Repo Compare › Node.js backends
NestJS vs Hono vs Express
A side-by-side look at how actively NestJS, Hono and Express are developed on GitHub — popularity, contributor base, commit activity and how quickly issues and pull requests move.
What the numbers say
- NestJS is the most-starred of the 3, with 77k stars — about 2.4× Hono's 32k.
- Over the 52 weeks to the snapshot, NestJS recorded the most commits (2.9k), against 91 for Express.
- NestJS has closed or merged the most pull requests in its lifetime: 12k.
- Relative to its popularity, NestJS carries the lightest open-issue load: 0.1 open issues per 1,000 stars, versus 8.3 for Hono.
Head-to-head
Snapshot taken 30 September 2026.
| Metric | NestJS Active | Hono Active | Express Active |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 77k | 32k | 70k |
| Forks | 8.6k | 1.4k | 25k |
| Contributors | 765 | 370 | 390 |
| Commits, last 52 weeks | 2.9k | 443 | 91 |
| Open issues | 6 | 270 | 106 |
| Open pull requests | 22 | 142 | 129 |
| Closed / merged PRs | 12k | 2.7k | 2.5k |
| Watchers | 759 | 90 | 1.7k |
| Last push | 30 Sep 2026 | 30 Sep 2026 | 29 Sep 2026 |
| Latest release | v12.1.1 (Sep 2026) | v4.13.12 (Sep 2026) | v5.2.1 (Dec 2025) |
| Main language | TypeScript | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Licence | MIT | MIT | MIT |
| Created | Feb 2017 | Dec 2021 | Jun 2009 |
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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