What are the best node js libraries?

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Nov 24, 2020

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2 Options Considered

Best node js libraries	Price	Repository	Platforms
-- Sails.js	-	https://github.com/balderdashy/sails	-
-- Express	-	-	-

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Express.js

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score 5 · Answer 1

Sails.js

Top Pro

So easy to deploy and lift

For a small pet project or proof of concept, getting a working backend mostly following best practices without having to write any boilerplate can be a big win, especially for less experienced developers. See More

Top Con

Heavyweight framework with lots of "magic"

While having a lot of features out of the box is great for a small proof of concept, it becomes hugely detrimental in any long-term, production-grade project. One of the major strengths of the Node ecosystem is the ability to pick and choose the tools you need, and Sails forces a ridiculous amount of cruft on developers. The many features the rely on convention also mean a steep learning curve and surprising behaviours that can be difficult to track down. See More

CredibleThoas's Experience

After 6 years of Node development using primarily Express, switching to Sails was an awful experience. Perhaps the biggest issue is that Waterline can't really be called an ORM, as it limits itself to ODM capabilities, without any real relation support. This means having to choose between constant reliance on raw queries or making countless queries and processing in JS, which leads to either awful performance or truly hard-to-maintain code Further, the "convention over configuration" approach expresses itself as a ton of voodoo and unexpected behaviours, documentation isn't great, performance is overall poor, it's extremely heavyweight, and just feels like a constant struggle with a poor, outdated framework that no-one should be using in 2020. See More

Specs

Repository:https://github.com/balderdashy/sails

Top Pro

JSON API generated for free

Exposes public JSON API for free. No additional routing to be defined. Makes it pretty easy to access data from anywhere. See More

Top Con

Poorly supported

As a framework that's seen its heyday several years ago, support for Sails nowadays isn't great, new features rarely come out, and issues aren't often resolved. See More

Top Pro

ORM that can be plugged into any database, or even custom web service

Sails.js uses Waterline ORM at its backend which means you can store your data in any datastore that you like; all you have to do is make a change to the Waterline adapter, this will allow you to store your data in MySQL/Redis or any other kind of database. See More

Top Con

Poor ORM

The built-in Waterline is not well designed and is not suitable for production environments. Populating more than 1 level deep is a nightmare, there is no transaction support, new features/bug fixes are not implemented anywhere near a timely manner (the most requested feature 'deep populate' has been lingering in their github issues list for over a year and a half now). See More

Top Pro

MVC architecture

This could be a huge plus, if you prefer to build your apps using the Model View Controller architecture. Using Sails.js you'll find the task of separating the business logic from the user interface and keeping the interactions between them in a separate layer, extremely easy. See More

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score 6 · Answer 2

Express

Top Pro

Provides choice

Being an extremely lightweight and unopinionated framework, it can be integrated with just about anything. Especially since anyone building anything for Node makes sure it can work well with Express. See More

Top Con

Doesn't offer much functionality

CredibleThoas's Experience

A simple, lightweight framework, that's basically the golden standard for Node.js applications. It doesn't offer a whole lot out of the box, but what it does it does well, and it's never given me any cause to complain, in 6 years of working with it. See More

Top Pro

Takes care of routing

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What are the best node js libraries?

2 Options Considered

Sails.js

My Recommendation for Sails.js

My Recommendation for Sails.js

So easy to deploy and lift

Heavyweight framework with lots of "magic"

JSON API generated for free

Poorly supported

ORM that can be plugged into any database, or even custom web service

Poor ORM

MVC architecture

Express

My Recommendation for Express

My Recommendation for Express

Provides choice

Doesn't offer much functionality

Takes care of routing

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Express.js

My Recommendation for Express.js

My Recommendation for Express.js

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