3 min read · Oct 19, 2023
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Web development is a broad field, and there are several frameworks in several languages available for developers to choose from. Today, we’ll focus on two popular frameworks in the web development community — FastAPI (Python) and Express.js (JavaScript). They have both established themselves as favorites among developers for crafting web applications.
FastAPI :
FastAPI is a high performance, modern, easy-to-learn, fast to code and ready-to-production web API framework. It is built on top of Starlette for web routing and Pydantic for data validation and settings management.
FastAPI benefits:
Performance: FastAPI is outstandingly fast. It is one of the fastest Python-based web frameworks available, only surpassed by Starlette and Uvicorn, which FastAPI is based on.
Fast to Code: Offering a multitude of features out-of-the-box, FastAPI helps the developers to increase their speed of development.
Ease of Learning: The bare simplicity and intuitiveness of FastAPI make it extremely easy to learn.
Robust Validation: With the help of Pydantic, FastAPI provides strong support for data validation.
Automatic Interactive UI: FastAPI provides automatic Swagger and ReDoc API documentation interfaces.
Express.js :
Express.js is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework, providing a robust set of features for web and mobile applications. It is a part of the MEAN stack, making it compatible with several additional tools in the JavaScript ecosystem.
Express.js benefits:
Simplicity: Express.js has a straightforward approach to routing and handling requests.
Middleware: Express.js uses a middleware concept making it possible to take control of the request handling process.
High Performance: For a JavaScript framework, Express is very quick.
Great Community Support: Being a part of the JavaScript community, Express.js enjoys excellent community support and has a large number of third-party plugins available.
Comparing FastAPI with Express.js
Language Preference: Simply put, if your preferred language is Python, opt for FastAPI, but if it’s JavaScript, you should go for Express.js. This might seem obvious, but the comfort of writing code in a language you are familiar with should not be underestimated.
Performance: FastAPI performs better in terms of speed when compared with Express.js given its ASGI-based nature that facilitates asynchronous request-handling.
Middleware and Plugins: Express.js, being older and more established, has a broader range of middleware and plugins available than FastAPI.
Type Checking: FastAPI, because of Python’s Pydantic, has added benefits of data validation and editor support. Express.js lacks this feature natively.
Availability of ORMs: Python has multiple mature ORMs like SQLAlchemy and Django ORM. With Node.js (and by extension, Express.js), there are fewer mature Option like Sequelize.
Conclusion :
There’s no definitive answer to whether FastAPI or Express.js is technically better; it hugely depends on your use case, expertise, and preference. The best language or framework is often the one that you, as a developer, are most comfortable with. Both frameworks offer unique features that make them apt for a range of tasks. We recommend you to experiment with both, consider the trade-offs and then select the right tool for the right job.
