Features
- JSON Schema-based request/response validation
- Plugin architecture with encapsulation
- Automatic serialization with fast-json-stringify
- Built-in logging with pino
Pros
- 2-3x faster than Express in benchmarks
- Excellent TypeScript support with type providers
- Schema-based validation generates documentation automatically
Cons
- Plugin encapsulation model has a learning curve
- Smaller middleware ecosystem than Express
- Decorator pattern can feel unfamiliar
Overview
Fastify is a high-performance Node.js web framework focused on providing the best developer experience with minimal overhead. It uses JSON Schema for request validation and response serialization, which provides both runtime safety and automatic documentation generation.
Fastify’s plugin architecture uses encapsulation to isolate different parts of your application, preventing tight coupling and making it easy to compose functionality. Its performance comes from schema-based serialization using fast-json-stringify and find-my-way for routing, making it one of the fastest Node.js frameworks available.
When to Use
Choose Fastify when you need high performance with Node.js, when you want built-in validation and serialization, or when building APIs that benefit from automatic schema-based documentation. It’s the best Express alternative for serious Node.js API development.
Getting Started
npm init -y && npm install fastifyimport Fastify from "fastify";
const app = Fastify({ logger: true });
app.get("/", async () => {
return { message: "Hello from Fastify" };
});
app.listen({ port: 3000 });