A comparison of server-side node frameworks. This may include frameworks with a browser-side component.

Frameworks

Only frameworks with over 1,000 stars are currently added. Feel free to add your own. The frameworks are listed by number of watchers, descending, as of March 18, 2014.

Framework	Sponsor(s) / Author(s)	Watchers	Stars
Meteor	Meteor Development Group	973	11,687
Express	StrongLoop / TJ Holowaychuk	828	12,824
Sails	Mike McNeil	485	5,582
Koa	TJ Holowaychuk	232	3,160
Derby	Nate Smith Brian Noguchi	213	3,079
Kraken	PayPal	210	2,424
Hapi	Walmart Labs	204	1,981
Connect	Sencha Labs	202	4,180
LoopBack	StrongLoop	187	2,602
Restify	Mark Cavage	122	2,001
Geddy	Matthew Eernisse	101	1,703
CompoundJS	Anatoliy Chakkaev	91	1,542
Flatiron	Nodejitsu	75	1,146

Stack Integration

Traditionally, frameworks are explicitly server-side. However, there are now frameworks that are vertically integrated, i.e. integrate the client with the server.

Framework	Server-side	Client-side
Meteor	✓	✓
Express	✓
Sails	✓
Koa	✓
Derby	✓	✓
Kraken	✓
Hapi	✓
Connect	✓
LoopBack	✓	✓
Restify	✓
Geddy	✓	✓
CompoundJS	✓
Flatiron	✓

Dependencies

Some frameworks are built upon other frameworks.

Framework	Dependencies
Meteor
Express	Connect for < 4.0.0
Sails	Express
Koa
Derby
Kraken	Express
Hapi
Connect
LoopBack	Express
Restify
Geddy
CompoundJS
Flatiron

Source Lines of Code

This is the lines of code a framework uses, not including comments. This is used to gauge complexity and modularity of a framework.

Framework	Source Lines of Code	Version
Meteor
Express	1,150	4.0.0-rc3
Sails	5,350	0.10.0-rc4
Koa	550	0.5.1
Derby	1,450	0.6.0-alpha3
Kraken	680	0.7.
Hapi	4,750	3.0.0
Connect	120	3.0.0-rc1
LoopBack	10,472	2.8.0
Restify	3,970	2.6.3
Geddy	5,660	0.12.4
CompoundJS	3,010	1.1.13-1
Flatiron	581	0.3.11

Note: sloc is used to calculate the SLOC. Most are simply counted by running sloc lib and lines of source code is used.

Middleware/Plugin Signature

Different frameworks use plugins and middleware differently. Some use objects, others use functions. Some work with node's req and res objects, whereas many others do not.

A framework "supports node" if node's req and res objects are passed to plugins and middleware, and using node's req and res objects is supported.

Framework	Signature	Supports Node
Meteor		×
Express	app.use(function (req, res, next) {})	✓
Sails	function(req, res, next)	✓
Koa	app.use(function* (next) {})	×
Derby
Kraken	app.use(function (req, res, next) {})	✓
Hapi	app.ext('onRequest', function (req, next) {})	×
Connect	app.use(function (req, res, next) {})	✓
LoopBack	app.use(function (req, res, next) {})	✓
Restify	app.use(function (req, res, next) {})	✓
Geddy	this.before(function (req, res) {})	✓
CompoundJS
Flatiron

Error Handling

Error handling in node.js is wonderful! The current solution to catch uncaught exceptions (emitters and streams throwing errors everywhere) is to use domains (unless you listen to every error). If a framework does not handle uncaught exceptions, then domains should probably use domains.

Framework	Middleware/Plugin	Uncaught Exceptions Handling
Meteor
Express	next(err) / app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {})	×
Sails
Koa	try/catch	× - Unnecessary with generators
Derby
Kraken	next(err) / app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {})
Hapi		domains
Connect	next(err) / app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {})	×
LoopBack	next(err) / app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {})	x
Restify	next(err)
Geddy
CompoundJS
Flatiron

Control Flow

Most frameworks use only node's traditional callbacks for control. As we move towards ES6, we will see frameworks that use generators and promises to avoid callback hell. Any framework without a control flow is assumed to use callbacks unless otherwise specified.

Framework	Control Flow
Meteor	fibers
Express
Sails
Koa	generators - co
Derby
Kraken
Hapi
Connect
LoopBack
Restify
Geddy
CompoundJS
Flatiron

Included Features

If a feature is not included, there is a very good possibility that it can be used via middleware or plugin. Which features a framework includes or does not include is unimportant - its philosophy is.

Framework	Content Negotiation	Cookie Management	Routing	View System	Body Parsing	Multipart Parsing
Meteor
Express	✓	✓	✓	✓
Sails	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Koa	✓	✓
Derby
Kraken	✓	✓	✓	✓
Hapi
Connect
LoopBack	✓	✓	✓	✓
Restify	✓		✓		✓	✓
Geddy	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
CompoundJS
Flatiron

Framework	Session Management	CSRF Protection	Compression	File Uploads	Basic Authentication
Meteor			✓		✓
Express				✓
Sails	✓	✓		✓
Koa
Derby
Kraken
Hapi
Connect
LoopBack				✓
Restify			✓		✓
Geddy	✓	✓			✓
CompoundJS
Flatiron

• Content Negotiation - ability to negotiation server response types and the request's acceptable types.
• Cookie Management - ability to parse cookies as well as set cookies
• Routing -
• View System - ability to choose a templating system and render templates by their name
• Body Parsing - ability to parse urlencoded and json request bodies
• Multipart Parsing - ability to part multipart request bodies
• Session Management - ability to provide non-authenticated cookie-based sessions
• CSRF Protection - built in CSRF protection
• Compression - built-in gzip and deflate response compression
• File Uploads - built-in ability to send local files to the client
• Basic Authentication

Database

Framework	Required Databases	Recommended Databases	Compatible Databases
Meteor	MongoDB
Express
Sails			MongoDB, MySQL, Postgres
Koa
Derby
Kraken
Hapi
Connect
LoopBack			Microsoft SQL Server, MongoDB, MySQL, Oracle, Postgres
Restify
Geddy			LevelDB, MongoDB, MySQL, Postgres, Riak, SQLite
CompoundJS
Flatiron

Templating

Framework	Required Templating Systems	Recommended Templating Systems	Compatible Templating Systems
Meteor	handlebars
Express			consolidate
Sails			consolidate
Koa
Derby		handlebars-like
Kraken		dustjs	consolidate
Hapi
Connect
LoopBack			consolidate
Restify
Geddy			handlebars, EJS, Jade, Swig, mustache
CompoundJS
Flatiron

consolidate means that the framework supports any templating system supported by consolidate.js.

Contributing

When adding a new framework, you must add the simplest metadata such as links, SLOC, stack, and dependencies. Frameworks without a decent amount of stars are not welcomed. Do not spam your brand new framework.

Performance comparisons are not welcomed.

Metadata should be updated for the latest stable versions, including release candidates, but not including alpha or beta versions.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014 Jonathan Ong [email protected]

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.