Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

JSON Server VS Hasura

Compare JSON Server VS Hasura and see what are their differences

JSON Server logo JSON Server

Get a full fake REST API with zero coding in less than 30 seconds. For front-end developers who need a quick back-end for prototyping and mocking

Hasura logo Hasura

Hasura is an open platform to build scalable app backends, offering a built-in database, search, user-management and more.
  • JSON Server Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-01
  • Hasura Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21

JSON Server features and specs

  • Ease of Setup
    JSON Server can be set up quickly with minimal configuration, making it ideal for prototyping and rapid development. It allows developers to have a fully functioning REST API within minutes.
  • RESTful API
    It provides a standard RESTful API out of the box, allowing developers to perform all CRUD operations. This is helpful for simulating a real-world server while testing client-side applications.
  • Customization
    JSON Server supports middlewares, routes, and custom rules, allowing developers to customize the behavior and structure of the API to better suit their needs.
  • Fakes Backend Data
    It's great for simulating backend responses without needing a real backend setup, useful in front-end development to test components and interactions.
  • Lightweight
    As a lightweight server, it requires fewer resources and is quite simple compared to setting up a full-fledged backend server.

Possible disadvantages of JSON Server

  • Not for Production
    JSON Server is designed for development and testing. It is not suitable for production use due to performance limits and lack of robust security features.
  • Limited Functionality
    While JSON Server is great for basic CRUD operations, it lacks advanced features like authentication, authorization, and complex querying.
  • Data Persistence
    Data is stored in a JSON file, and while this is convenient for testing, it is not suitable for applications that require persistent and scalable data storage.
  • In-memory Limitations
    Being an in-memory server, it may have issues with handling large datasets or complex data structures efficiently.
  • Manual Data Reset
    Any changes made to the JSON file while the server is running require manual resets or reloads to reflect in the API, which can be cumbersome during continuous development cycles.

Hasura features and specs

  • Real-Time Data
    Hasura provides built-in support for GraphQL subscriptions, allowing you to easily implement real-time data updates in your applications.
  • Auto-Generated APIs
    With Hasura, you can instantly generate a fully-functional, scalable GraphQL API from your existing databases without writing any code.
  • Authorization and Authentication
    Hasura provides granular authorization controls and integrates well with various authentication services, helping to secure your data access.
  • Microservices & Event Triggers
    Hasura allows you to create event-driven architectures by allowing you to trigger webhooks based on specified database events.
  • Scalability
    Designed for performance, Hasura can handle large-scale applications by optimizing database queries and offering load-balancing capabilities.
  • Multi-Data Source Support
    Hasura can connect to multiple data sources and databases, making it a versatile choice for complex architectures.
  • Developer Productivity
    The tool significantly reduces the time required for backend development, allowing developers to focus on building frontend features and improving user experience.
  • Community and Support
    Hasura has a growing community and offers comprehensive documentation, which can be invaluable for troubleshooting and getting the most out of the platform.

Possible disadvantages of Hasura

  • Complex Initial Setup
    Although Hasura simplifies many tasks, setting it up initially can be complex and may require a good understanding of both GraphQL and your underlying database.
  • Vendor Lock-In Concerns
    Depending heavily on Hasura can create vendor lock-in situations, making it difficult to switch technologies later without significant redevelopment effort.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers unfamiliar with GraphQL, event-driven architectures, or advanced database concepts may face a steep learning curve when adopting Hasura.
  • Limited Customization
    Some advanced use cases may require lower-level customizations not easily achievable through Hasura’s auto-generated APIs.
  • Performance Overhead
    Although optimized for performance, the additional layer Hasura introduces can still introduce latency, especially in highly complex queries.
  • Debugging Complexity
    Diagnosing issues can sometimes be complicated due to the number of components involved, including the database, Hasura, and the generated APIs.
  • Cost
    While Hasura offers a free tier, advanced features and enterprise-level support come at a cost, which can add up as your project scales.

JSON Server videos

Angular CRUD with Web API Tutorial Part #3 - Setup Local JSON Server and Mock API Endpoints

Hasura videos

Scott Tries Hasura - A Realtime GraphQL API Builder

More videos:

  • Review - Evaluating Hasura
  • Review - The founder of Hasura teaching me about Hasura - FUN!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to JSON Server and Hasura)
Development
100 100%
0% 0
GraphQL
0 0%
100% 100
API Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
10 10%
90% 90

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Hasura should be more popular than JSON Server. It has been mentiond 123 times since March 2021. 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.

JSON Server mentions (45)

  • Building a CRUD app with React Query, TypeScript, and Axios
    We'll be using json-server to create the REST API that we'll fetch data from. In the root of the project, create a db.json file with the contents. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Full Stack To Do list, a step-by-step tutorial
    Our backend will be little more than a two-way translation layer between the database and the user interface (UI). Later in this post we will identify other responsibilities of a backend but our implementation will be kept simple to demonstrate the fundamental machinery and concepts. It is worth noting the backend comes in two parts, web server and application server. Both json-server and Express are able to... - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Improve Frontend-Backend development harmony with JSON-Server
    JSON-Server creates fake REST API with a minimum amount of configuration, it provides a simple way to create mock RESTful APIs and easily define the required endpoints, allows easy definition of the data schema in a JSON file and can serve as a reference for each figure in the project. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Dictionary app
    I thought about usingJson Server (hosting the repo with the words on Github to begin with), Googlesheets, or maybe Firestore (i would prefer not to use it ,to avoid extra costs just in case it gets a reasonable amount of users). It isnt a big app so I just want a simple solution for storing the words and fetching them. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Playwright - Not just for Frontend
    First, I didn't create a backend API for this example, but I used a fake API to test. I created it with json-server and json-server-auth. They are two npm packages that use a JSON file as a database and expose the database in an API. You can find more about json-server in its documentation and about json-server-auth here. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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Hasura mentions (123)

  • Boring on Purpose: Bold Moves in Internal Tooling
    A few years back, I decided to replace our spreadsheet-based host and service registries with a proper, Web-based asset registry. It took us a few days to hack together a simple system that we could use to track our infrastructure elements. It was not a big project -- just a simple app backed by a database, Hasura, and a React frontend. Since we were already using OpenID for authentication, it was easy for our... - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • Supabase Alternatives 🔄 in 2025 😼
    Hasura is a neck-to-neck competitor to Supabase as a BaaS, but with a crucial difference: its GraphQL-first approach. Unlike Supabase, Hasura doesn't bundle database services, allowing it to work with virtually any database including Supabase's own Postgres, Neon, and others. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Automatically Generate REST and GraphQL APIs From Your Database
    Hasura and PostGraphile lead the PostgreSQL GraphQL landscape. Hasura provides real-time subscriptions and a powerful permissions system, while PostGraphile offers deep PostgreSQL integration and excellent performance for complex queries. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • The Myth of GraphQL
    Here is an example data schema we get for a query using Hasura and GraphQL-Codegen. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Hasura CLI on NixOS: A Working Solution
    Hasura is a great tool. I was worried about a few things such as huge RAM consumption, excessive focus on new features and functions despite many outstanding issues, long time rewrite of the server in Rust, etc... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing JSON Server and Hasura, you can also consider the following products

JSON Placeholder - JSON Placeholder is a modern platform that provides you online REST API, which you can instantly use whenever you need any fake data.

Supabase - An open source Firebase alternative

mocki Fake JSON API - mocki Fake JSON API is an advanced platform that offers you to create API for personal use or testing purposes.

How to GraphQL - Open-source tutorial website to learn GraphQL development

Mockae - The most flexible way to mock REST APIs with Lua code execution

GraphQl Editor - Editor for GraphQL that lets you draw GraphQL schemas using visual nodes