Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Opa VS ExpressJS

Compare Opa VS ExpressJS and see what are their differences

Opa logo Opa

Opa is an open source, simple and unified platform for writing web applications.

ExpressJS logo ExpressJS

Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple
  • Opa Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-16
  • ExpressJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-14

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.

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.

Opa videos

My food review at Opa of Greece!

More videos:

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

ExpressJS videos

No ExpressJS videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Opa and ExpressJS)
Web Frameworks
5 5%
95% 95
JavaScript Framework
2 2%
98% 98
Developer Tools
4 4%
96% 96
Javascript UI Libraries

User comments

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Reviews

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

Opa Reviews

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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.
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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ExpressJS seems to be a lot more popular than Opa. While we know about 469 links to ExpressJS, 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.

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 / about 4 years ago

ExpressJS mentions (469)

  • 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 / 4 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 / 8 days ago
  • How to Handle File Uploads with Node.js and Express - Multer Edition
    Basic knowledge of JavaScript and Express. - Source: dev.to / 10 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 / 26 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 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Opa and ExpressJS, you can also consider the following products

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

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

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

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

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

Backbone.js - Give your JS App some Backbone with Models, Views, Collections, and Events