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ExpressJS VS graphql.js

Compare ExpressJS VS graphql.js and see what are their differences

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ExpressJS logo ExpressJS

Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple

graphql.js logo graphql.js

A reference implementation of GraphQL for JavaScript - graphql/graphql-js
  • ExpressJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-14
  • graphql.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27

ExpressJS features and specs

  • Fast Setup
    ExpressJS provides a minimal and flexible framework that allows rapid setup and development of web and mobile applications.
  • Middleware Support
    ExpressJS has a robust middleware system, allowing developers to add reusable functions to the request-handling pipeline.
  • Extensibility
    ExpressJS is highly extensible through third-party libraries and built-in functionality, catering to the needs of various applications.
  • Performance
    Due to its minimalist core, ExpressJS provides efficient performance and is capable of handling a high number of requests per second.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    A large and active community provides extensive documentation, support, and a wide array of open-source packages to extend functionality.
  • Flexibility
    Compared to full-stack frameworks, ExpressJS gives developers the freedom to structure their applications as they see fit.
  • Compatibility
    ExpressJS works seamlessly with various template engines, databases, and other frameworks, making it versatile for different project requirements.

Possible disadvantages of ExpressJS

  • Minimalist Core
    The minimalist nature of ExpressJS may require additional time and effort to integrate required plugins and libraries for specific features.
  • Learning Curve
    While ExpressJS is straightforward, mastering the middleware pattern and effective usage can have a learning curve for new developers.
  • Callback Hell
    Developers can encounter 'callback hell' due to nested callback functions, though this can be mitigated using Promises and async/await in modern JavaScript.
  • Lack of Convention
    Unlike opinionated frameworks, ExpressJS lacks conventions, which can lead to inconsistent code structure and maintenance challenges across different projects.
  • Security
    ExpressJS does not have built-in security features and relies on third-party solutions, requiring developers to be vigilant about applying best security practices.
  • Scalability
    While ExpressJS can handle high traffic, building and maintaining a highly scalable application might require significant additional effort, particularly in terms of codebase organization and resource management.

graphql.js features and specs

  • Strongly Typed
    GraphQL.js allows for strongly typed schemas, making it easier to perform validation and introspection on your data, ensuring that queries conform to a specific structure before execution.
  • Efficient Data Fetching
    GraphQL.js enables clients to request exactly the data they need which can reduce over-fetching and under-fetching compared to REST APIs.
  • Rich Developer Tooling
    The introspection capabilities in GraphQL.js allow for rich tooling, enabling better development workflows including robust IDE support and tools like GraphiQL.
  • Evolving APIs
    GraphQL.js facilitates evolving APIs without the need for versioning, providing backward compatibility by introducing non-breaking changes.
  • Community Support
    GraphQL.js has a large and active community, providing numerous resources, plugins, and tools that support smooth development processes.

Possible disadvantages of graphql.js

  • Complexity
    Implementing GraphQL.js can add complexity to projects as developers may need to learn new concepts such as schemas, resolvers, and query languages.
  • Overhead
    The flexibility of GraphQL.js can introduce performance overhead, as the server may need to parse and execute more complex and dynamic queries.
  • Cache Invalidation
    Caching strategies for GraphQL.js can be more complex compared to REST, as caching needs to account for the structure and specifics of the queries requested.
  • Over-fetching Risks
    While GraphQL.js mitigates data over-fetching, it can also expose sensitive data if developers are not meticulous in specifying and controlling the schema and access permissions.
  • Debugging Complexity
    Debugging runtime errors in GraphQL.js can sometimes be more difficult, especially with deeply nested queries and complex resolvers.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ExpressJS and graphql.js)

ExpressJS

graphql.js

JavaScript Framework
100 100%
JavaScript Framework
0% 0
Project Management
0 0%
Project Management
100% 100
Developer Tools
100 100%
Developer Tools
0% 0
Development
0 0%
Development
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare ExpressJS and graphql.js

ExpressJS Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
Express.JS is used to create Restful APIs, which is useful for accepting requests from the front end and sending the appropriate response. Express.JS supports Node.js, which is one of the best reasons developers choose to use it. Moreover, debugging becomes faster and helps in finding errors in less time.
Source: solguruz.com
The 20 Best Laravel Alternatives for Web Development
Express.js — or Express for the cool cats — is Node.js’s minimalist wingman. It’s the train tracks for your web app, setting the path, defining the stops, but letting you drive the engine.
Source: tms-outsource.com
Top 9 best Frameworks for web development
The best frameworks for web development include React, Angular, Vue.js, Django, Spring, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Flask and Express.js. Each of these frameworks has its own advantages and distinctive features, so it is important to choose the framework that best suits the needs of your project.
Source: www.kiwop.com
9 Best JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2023
Additionally, Express.js v4 now comes with built-in middleware for handling AJAX requests from the client side, making it even easier to get started without having to worry about 3rd party libraries. Express.js is a great tool for quickly building out web applications and APIs in Node.js.
Source: ninetailed.io
JavaScript: What Are The Most Used Frameworks For This Language?
Express.JS is a popular open-source web application framework for Node.JS, which is a server-side JavaScript runtime environment. Express.JS provides a simple, flexible and scalable way to build web applications and APIs using Node.JS. It is known for its minimalist and unimposing approach, which means it provides a basic set of features and tools but allows developers to...
Source: www.bocasay.com

graphql.js Reviews

We have no reviews of graphql.js yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ExpressJS seems to be a lot more popular than graphql.js. While we know about 466 links to ExpressJS, we've tracked only 8 mentions of graphql.js. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

ExpressJS mentions (466)

  • Reusable API proxy in just a few lines of JavaScript
    The basis of my small API proxy is the NPM package http-proxy-middleware from Steven Chim, which I utilized to build a system that can be used via configuration for various endpoints and that runs on a server under the Node.js framework Express. - Source: dev.to / 9 days ago
  • How To Fetch Image From Database and Display In React JS
    Express Documentation This site has comprehensive guides on setting up routes, handling requests, and working with middleware in Express. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Show HN: MetroJS – JavaScript HTTPS Client with Middleware
    Hi, I've made a javascript https client, based on the browsers Fetch API, with added middleware support. Prebuilt middleware includes JSON, OAuth2.1 and OIDC (OpenID Connect). Differences with for example Axios, is that middleware can capture both request and response in a single function. Middleware is stackable. It is also completely backwards compatible with the Fetch API. Direct inspiration came from Express... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Which Go Web Backend Framework Is Right for Your Next Project? A Detailed Analysis of Features and Performance
    Fiber draws direct inspiration from Express.js, a widely used web framework in the Node.js ecosystem. It is built on top of Fasthttp, known for its exceptional speed and low memory usage. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How To Fetch (Get) HTML From Server 🛤️
    To do this, let's create an API route, through which we will receive HTML from the server. For the backend part, we will use Node.js. The framework on which we will do this is Express.js. It is one of the most popular today and it is perfect for the task we are solving. First, we specify the controller that will process the HTML:. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
View more

graphql.js mentions (8)

  • Diving into Open-Source Development
    To begin, I'm going to start with GraphQL. This repo is a JS-specific implementation for GraphQL, for which projects written in JS/TS can utilize to build an API for their web app. The reason why I chose this project is because I've always been intrigued by how GraphQl challenges the standard way of building an API, a.k.a REST APIs. I have very little knowledge about this project since I've never used it before at... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How to define schema once and have server code and client code typed? [Typescript]
    When I asked this in StackOverflow over a year ago I reached the solution of using graphql + graphql-zeus. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Apollo federated graph is not presenting its schema to graphiql with fields sorted lexicographically
    GraphiQL (and many other tools) relies on introspection query which AFAIK is not guaranteed to have any specific order (and many libs don't support it). Apollo Server is built on top of graphql-js and it relies on it for this functionality. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How (Not) To Build Your Own GraphQL Server
    Defining your schema and the resolvers simultaneously led to some issues for developers, as it was hard to decouple the schema from the (business) logic in your resolvers. The SDL-first approach introduced this separation of concerns by defining the complete schema before connecting them to the resolvers and making this schema executable. A version of the SDL-first approach was introduced together with GraphQL... - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • three ways to deploy a serverless graphQL API
    Graphql-yoga is built on other packages that provide functionality required for building a GraphQL server such as web server frameworks like express and apollo-server, GraphQL subscriptions with graphql-subscriptions and subscriptions-transport-ws, GraphQL engine & schema helpers including graphql.js and graphql-tools, and an interactive GraphQL IDE with graphql-playground. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ExpressJS and graphql.js, you can also consider the following products

Node.js - Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications

JsonAPI - Application and Data, Languages & Frameworks, and Query Languages

Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is an open source full-stack web application framework for the Ruby programming...

Apollo - Apollo is a full project management and contact tracking application.

Laravel - A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

OData - OData, short for Open Data Protocol, is an open protocol to allow the creation and consumption of queryable and interoperable RESTful APIs in a simple and standard way.

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