Unleashing the Power of Node.js: A Comprehensive Comparison of tinyhttp and Express.js

What is tinyhttp?

tinyhttp is a modern web framework written in TypeScript, designed to be lightweight and fast. With only six dependencies, it’s significantly smaller than Express.js. tinyhttp supports async/await for routes, has proper typings, and a function checker to resolve async functions. This means you can write both sync and async code with ease.

import { createServer } from 'tinyhttp';

const server = createServer();

server.get('/', async (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server started on port 3000');
});

What is Express.js?

Express.js is a flexible Node.js framework that provides a robust set of features for web and mobile applications. It’s known for its ease of use, fast development, and extensive community support. Express.js comes with built-in middleware support, template engine support, and I/O handling.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server started on port 3000');
});

tinyhttp vs. Express.js: A Basic Comparison

Performance Benchmark

Using the fastify benchmarking tool, we compared the performance of tinyhttp and Express.js. The results show that tinyhttp is capable of making more transfers per second with lower latency than Express.js v4.

tinyhttp and Express.js in Action: A Simple Example

Let’s build a simple “Hello World” app using both frameworks. We’ll use npm to install tinyhttp and Express.js.

npm install tinyhttp express

Routing in tinyhttp and Express.js

Both frameworks handle routing similarly, but tinyhttp fully implements Express.js APIs using methods like res.send, res.download, and res.redirect.

// tinyhttp
server.get('/', async (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

// Express.js
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

Conclusion

tinyhttp is a fast and lightweight framework perfect for backend applications that require minimal code. Express.js, on the other hand, is a popular choice for its ease of use, community support, and extensive feature set. Ultimately, the choice between tinyhttp and Express.js depends on your project’s specific needs and requirements.