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Add to SafariWhen comparing Sails.js vs FeathersJS, the Slant community recommends Sails.js for most people. In the question“What are the best node.js web frameworks?” Sails.js is ranked 4th while FeathersJS is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Sails.js is:
Sails.js is built with a focus on building real time communication apps such as chat or multiplayer games, so naturally it has Socket.io extremely well supported.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Transparent support for Socket.io
Sails.js is built with a focus on building real time communication apps such as chat or multiplayer games, so naturally it has Socket.io extremely well supported.
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.
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.
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.
Pro So easy to deploy and lift
Pro Great documentation and structure
Clear documentation and easy to understand. The file structure gives you a way to understand where you can start to develop when you encounter a new Sails project
Pro Can sync events between different Node instances
Feather can sync events happening in two different Node processes or even servers in real-time. For example: an event happens in server A, the user connected to server B is instantly notified of that event.
This is done through a central Redis or Mongo collection or through a websocket libraries' clustering library.
Pro Easy REST APIs
Through services, Feathers provides instant CRUD functionality, it also can easily expose a RESTful and real-time API through HTTP/HTTPS and websockets.
Pro Can be integrated in an existing ExpressJS project
Since Feathers itself is built on top of Express (it's a thin wrapper over socket.io, primus and Express) and because of Feathers' highly modular nature, it's very easy to integrate Feathers in an existing Express project.
Pro Plug-in any feature you need
Feathers makes extensive use of modules (which are called Feathers services). These services work like ExpressJS middleware and can be used with app.use('/path', serviceObject).
Services help developers keep their applications modular and as minimal as possible, without any unnecessary libraries or bloat.
Pro Support for different socket transports
FeatherJS uses primus which is a universal wrapper for real-time frameworks. Through primus you can easily choose which socket transport you want to use.
Cons
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).
Con Not so widely used
Could be problematic to convince the client use this framework in his/her project.
Con Not very beginner friendly
Although the documentation for Feathers is very good, it still needs some configuration in order to get Feathers up for developing something with it.
