Api Framework reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 229 Reddit reviews across 16 subreddits and 28 posts to rank the best Api Framework brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/node, r/PHP, r/Python, r/scala, r/golang. Top-rated brands include FastAPI (4.5/5), NestJS (4.2/5), Fastify (4.1/5).
Stats
Reviews229
Subreddits16
Posts28
Brands95
Products23
229 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
FastAPI
4.5
(24)
"100% FastApi"
"Quickest = FastAPI"
"Fastapi if you are building API and use JS or others in frontend..... Django if you are going full-stack...... Btw I chose fast API and never regretted my decision."
"High performance inbuilt async REST API, AI ML usecases - Fastapi"
"If you need a bunch of CRUD endpoints (for your mobile app, native app, single-page app, etc), then FastAPI will be the perfect choice."
"Definitely FastAPI. And you should also learn and use SQLmodel by the same author with SQLite."
"Fastapi is what many projects start with nowdays"
"Honestly, FastAPI. It's great for writing a pure API, can integrate well with Firebase, and you get typing in the requests, which helps a lot"
"If building api i will go to fast api"
"Flask? FastApi!"
#2
NestJS
4.2
(16)
"Go with NestJS , strict , good documentation, typescript language."
"Nestjs ftw 🥰"
"If you build application where performance and scalability are the most important then go with microservice architecture of Nest.js framework."
"I'll be trying just fastify with plugins and things they recommended in docs and nest with Prisma."
"Basically the best 2 right now are fastify and nest."
"NestJS works with either Express or Fastify."
"I'm definitely going to try creating a quick proof of concept for some basic stuff with Nest."
"Well, to me Nest looks like a good level of abstraction above express."
"If you are sure that it is going to grow and migrate to Microservices you can go with Fastify or NestJS."
"For scalability use Nest js."
#3
Fastify
4.1
(14)
"Basically the best 2 right now are fastify and nest."
"Fastify all day."
"For performance, definitely Fastify."
"Fastify - stick to it, that team is awesome."
"I'll be trying just fastify with plugins and things they recommended in docs and nest with Prisma."
"Fastify isn’t written in TS but has solid type support."
"Fastify, Featherjs."
"If you are sure that it is going to grow and migrate to Microservices you can go with Fastify or NestJS."
"Fastify is super fast."
"I'd go with Fastify or Express using some boilerplate."
#4
Express
3.9
(12)
"Express, always."
"Express.js a framework of Node.js is best framework to use to build REST API."
"Express and Fastify are great."
"Express."
"Express."
"Express makes things a lot easier and this would be my recommendation."
"I'm from operations land, stick with Express. You'll never get fired for suggesting it."
"Express. MEAN stack is solid enough (though I'm not fond of mongo)."
"Express is very easy, reliable and fast so I see no reason why anyone would use anything else for basic REST APIs"
"Plain Express is just fine."
#5
Slim
3.8
(11)
"Slim framework, it was designed for this use case."
"I like Slim, with Doctrine DBAL. Very lightweight"
"I'd recommend Slim, but Luman may also be a good choice."
"Slim is the way to go"
"Slim, php-di plus doctrine is a nice setup. Lumen is also a good choice."
"Out of the box, no ORM. Slim 4 is even more modular with decoupled bring-your-own PSR-7 factory and container implementations."
"As others, I can also recommend Slim or Mezzio. Use Doctrine as your ORM, JWT for authn/authz and you are good to go."
"It’s been a while, but I used to use Slim."
"Slim."
"I use slim, latte and psr1/4 or whatever autoloading is."
#6
FeathersJS
4.0
(7)
"If you feel like you want a little more overhead, take a look at FeathersJS."
"Fastify, Featherjs."
"Feathers supports only express-transport for REST."
"Feathers or Nest if i was back with a node project."
"I’ll second Feathers. The real-time functionality is awesome."
"Feathers currently runs on top of Express."
"FeathersJs"
#7
Laravel
4.7
(6)
"If there having chance in future your project will be expand with more and secure APIs then go with Laravel or YII framework."
"Agreed. Laravel is easy to learn and imo the best choice."
"The best answer is Laravel and you should give it another shot. If Laravel doesn’t work for you in terms of ease of use I don’t know if you’ll be better off with any of the other suggestions. Fastest way to build a PHP app nowadays IMO."
"Imo Laravel is the best option in most cases, and easier to "learn" and more ready to go out of the box."
"Laravel is also a solid option for API development."
"Yeah I don’t get the hatred for Laravel. I know there’s a steep learning curve, but it’s not like Laravel is “weird”."
#8
API Platform
4.3
(6)
"API Platform integrates nicely with Symfony, it does all the heavy lifting for you instead of building everything yourself."
"API Platform is a pinacle."
"Yes pretty much the way to go if you wanna have an API running in no time. Plus it is built on top of Symfony so you have all that going on as well, plus it supports json ld out of the box plus it builds you the swagger docs with min to no configuration."
"API Platform is probably one of the most powerful tool out there"
"There is API platform, see https://api-platform.com/."
"There are detractors who advise against using API Platform."
#9
Symfony
4.3
(6)
"I've been building PHP APIs using Symfony for a decade now, and it's still my go-to framework for backend systems."
"Using platforms built for API development can save time and enhance security."
"We are using Symfony a lot."
"Symfony is a great choice for long term support."
"Symfony ofcourse"
"It was called Silex, at some point they decided to make the base symfony project more stripped, this package is now called symfony/flex."
#10
Django
4.4
(5)
"If someone’s choosing between Django, FastAPI, or Flask, I’d personally go with Django — especially for big monolithic apps."
"Full featured web app with admin interface and orm support inbuilt, strict structural setup required - Django"
"Django has it all, but the learning curve is steeper."
"Django if you want something that might get you a job. FastAPI for the best experience."
"Django all the way, all day if you want to have user management, admin panel and crud done fast out of the box."
#11
Gin
4.5
(4)
"I highly recommend the Gin framework"
"Love Gin. Perfect mix of simplicity and extensibility."
"I learn golang and also use gin-gonic and it looks really simple"
"IMHO Gin (gin-gonic) is quite nice for beginners, I started with that framework too and I am pretty satisfied"
#12
Hyperf
5.0
(3)
"Hyperf is much faster than the others — it’s written specifically for Swoole, not adapted."
"If you need raw performance, Hyperf."
"Hyperf hand down."
#13
Adonis
4.3
(3)
"Using Adonis for over 3years now and recommend it to everyone."
"Id recommend either AdonisJs or FeathersJs."
"It's very opinionated, but on the good side it all take cares most stuff you need."
#14
Http4s
4.3
(3)
"I'd personally recommend http4s."
"Http4s is a good choice for those who prefer libraries."
"For what it’s worth, your use-case is exactly what http4s targets."
#15
Flask
4.0
(3)
"Flask is the easiest and most modular..unfortunately it's synchronous only."
"Flask. I use this template: https://github.com/habedi/template-web-app-flask"
"Small poc or fire and forget code - flask, fastapi"
#16
Playwright
4.0
(3)
"Playwright for parallelism and assertions, axios to actually send the request"
"Playwright code generator is super easy, especially if your team include non programmers."
"I use Playwright for frontend, so we also use it for API testing. But if I was only creating an API framework, pytest is my favorite"
#17
Koa
4.0
(3)
"KoaJS, MongoDB and Sveltekit are my recommendations."
"We are using Koa with openapi3 and our library koas3."
"I've been really impressed with [Koa](http://koajs.com/) recently."
#18
AdonisJS
4.0
(3)
"Checking out AdonisJS myself for work and really liking what I'm seeing."
"I’m using AdonisJs at work, and so far it’s gone well."
"I use AdonisJS at work"
#19
DropWizard
4.0
(3)
"Dropwizard!!!!"
"It is a simple high performance standalone service."
"Personally, I'm using DropWizard since it fits better with what we're doing."
#20
Sails
3.7
(3)
"I also use sails, it's great."
"I <3 [Sails.js](http://sailsjs.org/#/). It automatically generates a data-driven RESTful API."
"Sails"
#21
SparkJava
5.0
(2)
"SparkJava is another great option for simple Java projects."
"SparkJava is an excellent framework for building web applications."
#22
Play Framework
4.5
(2)
"Use Play. There's an example of how to build a REST API with Play here."
"I'm worried that if I'll use http4s I'll find less reliable modules. For example I want to use jwt auth, and all the big frameworks like PLAY got it all covered from a lot of maintained repositories."
#23
Cask
4.5
(2)
"Cask is perfect for beginners looking for simplicity."
"Maybe a less popular opinion, but if it is really as simple as what you're explaining, don't write off simple libraries like Cask."
#24
Vertx
4.5
(2)
"Fast, built in async."
"Just use either vertx or spring boot"
#25
Fiber
4.0
(2)
"Fiber"
"Using Fiber and liking it a lot!"
#26
CakePHP
4.0
(2)
"CakePHP would be my goto for stuff like that."
"I've used CakePHP a ton and as a shameless promotion I built this OpenAPI/Swagger/Redoc generator for it."
#27
routing-controllers
4.0
(2)
"I really like its simplicity and readability."
"Using routing-controllers for me was on of the easiest way to do rest API as it does just that and nothing else."
#28
Play
4.0
(2)
"Try Play"
"Play is a framework option if you insist on using one."
#29
Hapi
4.0
(2)
"Hapi etc."
"Surprised not to see HapiJS already mentioned."
#30
Tastypie
4.0
(2)
"Tastypie is good, if you want to explore you might find django-piston or django rest framework of help too."
"Overall it offers a really easy and pluggable package that vanilla and even not-so-vanilla applications can be plugged right in to."
#31
Leaf PHP
4.0
(2)
"I like LeafPHP and have used it for a few services."
"High load? Leaf PHP or CodeIgniter"
#32
Akka HTTP
4.0
(2)
"Akka HTTP and / or Classical Akka Actors for API."
"Akka HTTP for API."
#33
Robot Framework
4.0
(2)
"I currently use RobotFramework, but I might do pytest if I had to do it all over again."
"I ended up using Robot Framework. It was fairly easy to get started with and and the tests are pretty readable for non technical people."
#34
Huma
4.0
(2)
"If you care more about having the API up and running fast than learning how to build one, I would use Huma."
"+1. Easy to use, well documented."
#35
Poem
3.5
(2)
"Poem seems to have a lot of love and attempts to be easier."
"You may to consider https://github.com/poem-web/poem instead of axum."
#36
Scalatra
3.0
(2)
"Scalatra is a great choice for Scala projects."
"I got way burnt out on Play. It's just complexity overload."
#37
RestSharp
5.0
(1)
"Rest Sharp is the answer to your first question."
#38
com-lihaoyi
5.0
(1)
"Cask is super simple"
#39
Scala
5.0
(1)
"The examples provided are simple and effective for learning various frameworks."
#40
Akka
5.0
(1)
"Big akka-http fan here, and if you can convince your org to use it, akka-grpc. I love that it's a streaming first pipeline primarily."
#41
Arduino
5.0
(1)
"Firmata will do what you need."
#42
Jetty
5.0
(1)
"The SPARK framework can run standalone with Jetty or in a web application container."
#43
zio-http
5.0
(1)
"It is simple, it works great and has a good integration with ZIO."
#44
hyper-ts
5.0
(1)
"If you like writing functional code with some cool compile-time benefits, `hyper-ts` is great."
#45
Play Framework, HTTP4S, Spring Scala
4.0
(1)
"I think I saw some Play repo stripped of additional stuff, but, God, I forget a name. Also there is Twitter's stack and HTTP4S if you are into functional programming. And there is Spring Scala though I am not sure its maintained anymore."
#46
Goa
4.0
(1)
"It has what you're looking for."
#47
Go-Zero
4.0
(1)
"Afaik that's a code-gen based framework."
#48
Django REST Framework
4.0
(1)
"I find Python much more natural for backend stuff than JavaScript."
#49
Axum
4.0
(1)
"Axum seems to have the advantage of being created by Tokio and modular."
#50
Actix
4.0
(1)
"The best that i found are https://actix.rs/"
#51
Rocket
4.0
(1)
"And https://rocket.rs/"
#52
Buffalo
4.0
(1)
"Have a look at [Buffalo](http://gobuffalo.io/)"
#53
Diet.js
4.0
(1)
"Ive begun using [Diet.js](http://dietjs.com) due to it's insanely tiny size and speed."
#54
Trongate
4.0
(1)
"Trongate's API Explorer is worth looking at"
#55
FlightPHP
4.0
(1)
"Flightphp"
#56
Jersey
4.0
(1)
"Look at the Jersey."
#57
Spring Boot
4.0
(1)
"Just use either vertx or spring boot"
#58
Rapidoid
4.0
(1)
"Try Rapidoid, it's very fast and easy to set up."
#59
Tomcat
4.0
(1)
"Tomcat is a reliable choice for deploying web applications."
#60
Wildfly
4.0
(1)
"Wildfly offers great support for Java EE applications."
#61
PostgreSQL
4.0
(1)
"PostgreSQL with PostGIS is beneficial for geo-location features."
#62
JAX-RS
4.0
(1)
"This seems pretty small and probably not worth dragging in a big framework. I would probably just stick with a pure JAX-RS implementation."
#63
NodeJS
4.0
(1)
"NodeJS + ExpressJS is gaining popularity and offers faster performance."
#64
Finch
4.0
(1)
"Finch/Doobie is a common pretty common stack for functional REST APIs in Scala."
#65
ASP.NET
4.0
(1)
"ASP.NET/C# is suitable for scaling applications and handles large user loads effectively."
#66
akka-http
4.0
(1)
"Akka-http is also a solid library choice."
#67
Helidon
4.0
(1)
"Helidon is a solid framework for Java projects."
#68
Micronaut
4.0
(1)
"Micronaut offers excellent features for Java development."
#69
WebActors
4.0
(1)
"If you're looking to get the most throughput then I'd take a look at something like WebActors."
#70
Netty
4.0
(1)
"Netty makes it fairly easy to set up an HTTP server and even HTTP2."
#71
Java HTTP Server
4.0
(1)
"Any Java HTTP server will do the work just fine."
#72
Jest
4.0
(1)
"Jest + supertest makes API testing stupidly easy."
#73
pytest
4.0
(1)
"Pytest+Requests"
#74
Laravel Octane
4.0
(1)
"Personally I'd use Laravel Octane with FrankenPHP."
#75
Django Ninja
4.0
(1)
"Django ninja. It’s like Django and Fast API had a brilliant bastard child."
#76
MicroPie
4.0
(1)
"MicroPie is super easy to learn! Its ASGI and is super simple."
#77
Starlette
4.0
(1)
"I prefer Starlette, it’s fastapi but without forcing you into annotation hell and gives you flexibility to use msgspec instead of pydantic."
#78
Quart
4.0
(1)
"If you like flask but want pure async check out Quart"
#79
Yii 3
4.0
(1)
"Yii3 might be a good fit. It's very modular and lightweight in case not all packages are used."
#80
Flight PHP
4.0
(1)
"Flight php is really good for smaller Projects like that"
#81
Bref
4.0
(1)
"Maybe just use bref and you can run php in AWS lambda or a similar serverless environment"
#82
Laminas
4.0
(1)
"I'd suggest the Laminas framework."
#83
php-crud-api
4.0
(1)
"If you *just* need an API layer, this thing has served me very well the last several years: https://github.com/mevdschee/php-crud-api"
#84
Newman
4.0
(1)
"Newman, for me is the best due he speed."
#85
Echo
4.0
(1)
"I've used it to knock together a REST API recently and seems well documented and free of too many wtfs."
#86
Chi
4.0
(1)
"Chi. Always chi."
#87
net/http
4.0
(1)
"Personally, I would just use net/http without a framework, as you'll learn the most."
#88
fasthttp
4.0
(1)
"It gets constant updates. It uses fasthttp so it's extra good in benchmarks. If you open an issue, you will get a response. And also good documentation"
#89
Gorilla Mux
4.0
(1)
"Also a more lightweight frameworks like GorillaMux or Chi are pretty usuable for a new project"
#90
testkit
4.0
(1)
"Try testkit. Much more succinct tests."
#91
Cypress
4.0
(1)
"Using Cypress for API testing is really easy."
#92
Microsoft
4.0
(1)
"I prefer asp.net core"
#93
CodeIgniter
4.0
(1)
"Since you have CodeIgniter experience, have you tried version 4? It keeps the same design philosophy as version 3, and is definitely lightweight and secure."
#94
Twitter Finatra
3.0
(1)
"Twitter Finatra is another framework you can consider."
#95
MongoDB
2.0
(1)
"MongoDB lacks advantages over PostgreSQL and performs worse in many aspects."
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