Do you prefer Fetch or Axios?

One of the fundamental tasks of any web application is to communicate with servers through the HTTP protocol. This can be easily achieved using Fetch or Axios.

The Fetch API is built-in most modern browsers and provides a fetch() method defined on the window object, while Axios is a specific 3rd party Javascript library you must install manually.

Which method do you usually use and do you think adding a library (around 4.4KB gzip) is worth it for the extra features it brings?

Comments

[Pacharapol Withayasakpunt]

axios integrates better with TypeScript interfaces, however, fetch (and well as node-fetch) has much more predictable output.

// Is it `string` or `Record<string, unknown>` (or `Blob`)?
const { data } = await axios.get('/api')

// Nearly always `Record<string, unknown>`
const data2 = await fetch('/api').then((r) => r.json())

Also, fetch can be attached AbortController. I would be interested in a library built on top fetch.

I know there are superagent and ky, but I never really tried.

[Adam Azad]

What about?

interface Fruit {
  id: string;
  name: string;
}

const { data } = await axios.get<Fruit[]>('/fruits');

Now data is an array of objects Fruit

[Pacharapol Withayasakpunt]

Actually, it's just a fake typing.

It depends on the "real" data, whether it gets JSON.parse() or not.

[Junxiao Shi]

jQuery.ajax()
🤦

[Caleb David]

That legendary function 😂

[Kudos Beluga]

$.get()
$.post()

[Junxiao Shi]

$.getJSON()
$.getScript()

Don't forget $(selector).load(uri).

All of these are better than my first AJAX program: I didn't know JavaScript has closures, so that every XMLHttpRequest object is a global variable.
It's 2006, when everyone was using IE6, I just read a book about AJAX, I haven't heard about Prototype.js, and jQuery existed for less than a year.

[Madza]

been there, done that 😂😂

[Ryan Dsouza]

I prefer axios's API and also fetch doesn't throw an error when we get a non 200 response from the backend except for Network errors. Which is why I use redaxios, the best of both worlds.

[jan paul]

+1

[Caleb David]

I use both, but mostly just stick with fetch and node-fetch 😎

[Rohit]

My opinion is to use axios, because in some cases like if we have to show the progress of our request then it will be very difficult to handle this using fetch method but axios have a good managed function for that case.

Also axios provides good documentation for the function and there use.

[Sai Sandeep Vaddi]

Axios.

API things like,

1. No need to serialize body explicitly by the developer.
2. Automatic wrapping in data object which I guess good security practice as well.
3. Reusable instances with axios.create.
4. Interceptors API is amazing and it really helps if you want to customize request or responses.

More things.

Also, works really well with TypeScript which other user has mentioned.

[Sooraj (PS)]

If the application needs to be light and have only a few http calls, then I would generally go for either fetch or xmlHTTPRequest.
For applications that are dependent on a lot of HTTP calls, then I think axios is the best approach and its easy to get away with setup.

[Kinanee Samson]

Most old browser will not understand fetch API and that is where, axios shines. Axios accommodates fetch API. However i think fetch API makes code look neater and a Lil bit synchronous. If I want compatibility, I'll pick axios else its fetch.

[Madza]

Fair enough 😉

[Manav Misra]

fetch is fine. I don't mind the 'double await' Usually, I move 'api' functionality to its own module/file anyway, so I am not typing it more than once.

[Angel Martinez]

I use Fetch when the project is small or when I know it will not grow much. I prefer to use Axios in projects where requests carry more information since Axios allows you to configure an instance of it.

[Hugo Sandoval]

Axios has more browsers compatibility.

[TrasherDK]

Fetch can't handle 401 response, with no access to headers. Digest authentication is a problem.

[Filippo De Luca]

Axios

[Pontakorn Paesaeng]

I prefer fetch API as I expect user to have slightly modern browser. I don't want to support outdated browser.

[Hector Ayala]

I haven't tried fetch yet, but axios is a delight to use, and I already know what to expect with it.