Express and Hapi are both based on Node.Js at the core, and that is why it becomes a challenge to choose one of them. Though they have a lot in common, there are some stark differences that one should be aware of. Express is more closely related to Node, and Hapi is a newer framework and yet there are some features in Hapi that make it an exciting choice.
One of the most significant differences between Hapi or HttpAPI and Express is the presence of middleware. Express needs middleware to parse objects, while Hapi does not need it. Apart from the middleware, many other features differ in Express and Hapi.
As a CTO or CEO, outlining the two web app development frameworks’ differences becomes vital to make an informed decision. Here we are with a comprehensive differentiation of the two frameworks based on their performance, ease of testing, architecture, microservice support, and even size of the community.
Overview of Frameworks – Express vs. Hapi
What is Express? – An Overview
Express.js or Express is an open-source server-side framework built for Node.js. Written in Javascript, it is part of MEAN, MEVN, and MERN stacks. Express provides plugins, template code, middleware packages, and routing functionality for faster and efficient web development. Additionally, the framework allows third-party integrations of libraries and features to make customization easier.
Use Cases
- Single-page apps
- Reusable apps
- Middleware Applications
- RESTful APIs
- Serve and access static files using a browser
- Enterprise web applications
- eCommerce web applications
Popular Apps
- Twitter moved to Node.js Express in 2017 to speed up its mobile web app Twitter Lite.
- Uber utilized Express to develop their base web server, Bedrock, and optimize the middleware to provide security, internationalization, and other integrations for its infrastructure.
- Accuweather leveraged Express to build APIs for integration into other apps
- IMDB also applied Express features to create APIs for developers to integrate them into their apps.
What is Hapi? – An Overview
Hapi is a Javascript framework that can provide API development opportunities for servers, websites, and HTTP proxy applications. It is an open-sourced Node.Js framework founded by Eran Hammer at Walmart Labs.
Hapi offers a configuration-centric structure that comes with pre-built caching and authorization features. This framework allows you to develop web applications using Javascript readily. It also comes with built-in authorization schemes like anonymous, basic-auth, cookie-based, and token-based authentication schemes. With Hapi, Walmart handled peak traffic during their Black Friday sale with 10 CPU cores and 28 GB RAM, keeping 0.75% of load idle.
The Node-based framework also offers client and server-side caching via catbox. Apart from authorizations and caching, it provides API and web application routing.
Use cases of Hapi
- Network applications
- Server component for Single Page Applications (SPAs)
- HTTP-based software applications
- eCommerce web applications
- JSON APIs for web applications
- Static websites or data-driven websites
What are popular apps made with Hapi?
- Colonizers- Used Hapi to power HTML5 multiplayer games based on the popular board game “Catan” by Klaus Teuber.
- MasteryJs- Used Hapi to create an API server framework to build scalable web applications.
- PayDash- Leveraged Hapi to create payment API for India’s most significant employment guarantee program called MGNREGA.
- Postmile– Built a collaborative list-making tool using hapi.js, Node.Js, and MongoDB.
Express vs. Hapi— Pros and Cons
Pros of Express
Lesser Development Time: Express uses Javascript for both backend and frontend development. Thus, developers can generate codes faster without the need to learn a new language.
Effective Error Handling: Express’s middleware is built to support catching errors in synchronous and asynchronous codes.
Handling I/O Requests: Express is an excellent choice for businesses that receive thousands of requests and notifications from users daily.
Unopinionated Framework: Express has no strict rules on dealing with specific tasks, and you can leverage middleware packages and components in any way convenient for you.
Easy Installation: Being a minimalistic framework, Express is easy to install, set up, and has a steep learning curve. This characteristic makes it suitable for beginners with a basic understanding of backend development.
Cons of Express
Lack of Standardization: While Express does not require a specific structure, it can be an issue as team members increases and developers work on different functionalities of the app. Therefore, it becomes essential for teams to stick to a structure for the entire project.
Callback Hell: Callbacks are among the most discussed issues with the Express framework as developers fail to comprehend the complicated writing style. However, the Express team has looked into the recurring problem and introduced some relief.
Philosophy of Middleware: For developers who have never worked with Express, understanding and executing the middleware functions can be tricky.
Pros of Hapi
Robust Plugins: Offers rapid feature development and quicker identification of bus to fix through customized modules.
Ease of Coding: Helps developers to write manageable, controllable, and distributable code.Secure Framework: Blocks error messages which may leak data or echo back unsecured loopholes.
Caching Advantage: Improves the web application performance through continuous caching.
Microservice Support: Chairo plugin allows integration of Seneca functionality which is a microservice toolkit for organizing an application’s business logic.
Integrated Authorization: Accessibility to pre-built authentication and authorization APIs.
Cons of Hapi
Code Configuration: Developers have to figure the code structure without community support
Compatibility Issues: Some of the Hapi-specific modules and plugins such as catbox, joi, boom, etc. are not compatible with Express/Connect.
Manual Testing: Creation of endpoints and testing is manual, due to lack of automation.
Express vs. Hapi—Performance Comparison
How does Express stand out in terms of performance?
Express is a big hit among developers for the speed it delivers to Node.js applications. In terms of speed, a simple ‘Hello, World’ benchmark performance shows that an Express program can handle 11,202 requests per second.
How does Hapi stand out in terms of performance?
According to a performance test conducted by Raygun on Ubuntu Subsystem on Windows 10, Hapi parses about 1094 requests per second. Simultaneously, performance tests run on Ubuntu VM(Virtual Machine) with Hapi indicated parsing of 688 requests per second.
Another test was performed on D-series Azure VM running Ubuntu using Node.Js, Hapi.Js, and Express.Js. The results for Hapi indicated a parsing of 3992.902 requests per second which is slower than Express, and Node.Js.
Comparison points:
- Performance & speed comparison
- Application architecture
- Scalability
- Ease of testing
- Microservices compatibility
- Database support
- Community
Check out this original article published here to know more about the comparison between Express vs Hapi.