Next.js vs Express.js: A Head-to-Head Battle for Your Next Project

You’re diving into backend development, and after a quick Google search of “NestJS or ExpressJS, which one should you learn or which is better for your project?” you’ve probably hit a bit of a dilemma. There are many Node.js frameworks out there, and picking the right one can feel like a tough call. It’s especially tricky because no single framework is perfect for every project—it really depends on your specific needs.

In this article, we’ll break down NestJS and ExpressJS (or just Express) by looking at their features, architecture, learning curve, community support, and more. We’ll also guide you on when it makes sense to pick one over the other, along with some expert tips if you’re building apps.

What is Expressjs?

Express.js is one of the most popular frameworks in the Node.js community for building backend applications. It's often seen as the go-to server framework for Node.js, and it offers many features that save you from writing repetitive, boilerplate code.  Express.js runs on top of Node.js, kind of like a lightweight layer that uses Node's APIs. Furthermore, It brings its own set of APIs designed specifically for web servers. 

Key Features of Expressjs

Routing

Express.js offers routing system to define routes for different HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.) and URL patterns. This enables you to map incoming requests to specific functions or controllers that handle the request logic.

Middleware

Middleware functions are executed in the order they are defined, and they can modify the request and response objects before they reach the final handler. With Middleware you can develop a robust mechanism for implementing cross-cutting concerns such as authentication, authorization, logging, and error handling.

Template Engine Support

Express.js offers various template engines, such as EJS, Pug, and Handlebars. With this, developers can dynamically generate HTML content based on data and create dynamic web pages and web applications easily. 

Static File Serving

Express.js can serve static files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, etc.) directly from your application's directory, which is useful for serving assets that don't require dynamic generation.

HTTP Method Overriding

Express.js allows you to override the HTTP method of a request using the x-http-method-override header or a query parameter. This is helpful for handling HTTP methods that are not supported by older browsers or web servers.

Error Handling

Express.js provides built-in error handling middleware to catch and handle errors during the request lifecycle. This helps you provide informative error messages to users and prevent your application from crashing.

Body Parsing

Express.js can parse the body of incoming requests, which is useful for handling form submissions and JSON-encoded data.

Session Management

Express.js integrates with session middleware to manage user sessions, which is essential for maintaining state across multiple requests.

Testing

Express.js is well-suited for testing, and there are many testing frameworks and tools available for writing unit and integration tests for your Express.js applications.

What is Nestjs?

NestJS is like an upgrade on top of Express.js, a popular web server framework. It brings a well-organized structure to server-side programming, making things more manageable and scalable. TypeScript is a core part of the framework. This means you get better type-checking and fewer bugs. Plus, it offers extra features and tools, like support for GraphQL, microservices, and more, making your development experience smoother and more powerful.

Key Features of Nestjs 

TypeScript Support

NestJS is built with TypeScript, which means you get powerful type-checking and modern JavaScript features right away. This helps catch errors early in development, improves code quality, and makes it easier to understand the structure of your code.

Modular Architecture

NestJS promotes a modular architecture, which is like using building blocks for your application. You can organize your code into modules that group related components, services, and controllers. This makes it easy to scale your application, as you can add or remove modules without affecting the rest of your app.

Dependency Injection

This design pattern allows different parts of your application to be loosely coupled. With dependency injection, you can inject dependencies (like services) into your classes instead of creating them directly. This leads to more flexible, maintainable, and testable code because you can easily swap out implementations and mock dependencies in tests.

Exception Filters

Exception filters in NestJS allow you to handle errors and exceptions in a structured way. Instead of letting errors crash your application or return unformatted responses, you can define custom exception filters that catch and process these errors, providing user-friendly error messages.

Guards and Interceptors

Guards: These are used for managing and securing requests, such as checking user authentication or roles before allowing access to certain routes.

Interceptors: They can manipulate requests and responses, allowing you to add additional logic (like logging or transforming the response) before the request reaches the handler.

Pipes

Pipes in NestJS are used to transform or validate data before it reaches your controllers. For example, you can use pipes to ensure that incoming data meets certain criteria (like type validation) or to transform it into a different format (like converting strings to numbers).

CLI (Command-Line Interface)

NestJS provides a powerful CLI that simplifies the process of scaffolding and maintaining applications. With just a few commands, you can generate modules, controllers, and services, as well as perform other tasks like running the application or running tests. This streamlines your development workflow and helps keep your project organized.

Nestjs vs Expressjs

 Popularity 

In terms of popularity on GitHub, NestJS has taken the lead with over 67,000 stars, while Express is not far behind with more than 65,000 stars. Both frameworks are highly regarded among developers. 

While NestJS has a slight edge in star count, it's worth noting that Express has been a long-standing favorite in the community, making its popularity comparable to NestJS. It's important to remember that GitHub stars are just one metric and don't solely define a framework's overall popularity.

Performance 

Express can run several tasks at the same time without waiting for one to finish before starting the next. This is done using asynchronous programming, which helps it handle multiple operations independently.

Nest, by default, uses the Express framework to run web servers. But Nest also gives you the option to switch from Express to Fastify. Fastify is known for being faster, which can boost performance if you need your app to run more efficiently.

While both NestJS and ExpressJS can build high-performance web applications, their performance may vary depending on the specific use case and how they're implemented. For smaller applications, the performance difference between the two may be minimal. 

However, as the application scales, NestJS's modular architecture and dependency injection (DI) can offer performance advantages. Overall, NestJS has a performance edge over ExpressJS due to its architectural features. 

Opinionated vs unopinionated 

Here’s the thing: when you go with an opinionated framework, you're signing up to stick to some strict guidelines—basically, you have to follow best practices, conventions, and defaults. These frameworks lay out the “right” way to do things and give you a clear path to work with.

But if you want more freedom to play around, unopinionated frameworks let you figure out how to set things up. There are fewer rules, so you can structure your application on your own. 

Each has its ups and downs, and the whole opinionated vs. unopinionated debate has been going on for a while. Developers tend to pick a framework depending on how much freedom or structure they’re looking for. If you like things laid out neatly with clear direction, NestJS is a great option. But if you’d rather not get tied down by too many rules, Express gives you more room to move around.

Architecture 

When you're building large-scale applications, picking the right framework and its architecture is key to long-term success. NestJS, with its more structured approach, offers a complete architecture that lines up well with enterprise patterns. It features the popular MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture, which splits software into three parts: the Model (handling your data), the View (what users see), and the Controller (managing the flow between the two). 

 NestJS incorporates features such as controllers, providers, and modules, making it easier to manage complexity—especially when a large team is working on a large project.

On the flip side, ExpressJS is lightweight and fast, with less overhead. It doesn't follow the MVC pattern, which gives developers more flexibility in how they structure their apps. That can be a huge advantage if you're working on a smaller project or if it’s just you doing the development. But as your app or team grows, ExpressJS’s minimalist approach could become trickier to manage.

Use Cases

NestJS is ideal for building enterprise-grade applications, real-time systems, and microservices due to its modular architecture and built-in support for features like WebSockets, GraphQL, and message brokers. 

It shines in developing RESTful APIs and microservices. Developers often turn to NestJS for writing complex backend systems, setting up API Gateways, or even implementing server-side rendering (SSR) applications with Angular or React. 

On the other side, Express.js is perfect for lightweight and flexible applications, particularly when speed and simplicity are the main priorities. It’s commonly used for creating small to medium-sized RESTful APIs, prototyping, or serving as a backend for Single Page Applications (SPAs) like React or Vue. 

With its middleware ecosystem, developers can stack functions for various tasks like logging, authentication, or error handling. Additionally, Express can handle server-side rendering (SSR) for modern front-end frameworks, and its minimalistic nature allows teams to spin up quick prototypes or robust backends for IoT solutions without much hassle.

Expressjs Pros & Cons

Express is a lightweight, minimalist, and easy-to-use framework, making it a great choice for small to medium-sized applications. Since it's unopinionated, you will not need to learn architecture or the ins and outs of TypeScript. 

Plus, it gives you a lot of flexibility in how you structure your applications. Because it’s lightweight, Express can really boost performance for simpler apps or services.

However, that same unopinionated approach can lead to inconsistent code structures, which might make it tricky to maintain a larger codebase. Also, developers often find themselves having to set up things like routing, error handling, and middleware management from scratch, which can add a lot of boilerplate code. 

And while it’s possible to use Express for microservices architecture, it’s not really designed for it, so you’ll need to put in some extra effort to make it work.

Nestjs Pros & Cons

NestJS uses a modular architecture. It provides the developer with an environment to better manage their codebase for large applications. 

In addition, it supports TypeScript for strong typing, interfaces, and better tooling.  TypeScript, developed by Microsoft, helps developers write more reliable code and catch bugs during the compilation process. 

You will find a variety of features, such as dependency injection, middleware, guards, interceptors, and pipes, which help streamline development and promote best practices. 

Developers can easily integrate with other popular libraries and frameworks to enhance their capabilities. Overall, you will find an opinionated framework and feature-rich ecosystem when you choose Nestjs over Express. 

However, the modular architecture and TypeScript can present a steeper learning curve for developers unfamiliar with them. For small projects or simple APIs, NestJS can feel like overkill due to its extensive features and structure.

Expressjs vs Nestjs: Head to Head

While it's challenging to cover every aspect of these two frameworks in a single comparison, we've highlighted some of the key distinctions between Express.js and NestJS. Here's a summary of their main differences. 

Final Note

We hope this article gave you a clearer understanding of Express and Nest. In it, we compared their key features, highlighting aspects like performance, popularity, and architectural differences (opinionated vs. unopinionated).

 While these two frameworks offer plenty to explore, it's tough to cover every comparison point in one post.

 This guide is designed to help beginners and decision-makers who may be struggling to choose the right framework. If you're a developer looking for a more in-depth, technical comparison of NestJS vs. ExpressJS, stay tuned for a future article where we’ll dive into the technical details.

 In the end, the right framework depends on your project’s needs. Both Express and Nest are leading frameworks in the Node.js ecosystem, and each has its strengths.

 Still not sure which is the best fit? Feel free to reach out to us. As a top-rated Node.js development company, we specialize in crafting solutions for startups and medium-sized businesses.