Survey 2024: Which Node.js Frameworks Are Chosen for Production

Survey: Which JavaScript (Node.js) Frameworks Are Used in Production

The Node.js ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly. Every year, new tools emerge promising lightning speed, strict typing, or minimal boilerplate. However, when it comes to real-world production projects, developers' choices often turn out to be conservative. The editorial team at PythonLib analyzed the results of a survey among over 5,000 developers from commercial companies and startups to understand: which JavaScript frameworks truly rule in production in 2024?

Leaders of the Race: Top 3 Frameworks

The survey showed a predictable but interesting distribution. Despite the abundance of alternatives, the top three have remained unchanged for the second year in a row. Here is how the respondents' votes were distributed:

• Express.js — 52%. The veteran of the ecosystem still holds the crown. Its main trump cards are minimalism, a huge community, and hundreds of thousands of ready-made middleware. For most microservices and classic REST APIs, Express remains the "default" choice.
• NestJS — 28%. Rapid growth in popularity. Thanks to its architecture inspired by Angular and powerful TypeScript support, NestJS has become the standard for enterprise applications. Developers value it for its modularity, dependency injection, and built-in support for GraphQL and WebSockets.
• Fastify — 12%. The main "Express killer" in terms of performance. Fastify is chosen for projects where response speed is critical (high-load APIs, real-time systems). Its plugin system and JSON schema validation make code safer and faster.

The remaining 8% went to Koa, Hapi, AdonisJS, and Sails.js. Interestingly, the share of the minimalist Koa decreased by 3% compared to last year — developers are migrating to Fastify or adding more "batteries" with NestJS.

Why Isn't Express Retiring?

Despite its age (first release in 2010), Express.js remains a foundation. The reason lies in inertia and stability. Many companies simply see no point in rewriting working microservices on a new framework. Additionally, a huge amount of educational material has been written for Express, and finding a developer familiar with it is the easiest. However, the trend towards TypeScript and architectural complexity is gradually shifting the focus to NestJS, which provides "structure out of the box."

Trends and Forecasts

Analysts note several key points:

• TypeScript — a mandatory standard. More than 80% of projects on NestJS and Fastify use TypeScript. Even in Express.js, the share of TypeScript projects has grown to 45%.
• Microservices and Serverless. For serverless functions (AWS Lambda, Vercel), developers more often choose Fastify due to its lightweight nature and fast cold start speed.
• Growth of AdonisJS. This framework, similar to Laravel, is gaining popularity among "full-stack" developers who need a powerful ORM and authentication out of the box.

Conclusion

If you are just starting your career in Node.js — feel free to learn Express.js as a foundation. But for serious production in a large company, take a closer look at NestJS. If your project requires maximum performance — go with Fastify.