Hono vs Express Comparison

// Hono - type-safe API with RPC mode on Node.js
import { Hono } from 'hono'
import { serve } from '@hono/node-server'
import { hc } from 'hono/client'

const app = new Hono()

const route = app
  .get('/users/:id', (c) => {
    const id = c.req.param('id')
    return c.json({ id, name: 'Ayşe' })
  })
  .post('/users', async (c) => {
    const body = await c.req.json<{ name: string }>()
    return c.json({ id: '42', name: body.name }, 201)
  })
  .query('/users/:id', (c) => {
    // RFC 10008 HTTP QUERY - safe read with a body
    return c.text('QUERY /users/:id')
  })

serve({ fetch: app.fetch, port: 3000 })

// Type-safe call on the client side
export type AppType = typeof route
const client = hc<AppType>('http://localhost:3000')
const res = await client.users[':id'].$get({ param: { id: '42' } })

// Express 5 - async route handler + error catching
import express from 'express'

const app = express()
app.use(express.json())

app.get('/users/:id', async (req, res) => {
  const id = req.params.id
  res.json({ id, name: 'Ayşe' })
})

app.post('/users', async (req, res) => {
  const { name } = req.body
  if (!name) {
    res.status(400).json({ error: 'name is required' })
    return
  }
  res.status(201).json({ id: '42', name })
})

// Express 5: errors thrown in an async handler fall through to next(err) automatically
app.use((err, req, res, next) => {
  res.status(500).json({ error: err.message })
})

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Express on port 3000'))