Bun Has a Free Ultra-Fast JavaScript Runtime and Toolkit

Bun is a free, all-in-one JavaScript runtime, bundler, transpiler, and package manager. It is significantly faster than Node.js and Deno.

What Is Bun?

Bun is a drop-in Node.js replacement built from scratch using Zig and JavaScriptCore (Safari engine) for maximum performance.

Key features:

• 4x faster than Node.js startup
• Built-in bundler (replaces webpack/esbuild)
• Built-in test runner (replaces Jest)
• Built-in package manager (replaces npm, 25x faster)
• Native TypeScript and JSX
• Node.js compatible
• SQLite built-in
• Web-standard APIs

Quick Start

# Install
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Run TypeScript directly
bun run server.ts

# Install packages (25x faster than npm)
bun install

HTTP Server

Bun.serve({
  port: 3000,
  fetch(req) {
    const url = new URL(req.url);
    if (url.pathname === "/api/data") {
      return Response.json({ status: "ok", timestamp: Date.now() });
    }
    return new Response("Not Found", { status: 404 });
  }
});

Package Manager Speed

# Install all dependencies
bun install  # ~0.5 seconds (vs npm: ~15 seconds)

# Add package
bun add express  # instant

Built-in SQLite

import { Database } from "bun:sqlite";

const db = new Database("app.db");
db.run("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, email TEXT)");
db.run("INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (?, ?)", ["Alice", "[e-mail]"]);

const users = db.query("SELECT * FROM users").all();
console.log(users);

Built-in Test Runner

import { test, expect } from "bun:test";

test("addition", () => {
  expect(2 + 2).toBe(4);
});

test("async fetch", async () => {
  const res = await fetch("https://api.github.com");
  expect(res.status).toBe(200);
});

bun test  # Runs tests instantly

Bun vs Node.js vs Deno

Feature	Node.js	Deno	Bun
Startup time	40ms	30ms	7ms
Package install	Slow (npm)	Moderate	25x faster
TypeScript	Config needed	Native	Native
Bundler	External	No	Built-in
Test runner	External	Built-in	Built-in
SQLite	External	External	Built-in
npm compat	Native	Yes	Yes

Bundler

bun build ./src/index.ts --outdir ./dist --minify

Replaces webpack, esbuild, rollup. Built-in.

With 78K+ GitHub stars. The fastest JavaScript runtime.

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