Hono
Hacker ApprovedRanked 13 of 63 web frameworks by recommenders
Recommended as a small, fast, Express-like framework that runs on any JavaScript runtime, from servers to serverless. Caveat: setting up context types can be a pain.
Recommended as a small, fast, Express-like framework that runs on any JavaScript runtime, from servers to serverless. Caveat: setting up context types can be a pain.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 96%
Recommended in 13 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 27 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 13 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Pairs well with Zod and OpenAPI
“using Hono + Zod has been brilliant for creating types that my frontend can consume”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Ship Types, Not Docs” “Often Hono + OpenAPI + Zod as a set for services.”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Use Boring Languages with LLMs” “Hono + Zod + Swagger is pretty nice all around”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Why we migrated from Python to Node.js” Deploys to servers and serverless platforms
“I combine it with HonoJs and I can deploy it as a server or serverless”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “Head in the Zed Cloud” “Cloudflare Workers with Hono, vanilla JS for the frontend”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 on Hacker News “so it's easy to deploy it on render with node”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Cloudflare Global Network experiencing issues” Fast, runs on any JS runtime
“is really fast and can run on every major JS environment there is”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “Show HN: Mirafold – Your Agent with Generative UI (Codex, Claude Code, Gemini)” “it’s fast, and straightforward to manage attack surface”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “Let's Make the Worst Htmx” “Hono is much faster than Express”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Why we migrated from Python to Node.js” Suits APIs and server-rendered apps
“Easy to build API-based backends as well as MPAs with server-side HTML generation”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “30 years of <br> tags” “Now the whole app is straightforward Hono MVC with Vue powered UI.”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)” “The only framework in use is Hono which just makes HTTP easier”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “You can just port things to Cloudflare Workers”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Setting up context types is painful
“setting up my context types is slightly more of a pain”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Reinventing how .NET builds and ships (again)” Migration not always seamless
“I wouldn't call it seamless, having also done this recently.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Why we migrated from Python to Node.js”
Other web frameworks people recommend
The four most recommended other web frameworks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby on Rails | 337 | 145 | 70% | 12 | 14 yrs38 owners | Approved |
| Django | 277 | 97 | 74% | 12 | 15 yrs38 owners | Approved |
| Next.js | 127 | 256 | 33% | 12 | 3 yrs6 owners | — |
| Phoenix Framework | 85 | 11 | 89% | 12 | 8 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| HonoThis page | 27 | 1 | 96% | 13 | — | Approved |
What people said
34 of the 41 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“easier for humans e.g htmx, hono (expressjs like) are also easier for agents”
“Imagine an Express server or Hono server”
“powered by a custom Inertia.js adapter for Hono”
“is really fast and can run on every major JS environment there is”
“it’s fast, and straightforward to manage attack surface”
“Hono + WebComponents + HTMX + serverless is the backend for my apps now.”
“the way to write serverless code that is not nailed to current platform quirks”
“they should have made it work with hono workers”
“I really like FastEndpoints in C# a lot as well as Hono in JS/TS environments.”
“Often Hono + OpenAPI + Zod as a set for services.”
“Now the whole app is straightforward Hono MVC with Vue powered UI.”
“libraries like Hono are designed to work in that env”
“newer alternatives that outperform it on Node”
“lightweight frameworks like Hono have changed the game”
“Cloudflare Workers with Hono, vanilla JS for the frontend”
“Just about the simplest things that I can do to get things going”
“This is a really nice combo.”
“I decided to avoid Next.js some I went with a simple Hono + Tanstack Router/query.”
“rather than being an ill-defined nightmare”
“I'm used to using Hono and really enjoy working with it”
“I still really like JS/TS tooling with Hono and Rust with Axum”
“I switched a personal app I'm working on from Go to Deno and Hono and it's quite nice.”
“using Hono + Zod has been brilliant for creating types that my frontend can consume”
“The only framework in use is Hono which just makes HTTP easier”
“Easy to build API-based backends as well as MPAs with server-side HTML generation”
“setting up my context types is slightly more of a pain”
“I like it that new cli tools are emerging because of this.”
“so it's easy to deploy it on render with node”
“I combine it with HonoJs and I can deploy it as a server or serverless”
“I wouldn't call it seamless, having also done this recently.”
“absolutely seamless migration”
“Hono + Zod + Swagger is pretty nice all around”
“I probably would have pushed for Hono as the underlying framework”
“Hono is much faster than Express”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.