The Best Node.js Frameworks for Building Web Applications

A web development project’s success depends on a lot of factors. Knowing your goals, user needs, and key features of the app is where you should begin your development journey. After defining these, choosing a suitable framework and assembling the right team with the right expertise would be the next steps.

A technology, popular for its performance, resources, and efficiency is Node.js. Within Node.js exist some frameworks we will talk about today, including ExpressJS, NestJS, and Fastify. Let’s see what these three frameworks’ pros and cons are and what each one is most suitable for. 

ExpressJS: Advantages and Disadvantages

ExpressJS, often referred to as “Express”, is a developer-favorite thanks to its simplicity and flexibility. If you want to get started with your app development project quickly, we recommend using ExpressJS.

Advantages

Simplicity is what describes ExpressJS best. This minimalistic approach gives developers the opportunity to start simple and build the app just as they see fit. So, if you prefer simplicity and freedom to customize your project as you please, ExpressJS might be a good choice.

You get a lot of middleware options with ExpressJS provided by the platform, and also from its community which you can integrate into your web application. These can be different functionalities, like authentication, routing, and request processing.

ExpressJS’s large community comes with a lot of advantages: you have access to resources, tutorials, and third-party middleware, which can speed up your development process, and make it easy to find solutions to common problems.

Having the freedom to structure your app as you want in ExpressJS is another important advantage because it makes the framework suitable for different types of use cases.

Last but not least, performance and speed go hand in hand with ExpressJS as the framework excels in that area. You can trust that your app will be fast and highly-performant with Express.     
 

Disadvantages

With Express, you have flexibility, but this can also be a drawback, especially in larger projects. Without a specific structure, there can be inconsistencies in code organization.

Developers might need to write more boilerplate code for routine tasks compared to other frameworks, and this can increase development time.

Scaling applications in Express can be challenging and complex because developers have to make architectural decisions on their own which can lead to performance issues in larger apps.

Express doesn’t have a lot of built-in features, which can make developers use third-party packages for certain functionalities.

For new developers, there can be a steeper learning curve. Even if Express is simple, its lack of predefined structure can make it a bit challenging to learn some concepts and best practices. 

NestJS: Advantages and Disadvantages

As one of the top Node.js frameworks, NestJS has a Typescript foundation, with architectural similarities to Angular. With NesJS you have a framework that helps you build web applications providing a powerful ecosystem. 

Advantages

If you’re familiar with TypeScript or Angular, learning NestJS will be easy for you, as this framework is designed with TypeScript, making the transition easy.

NestJS is best known and appreciated for its modular and organized code structure. Using the modules along with best practices this framework is great for large and complex applications.

With NestJS you have decorators for defining routes, validation, and more. This makes the codebase more readable and easier to maintain, and also, reduces boilerplate code.

Thanks to its structured approach and modularity, NestJS is perfect for scalable apps. You can easily add new features and components without complexity.

For companies that already use Angular, NestJS feels like an extension. So, developers who are proficient in Angular can use their knowledge to work easily with NestJS as well.

Disadvantages

For developers who haven’t worked with the TypesScript or the NestJS frameworks before, there can be a steeper learning curve due to TypeScript’s architectural approach.

Using too many features and decorators can cause problems and slow things down a bit, compared to the Express framework which, as we mentioned, is very minimalistic.

NestJS has a smaller ecosystem and community compared to more established frameworks like Express, which can be a minus because you don’t benefit much from developers’ contributions and solutions for different issues.

If you have a smaller, more straightforward project, NestJS’s focus on modularity and TypeScript use can cause unnecessary complexities. 

Fastify: Advantages and Disadvantages

Fastify is another Node.js framework, and, as its name suggests, it’s mainly designed for speed and high performance. Fastify isn’t just about speed though. It also has a flexible plugin system, strong schema validation, and easy error handling. So if speed and performance are a high priority in your project, I’d go with Fastify. 

Advantages

You can expect your app to be performant and fast when you build it with Fastify. The framework was created with speed as its main characteristic, low overhead, and minimal request/response processing times.

With Fastify’s plugin system, you can easily add or improve features. This makes it simple and flexible to customize your app as you like it and integrate third-party tools as well.

Fastify’s built-in schema validation is an important feature of the framework. It helps in making sure incoming data is correct and secure, which makes it useful especially for APIs and apps that need strict data validation.

You have built-in support for logging and data handling with Fastify. This helps in tracking and managing application issues, debugging, and monitoring.

Customizing your application is not a problem, thanks to Fastify’s minimalist core. With this lightweight design, the framework is suitable for microservices and serverless setups.

Disadvantages

While it’s good that Fastify’s popularity is growing, its ecosystem and community are still smaller compared to Express, which makes finding plugins and resources more difficult.

Not all projects prioritize performance and speed over ease of development and a wide range of features. So if you need built-in features for your app, other frameworks might be a better choice.

Fastify is not the most beginner-friendly framework. Its focus on performance and its advanced features make it harder to learn for newcomers, especially those with little Node.js experience.

As mentioned earlier, Fastify does not have a lot of built-in features. This can be an advantage for projects that don’t require much, but it also means that developers need to use external packages, which can lead to compatibility and maintenance issues later. 

Which Framework is Best for Your Project?

So after going through these three Node.js frameworks, ExpressJS, NestJS, and Fastify; the question remains: Which one should you choose for your project? It mainly depends on your app requirements, user needs, and of course, your development team’s expertise.

Choose ExpressJS When:

You want a minimalist framework that lets you build up your app as you want and gives you the freedom to customize it. And, if you prioritize fast development, and access to community resources and features within a reliable and trusted framework, Express will be a good choice, especially for smaller or medium-sized projects. 

Choose NestJS When:

You are familiar with TypeScript, and you need a structured, modular framework for your app development project. NestJS also excels in scalability, so, for large or more complex applications, its architectural approach helps companies handle growth easily. Also, if you or your team have knowledge and experience with Angular, using NestJS will be an easy transition, because its design tools and patterns are very similar to Angular's. 

Choose Fastify When:

Your top priority is performance and speed, especially for APIs and microservices. Fastify is a good choice also if you need a modular codebase and schema validation. A lightweight framework like Fasity will serve you well for serverless architectures or microservices when a minimalistic core is needed.

Conclusion

When choosing a framework for your next web development project, depending on your requirements, you have some good options available. To help you decide on the framework that fits your needs best, consider your project’s complexity, scalability needs, also your team’s experience, and whether speed and performance are top priorities for your app.

Use our guide as part of your research, and remember, you can bring the best out of each framework with the right knowledge, experience, and development team.