Express.js Has a Free Node.js Framework Powering 90 Percent of Node Backends

Express.js is the most popular Node.js web framework, with 60M+ weekly npm downloads. It powers backends at Uber, IBM, and Accenture.

What You Get for Free

• Minimal and flexible — unopinionated routing
• Middleware ecosystem — thousands of packages
• Template engines — EJS, Pug, Handlebars
• Static files — built-in serving
• Error handling — centralized error middleware

Hello World

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/api/hello', (req, res) => {
  res.json({ message: 'Hello World' });
});

app.listen(3000);

Middleware Pattern

app.use(express.json());
app.use((req, res, next) => {
  console.log(req.method, req.url);
  next();
});

Express vs Fastify

Feature	Express	Fastify
Downloads	60M/week	5M/week
Speed	Good	2x faster
Schema	Manual	Built-in

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