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Node.js VS Opa

Compare Node.js VS Opa and see what are their differences

Node.js logo Node.js

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

Opa logo Opa

Opa is an open source, simple and unified platform for writing web applications.
  • Node.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-18
  • Opa Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-16

Node.js features and specs

  • Asynchronous and Event-Driven
    Node.js uses an asynchronous, non-blocking, and event-driven I/O model, making it efficient and scalable for handling multiple simultaneous connections.
  • JavaScript Everywhere
    Developers can use JavaScript for both client-side and server-side programming, providing a unified language environment and better synergy between front-end and back-end development.
  • Large Community and NPM
    Node.js has a vibrant community and a rich ecosystem with the Node Package Manager (NPM), which offers thousands of open-source libraries and tools that can be integrated easily into projects.
  • High Performance
    Built on the V8 JavaScript engine from Google, Node.js translates JavaScript directly into native machine code, which increases performance and speed.
  • Scalability
    Designed with microservices and scalability in mind, Node.js enables easy horizontal scaling across multiple servers.
  • JSON Support
    Node.js seamlessly handles JSON, which is a common format for API responses, making it an excellent choice for building RESTful APIs and data-intensive real-time applications.

Possible disadvantages of Node.js

  • Callback Hell
    The reliance on callbacks to manage asynchronous operations can lead to deeply nested and difficult-to-read code, commonly referred to as 'Callback Hell'.
  • Not Suitable for CPU-Intensive Tasks
    Node.js is optimized for I/O operations and can become inefficient for CPU-intensive tasks, slowing down overall performance due to its single-threaded event loop.
  • Immaturity of Tools
    Compared to more established technologies, some Node.js libraries and tools still lack maturity and comprehensive documentation, which can be challenging for developers.
  • Callback and Promise Overheads
    Managing asynchronous operations using callbacks or promises can lead to additional complexity and overhead, impacting maintainability and performance if not handled correctly.
  • Fragmented Ecosystem
    The fast-paced evolution of Node.js and its ecosystem can lead to fragmentation, with numerous versions and libraries that may not always be compatible with each other.
  • Security Issues
    The extensive use of third-party libraries via NPM can introduce security vulnerabilities if not properly managed and updated, making applications more susceptible to attacks.

Opa features and specs

  • Full-Stack Development
    Opa is designed to be a full-stack language, which means it can handle both the client-side and server-side development within a single codebase. This reduces the need for context switching between multiple programming languages and can simplify the development process.
  • Security Features
    Opa includes built-in security features such as automatic data validation and prevention of common web vulnerabilities like XSS and SQL injection, potentially reducing the number of security issues in web applications.
  • Concurrency Support
    Opa natively supports asynchronous programming and concurrency, allowing developers to write efficient, non-blocking code without needing additional frameworks or libraries.
  • Integrated Web Development
    The language integrates multiple aspects of web development such as database, server, and client interactions, aiming to streamline the process and reduce the complexity of managing disparate technologies.

Possible disadvantages of Opa

  • Limited Adoption
    Opa is not widely adopted, which can result in a smaller community and fewer resources, tutorials, or third-party libraries compared to more popular web development languages and frameworks.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers new to Opa might face a steep learning curve due to its unique approach and syntax, which differs considerably from more traditional web development languages.
  • Tooling and Ecosystem
    The tooling and ecosystem around Opa may not be as mature or robust as those surrounding other more established languages, potentially leading to challenges in finding compatible tools or plugins.
  • Performance Overheads
    While Opa abstracts many details for developers, this abstraction can introduce performance overheads compared to languages that allow more fine-tuned control over performance optimizations.

Node.js videos

What is Node.js? | Mosh

More videos:

  • Review - What is Node.js Exactly? - a beginners introduction to Nodejs
  • Review - Learn node.js in 2020 - A review of best node.js courses

Opa videos

My food review at Opa of Greece!

More videos:

  • Review - Classic Game Room - OPA OPA review for Sega Mark III

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Node.js and Opa)
Developer Tools
98 98%
2% 2
Web Frameworks
93 93%
7% 7
Runtime
100 100%
0% 0
JavaScript Framework
0 0%
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 Node.js and Opa

Node.js Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
JavaScript is widely used for back-end or server-side development because it makes a call to the remote server when a web page loads on the browser. When a browser loads a web page, it makes a call to a remote server. Further, the code parses the page’s URL to understand users’ requirements before retrieving and transforming the required data to serve back to the browser....
Source: solguruz.com
9 Best JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2023
Node.js applications are written in JavaScript and run on the Node.js runtime, which allows them to be executed on any platform that supports Node.js. Node.js applications are typically event-driven and single-threaded, making them efficient and scalable. Additionally, the Node Package Manager (NPM) provides a way to install and manage dependencies for Node.js projects...
Source: ninetailed.io
20 Best JavaScript Frameworks For 2023
TJ Holowaychuk built Express in 2010 before being acquired by IBM (StrongLoop) in 2015. Node.js Foundation currently maintains it. The key reason Express is one of the best JavaScript frameworks is its rapid server-side coding. Complex tasks that would take hours to code using pure Node.js can be resolved in a few minutes, thanks to Express. On top of that, Express offers a...
FOSS | Top 15 Web Servers 2021
Node.js is a cross-platform server-side JavaScript environment built for developing and running network applications such as web servers. Node.js is licensed under a variety of licenses. As of March 2021, around 1.2% of applications were running on Node.js. Among the top companies and applications utilizing this modern web server are GoDaddy, Microsoft, General Electric,...
Source: www.zentao.pm
10 Best Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps 
Electron.js is compatible with a variety of frameworks, libraries, access to hardware-level APIs and chromium engine, and Node.js support. Electron Fiddle feature is great for experimentation as it allows developers to play around with concepts and templates. Simplification is at the center of Electron because developers don’t have to spend unnecessary time on the packaging,...

Opa Reviews

We have no reviews of Opa yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Node.js seems to be a lot more popular than Opa. While we know about 896 links to Node.js, we've tracked only 3 mentions of Opa. 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.

Node.js mentions (896)

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Opa mentions (3)

  • Imba – The friendly full-stack language
    I remember Opa http://opalang.org/ tried something similar at the time when MongoDB was new and modern. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: What web frameworks/technologies did not succeed as per your expectation
    We come across some web frameworks and technologies that we think will succeed, but they wither away as time passes by and don't succeed to the level we expected. Which web frameworks and or technologies did you come across that you thought would succeed but did not as per your expectations? For example, I thought that Opa Lang[0] and UrWeb[1] would succeed but did not, even though the ideas were sound. [0]... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Modern JavaScript:Everything you missed over the last 10 years(ECMAScript 2020)
    I think the Opa language was doing JSX-like code in the frontend before JSX http://opalang.org/ Both Opa and JSX were created in 2011. Opa had other innovations as well, such having the same code base run on both client and server (like Next.js). Unfortunately it didn't get traction and was abandoned by the creators. - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Node.js and Opa, you can also consider the following products

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

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

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

ASP.NET - ASP.NET is a free web framework for building great Web sites and Web applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Laravel - A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

ember.js - A JavaScript framework for creating ambitious web apps