients in connected systems using the Kotlin programming language.
-	Unopinionated;Asynchronous;Testable
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 14.1K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 1.2K
Stacks 30	Stacks 173
Followers 64	Followers 339
Votes 3	Votes 27
Pros & Cons
Pros 1 Lightweight 1 Does not require IDEA plugins 1 Rich support of template engines	Pros 9 Simple & Small 8 Kotlin native 7 Light weight 3 High performance Cons 2 Relatively fresh technology - not a lot of expertise 2 Not self-explanatory: relies on Kotlin "magic"
Integrations
Kotlin Java	Linux Windows IntelliJ IDEA Kotlin macOS

What are some alternatives to Javalin, Ktor?

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.

Django REST framework

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

Sails.js

Sails is designed to mimic the MVC pattern of frameworks like Ruby on Rails, but with support for the requirements of modern apps: data-driven APIs with scalable, service-oriented architecture.

Sinatra

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

Lumen

Laravel Lumen is a stunningly fast PHP micro-framework for building web applications with expressive, elegant syntax. We believe development must be an enjoyable, creative experience to be truly fulfilling. Lumen attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as routing, database abstraction, queueing, and caching.

Slim

Slim is easy to use for both beginners and professionals. Slim favors cleanliness over terseness and common cases over edge cases. Its interface is simple, intuitive, and extensively documented — both online and in the code itself.

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%.

Falcon

Falcon is a minimalist WSGI library for building speedy web APIs and app backends. We like to think of Falcon as the Dieter Rams of web frameworks.

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.

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.

Related Comparisons

Javalin vs Ktor: What are the differences?

Routing and handling: Javalin provides a straightforward routing API where routes can be defined using lambda functions, making it easy to handle HTTP requests and define custom endpoints. On the other hand, Ktor uses a more declarative approach with a DSL (Domain Specific Language) for routing and handling requests, allowing for greater flexibility in defining routes and handling different types of requests.
Scalability: Javalin is lightweight and optimized for small to medium-sized projects, making it a good choice for building microservices or simple web applications. Ktor, on the other hand, is built on an asynchronous programming model, making it well-suited for high-traffic and scalable applications that need to handle many concurrent requests.
Framework complexity: Javalin aims to be minimalistic and easy to use, providing only the essential features required for building web applications. Ktor, on the other hand, provides a more feature-rich framework with built-in support for features like authentication, sessions, and server-sent events, making it a better choice for complex enterprise applications that need these additional features out of the box.
Coroutines vs Threads: Javalin uses traditional threads for handling concurrency, which can have limitations in terms of scalability and resource usage. Ktor, on the other hand, uses coroutines, which are lightweight and more efficient, allowing for better concurrency and resource utilization.
Integration with other libraries: Javalin has better integration with third-party libraries and frameworks, as it has been around for longer and has a larger community. Ktor, on the other hand, has been developed by JetBrains, the creators of Kotlin, and provides seamless integration with other JetBrains tools, making it a good choice for Kotlin developers who already use JetBrains tools like IntelliJ IDEA.
Framework popularity: Javalin has been around since 2017 and has gained popularity among Java developers due to its simplicity and ease of use. Ktor, on the other hand, is a relatively newer framework but has been steadily gaining popularity with Kotlin developers, especially those who prefer a more modern and asynchronous programming model.

In Summary, Javalin and Ktor differ in their routing and handling approach, scalability, framework complexity, concurrency model, integration with other libraries, and popularity among developers.

Javalin vs Ktor

Overview