Repo Compare › Node.js backends
Express vs Fastify vs Koa
A side-by-side look at how actively Express, Fastify and Koa are developed on GitHub — popularity, contributor base, commit activity and how quickly issues and pull requests move.
What the numbers say
- Express is the most-starred of the 3, with 70k stars — about 1.9× Koa's 36k.
- Over the 52 weeks to the snapshot, Fastify recorded the most commits (348), against 45 for Koa.
- Fastify has closed or merged the most pull requests in its lifetime: 4.3k.
- Relative to its popularity, Koa carries the lightest open-issue load: 0.5 open issues per 1,000 stars, versus 1.5 for Express.
Head-to-head
Snapshot taken 30 September 2026.
| Metric | Express Active | Fastify Active | Koa Active |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 70k | 37k | 36k |
| Forks | 25k | 3.0k | 3.2k |
| Contributors | 390 | 929 | 257 |
| Commits, last 52 weeks | 91 | 348 | 45 |
| Open issues | 106 | 56 | 17 |
| Open pull requests | 129 | 104 | 23 |
| Closed / merged PRs | 2.5k | 4.3k | 951 |
| Watchers | 1.7k | 368 | 799 |
| Last push | 29 Sep 2026 | 29 Sep 2026 | 19 Sep 2026 |
| Latest release | v5.2.1 (Dec 2025) | v5.12.5 (Sep 2026) | v3.2.1 (May 2026) |
| Main language | JavaScript | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Licence | MIT | MIT | MIT |
| Created | Jun 2009 | Sep 2016 | Jul 2013 |
Bold marks the highest value in a row. “Active / Slowing / Dormant” is a simple heuristic from how recently code was pushed and open issues per star — a starting point, not a verdict. Stars measure popularity, not quality.
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