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ExpressJS VS Pilot

Compare ExpressJS VS Pilot and see what are their differences

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Contents:
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ExpressJS logo ExpressJS

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

Pilot logo Pilot

Focus on your business, knowing that our expert bookkeepers, aided by software superpowers, are taking care of your books.
  • ExpressJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-14
  • Pilot Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-28

ExpressJS

Website
expressjs.com
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Release Date
-
Edit details

Pilot

Website
pilot.com
Pricing URL
Official Pilot Pricing
$ Details
-
Release Date
2016 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
City
San Francisco
Founder(s)
Jeff Arnold
Employees
100 - 249
Edit details

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.

Pilot features and specs

  • Comprehensive Bookkeeping
    Pilot offers comprehensive bookkeeping services managed by a team of experts, making it suitable for businesses that require accurate and up-to-date financial records.
  • Scalability
    The service can scale with your business as it grows, offering a flexible solution for startups and expanding companies alike.
  • Tax Services
    Pilot also provides tax preparation and advisory services, which helps to streamline financial management and tax compliance.
  • Integration with Tools
    Pilot integrates seamlessly with a variety of business tools like QuickBooks, Gusto, Stripe, and more, ensuring a unified financial ecosystem.
  • Dedicated Support
    Each client has a dedicated account manager for personalized support, ensuring specialized attention to each business’s financial needs.

Possible disadvantages of Pilot

  • Cost
    Pilot's services can be pricey, particularly for smaller businesses or startups operating on tight budgets.
  • Complexity of Setup
    Initial setup can be complicated and may require significant time and effort to fully integrate Pilot with existing business systems.
  • Limited Customization
    The services may not offer the level of customization some businesses require, as they follow standardized procedures.
  • Dependence on Third-Party Software
    Pilot relies heavily on connecting with third-party software, which might be limiting or problematic if you use niche or specialized tools.
  • Potential Over-Reliance
    Businesses might become overly reliant on Pilot's services, potentially neglecting internal financial expertise and controls.

Analysis of ExpressJS

Overall verdict

  • ExpressJS is a highly recommended option for building web applications with Node.js. Its simplicity, extensive middleware options, and strong community support make it a solid choice for both beginners and experienced developers. However, it might not be the best fit for highly complex applications that require more opinionated frameworks with more built-in features.

Why this product is good

  • ExpressJS is a minimalist and flexible web application framework for Node.js. It provides a robust set of features for building web and mobile applications, making it a popular choice among developers.
  • It offers a thin layer of fundamental web application features, without obscuring Node.js features that developers use regularly.
  • ExpressJS has a large ecosystem of middleware to handle various tasks such as security, session management, and file uploads, which simplifies the development process.
  • It's known for its fast learning curve, which makes it particularly advantageous for developers who are new to backend web development but familiar with JavaScript.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking for a lightweight and flexible web framework for Node.js.
  • Projects where quick setup and ease of development are priorities.
  • Applications that require a custom architecture and a high degree of flexibility.
  • Teams who prefer to build their technology stack from the ground up and have control over the specific components used.

Analysis of Pilot

Overall verdict

  • Pilot is generally considered a good choice for startups and growing businesses that need reliable financial services without the overhead of building an in-house finance team. Their focus on transparency, use of advanced technology, and startup-friendly approach make them a suitable partner for many young companies.

Why this product is good

  • Pilot (pilot.com) is a financial services firm that specializes in providing bookkeeping, tax, and CFO services primarily for startups and small businesses. Their services are appreciated for being tech-enabled, efficient, and tailored to the specific needs of fast-growing companies. By leveraging technology to automate routine tasks, Pilot aims to provide more accurate and timely financial data. This approach helps businesses make informed decisions based on up-to-date financial insights.

Recommended for

  • Startups looking to outsource their bookkeeping and financial needs.
  • Small to medium-sized businesses in need of CFO services.
  • Tech-savvy companies that value data-driven insights and automated solutions.
  • Businesses seeking to streamline their financial operations without the complexities of traditional accounting firms.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ExpressJS and Pilot)

ExpressJS

Pilot

JavaScript Framework
100 100%
JavaScript Framework
0% 0
Accounting
0 0%
Accounting
100% 100
Developer Tools
100 100%
Developer Tools
0% 0
Bookkeeping
0 0%
Bookkeeping
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 Pilot

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

Pilot Reviews

  1. Gulab Singh
    · Founder at Warriors Defence Academy ·
    it is a good accounting software

    Smart Accounting for Growing Business is a user-friendly and efficient accounting solution designed to streamline financial management for expanding businesses. It offers features like automated bookkeeping, expense tracking, invoicing, and real-time financial insights.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ExpressJS seems to be a lot more popular than Pilot. While we know about 470 links to ExpressJS, we've tracked only 9 mentions of Pilot. 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 (470)

  • 🔥 Why Everyone Is Talking About HTMX: The Game-Changer for Web Development
    🌍 Who Should Use HTMX? ✅ Django / Flask / Rails developers ✅ Express / Node.js backend lovers ✅ Fullstack devs who want LESS frontend headache ✅ Teams jo SSR + SEO ko priority dete hain. - Source: dev.to / about 4 hours ago
  • Not a Middy Fan
    Express.js was created around the time callbacks were _the_ architecture in Node.js. The world, including UI, quickly found callbacks do not compose well, and void return values are hard to test because of side-effects. Promises were created so you could compose functions, but still have control where your side-effects go. This negates the need for middlewares / callbacks. - Source: dev.to / 10 days ago
  • Experimental Devvit Web Views
    The Devvit team just announced a new experimental way to build WebView based apps for Reddit. Previously only static HTML/JS/CSS could be used. With this new version, it is possible to run server-side code through Node including spinning up an Express server. - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
  • How to Handle File Uploads with Node.js and Express - Multer Edition
    Basic knowledge of JavaScript and Express. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • 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 / about 1 month ago
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Pilot mentions (9)

  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2024)
    Pilot.com | San Francisco | Senior Software Engineers, Staff Software Engineers, Engineering Managers | https://pilot.com | Hybrid/SF & Remote Pilot runs your business’s financial back office so you don’t have to: our aim is to provide our customers with the same superpowers as large companies with full finance teams — superpowers that include having a deep understanding of financial health of the business, the... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (April 2024)
    * Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure ( All of our teams have unique charters to collectively build the software, services and systems that enable Pilot to deliver a high-quality experience, profitably, at scale. From the Banking Universe — teams that ingest, normalize, transform, and categorize customer financial data to the Business Universe — teams that ingest our customer revenue and expense information... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2023)
    Pilot (https://pilot.com/) | Full-time | Onsite (SF) | Sr Software Engineer (Backend or Full-Stack) Pilot is a Series-C funded, 7-year-old successful startup that partners with other companies to run their financial back office. We let small businesses focus on what they do best -- running their business -- and offload to us the financial back office. We build software that makes this possible: software that... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Curious about fractional hiring. Have you done it? Why/why not?
    Curious to get this groups thoughts on fractional hiring. I’ve seen companies like Shiny or Pilot pilot that offer fractional c-suite folks, and I’m curious if anyone here has considered using any of these services - or what stopped you from pursuing a fractional hire? Source: about 2 years ago
  • Do you believe billionaires are inherently bad, why or why not?
    They should use it to create even more net positives for society (Like the founders of Pilot did, see here). Most of them at the moment find that helping other 'potential future billionaires' is a pretty good way of doing this (This is what a VC fund is generally, or Angel investors, very different dynamics to zero-sum investors). But I don't think you'll find any that just sit there with it. Besides - the whole... Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing ExpressJS and Pilot, 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

Bench.co - Bench is the online bookkeeping service.

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

Square Payroll - Pay your team from anywhere

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

Leap the Pond - AcctTwo is focused on delivering the future of finance and accounting to our customers.

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