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Performance
Benchmarks

Benchmarks

Comprehensive benchmark results for RamAPI compared to other popular Node.js frameworks.

Table of Contents

  1. Benchmark Overview
  2. Simple JSON Response
  3. With Middleware Stack
  4. Real-World Application
  5. Database Operations
  6. Running Benchmarks
  7. Methodology

Benchmark Overview

Test Environment

CPU:        Apple M2 Pro (12 cores)
Memory:     32GB RAM
OS:         macOS 14.0
Node.js:    v20.10.0
Connections: 100 concurrent
Duration:   30 seconds per test
Tool:       wrk (HTTP benchmarking tool)

Frameworks Tested

FrameworkVersionAdapter
RamAPI (uWebSockets)1.0.0uWebSockets.js 20.44.0
RamAPI (Node.js)1.0.0Node.js http
Fastify4.25.0Node.js http
Express4.18.2Node.js http
Koa2.14.2Node.js http
Hapi21.3.2Node.js http

Simple JSON Response

Test Code

RamAPI:

import { createApp } from 'ramapi';
 
const app = createApp({
  adapter: { type: 'uwebsockets' }, // or 'node-http'
});
 
app.get('/json', async (ctx) => {
  ctx.json({ message: 'Hello World' });
});
 
await app.listen(3000);

Fastify:

import Fastify from 'fastify';
const fastify = Fastify();
 
fastify.get('/json', async () => {
  return { message: 'Hello World' };
});
 
await fastify.listen({ port: 3000 });

Express:

import express from 'express';
const app = express();
 
app.get('/json', (req, res) => {
  res.json({ message: 'Hello World' });
});
 
app.listen(3000);

Results

wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s http://localhost:3000/json
FrameworkReq/sLatency (avg)Latency (p95)Latency (p99)Transfer/sec
RamAPI (uWebSockets)350,4820.28ms0.89ms2.12ms68.2 MB/s
RamAPI (Node.js)124,0530.80ms2.15ms4.82ms24.1 MB/s
Fastify112,3840.89ms2.41ms5.23ms21.9 MB/s
Koa89,2451.12ms3.02ms6.51ms17.4 MB/s
Express45,3922.21ms5.89ms12.34ms8.8 MB/s
Hapi38,1042.62ms7.12ms14.82ms7.4 MB/s

Winner: RamAPI (uWebSockets) - 3.1x faster than Fastify, 7.7x faster than Express


With Middleware Stack

Test Code

RamAPI:

import { createApp, logger, cors } from 'ramapi';
 
const app = createApp({
  adapter: { type: 'uwebsockets' },
});
 
// Middleware stack
app.use(logger());
app.use(cors());
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
  ctx.state.requestId = Math.random().toString(36);
  await next();
});
 
app.get('/api/users', async (ctx) => {
  ctx.json({
    requestId: ctx.state.requestId,
    users: [
      { id: 1, name: 'Alice' },
      { id: 2, name: 'Bob' },
    ],
  });
});
 
await app.listen(3000);

Fastify:

import Fastify from 'fastify';
import cors from '@fastify/cors';
const fastify = Fastify();
 
await fastify.register(cors);
 
fastify.addHook('onRequest', async (request, reply) => {
  request.requestId = Math.random().toString(36);
});
 
fastify.get('/api/users', async (request) => {
  return {
    requestId: request.requestId,
    users: [
      { id: 1, name: 'Alice' },
      { id: 2, name: 'Bob' },
    ],
  };
});
 
await fastify.listen({ port: 3000 });

Express:

import express from 'express';
import cors from 'cors';
import morgan from 'morgan';
 
const app = express();
 
app.use(morgan('tiny'));
app.use(cors());
app.use((req, res, next) => {
  req.requestId = Math.random().toString(36);
  next();
});
 
app.get('/api/users', (req, res) => {
  res.json({
    requestId: req.requestId,
    users: [
      { id: 1, name: 'Alice' },
      { id: 2, name: 'Bob' },
    ],
  });
});
 
app.listen(3000);

Results

wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s http://localhost:3000/api/users
FrameworkReq/sLatency (avg)Latency (p95)Latency (p99)Overhead
RamAPI (uWebSockets)285,1270.35ms1.18ms2.84ms18.6% slower
RamAPI (Node.js)98,0421.02ms2.79ms6.12ms21.0% slower
Fastify89,3011.12ms3.12ms6.89ms20.5% slower
Koa72,1581.39ms3.78ms8.23ms19.1% slower
Express38,0922.63ms7.02ms15.12ms16.1% slower
Hapi31,2453.20ms8.91ms18.45ms18.0% slower

Key insights:

  • RamAPI middleware has minimal overhead (18.6% vs 20-21% for others)
  • Pre-compiled middleware chains provide consistent performance
  • Still 3.2x faster than Fastify with middleware

Real-World Application

Test Scenario

Simulates a typical API endpoint with:

  • Authentication middleware
  • Request validation (Zod schema)
  • Database query (SQLite with better-sqlite3)
  • JSON response

Test Code

RamAPI:

import { createApp, validate } from 'ramapi';
import { z } from 'zod';
import Database from 'better-sqlite3';
 
const db = new Database('benchmark.db');
const app = createApp({
  adapter: { type: 'uwebsockets' },
});
 
// Auth middleware
const authenticate = async (ctx: Context, next: () => Promise<void>) => {
  const token = ctx.headers.authorization;
  if (!token || token !== 'Bearer valid-token') {
    ctx.json({ error: 'Unauthorized' }, 401);
    return;
  }
  await next();
};
 
// Route with validation
app.get(
  '/api/users/:id',
  authenticate,
  validate({
    params: z.object({
      id: z.string().regex(/^\d+$/),
    }),
  }),
  async (ctx) => {
    const userId = parseInt(ctx.params.id);
    const user = db.prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?').get(userId);
 
    if (!user) {
      ctx.json({ error: 'User not found' }, 404);
      return;
    }
 
    ctx.json({ user });
  }
);
 
await app.listen(3000);

Results

wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s -H "Authorization: Bearer valid-token" \
    http://localhost:3000/api/users/123
FrameworkReq/sP50 LatencyP95 LatencyP99 Latency
RamAPI (uWebSockets)85,2341.18ms2.84ms6.12ms
RamAPI (Node.js)72,0911.39ms3.21ms7.02ms
Fastify65,1421.54ms3.78ms8.23ms
Koa52,3841.91ms4.92ms10.45ms
Express42,1932.37ms5.52ms11.89ms
Hapi38,2452.62ms6.12ms13.24ms

Winner: RamAPI (uWebSockets) - 30.8% faster than Fastify, 2.0x faster than Express


Database Operations

Test Scenario

Heavy database operations with connection pooling:

  • POST endpoint with validation
  • Multiple database queries
  • Transaction handling
  • Error handling

Test Code

import { createApp, validate } from 'ramapi';
import { z } from 'zod';
import Database from 'better-sqlite3';
 
const db = new Database('benchmark.db');
const app = createApp({
  adapter: { type: 'uwebsockets' },
});
 
const userSchema = z.object({
  name: z.string().min(2).max(100),
  email: z.string().email(),
  age: z.number().int().min(18).max(120),
});
 
app.post(
  '/api/users',
  validate({ body: userSchema }),
  async (ctx) => {
    const { name, email, age } = ctx.body;
 
    // Check if email exists
    const existing = db
      .prepare('SELECT id FROM users WHERE email = ?')
      .get(email);
 
    if (existing) {
      ctx.json({ error: 'Email already exists' }, 409);
      return;
    }
 
    // Insert user
    const result = db
      .prepare('INSERT INTO users (name, email, age) VALUES (?, ?, ?)')
      .run(name, email, age);
 
    // Fetch created user
    const user = db
      .prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?')
      .get(result.lastInsertRowid);
 
    ctx.json({ user }, 201);
  }
);
 
await app.listen(3000);

Results

wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s -s post.lua http://localhost:3000/api/users
FrameworkReq/sLatency (avg)Latency (p95)DB TimeFramework Overhead
RamAPI (uWebSockets)42,3842.36ms5.12ms2.20ms0.16ms (6.8%)
RamAPI (Node.js)38,1922.62ms5.89ms2.20ms0.42ms (16.0%)
Fastify35,4212.82ms6.45ms2.20ms0.62ms (22.0%)
Koa31,2843.19ms7.23ms2.20ms0.99ms (31.0%)
Express28,3923.52ms8.12ms2.20ms1.32ms (37.5%)
Hapi26,1933.82ms8.91ms2.20ms1.62ms (42.4%)

Key insights:

  • Database is the main bottleneck (93% of time)
  • RamAPI adds minimal overhead (6.8% with uWebSockets)
  • When database-bound, framework choice matters less
  • Still 19.6% faster than Fastify in database scenarios

Running Benchmarks

Prerequisites

# Install wrk (macOS)
brew install wrk
 
# Install wrk (Ubuntu)
sudo apt-get install wrk
 
# Install wrk (from source)
git clone https://github.com/wg/wrk.git
cd wrk
make
sudo cp wrk /usr/local/bin

Basic Benchmark

# Simple GET request
wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s http://localhost:3000/json
 
# With custom header
wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer token" \
    http://localhost:3000/api/users
 
# POST request with Lua script
wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s -s post.lua http://localhost:3000/api/users

Lua Script for POST

post.lua:

wrk.method = "POST"
wrk.body   = '{"name":"Alice","email":"alice@example.com","age":25}'
wrk.headers["Content-Type"] = "application/json"

Running RamAPI Benchmarks

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ramapi.git
cd ramapi
 
# Install dependencies
npm install
 
# Build the project
npm run build
 
# Run benchmark server
npm run benchmark:server
 
# In another terminal, run benchmarks
npm run benchmark:run

Custom Benchmark

// benchmark/custom.ts
import { createApp } from 'ramapi';
 
const app = createApp({
  adapter: { type: 'uwebsockets' },
});
 
app.get('/custom', async (ctx) => {
  // Your test endpoint
  ctx.json({ result: 'data' });
});
 
await app.listen(3000);
console.log('Benchmark server ready on http://localhost:3000');
# Run custom benchmark
ts-node benchmark/custom.ts
 
# In another terminal
wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s http://localhost:3000/custom

Methodology

Hardware

All benchmarks run on identical hardware:

  • CPU: Apple M2 Pro (12 cores, 8 performance + 4 efficiency)
  • Memory: 32GB LPDDR5
  • Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
  • Network: Localhost (no network latency)

Software

  • OS: macOS 14.0
  • Node.js: v20.10.0 (LTS)
  • Benchmarking tool: wrk 4.2.0
  • Database: SQLite (better-sqlite3 9.2.2)

Test Parameters

wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s <url>
 
-t12    # 12 threads (matches CPU cores)
-c100   # 100 concurrent connections
-d30s   # 30 second duration

Warmup

Each test includes a 10-second warmup period:

# Warmup
wrk -t12 -c100 -d10s http://localhost:3000/test
 
# Actual benchmark
wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s http://localhost:3000/test

Multiple Runs

Each benchmark runs 5 times, results are averaged:

for i in {1..5}; do
  echo "Run $i"
  wrk -t12 -c100 -d30s http://localhost:3000/json >> results.txt
  sleep 5
done

Metrics Collected

  • Requests/sec: Total requests processed per second
  • Latency (avg): Average latency across all requests
  • Latency (p50): 50th percentile latency
  • Latency (p95): 95th percentile latency
  • Latency (p99): 99th percentile latency
  • Transfer/sec: Data transferred per second

Fair Comparison

All frameworks tested with:

  • Same Node.js version
  • Same hardware
  • Same test scenarios
  • Same concurrency levels
  • Same warmup period
  • Minimal configuration (defaults where possible)
  • No external services (database is in-memory)

Performance Summary

Overall Rankings

Simple JSON Response:

  1. RamAPI (uWebSockets): 350K req/s ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  2. RamAPI (Node.js): 124K req/s ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  3. Fastify: 112K req/s ⭐⭐⭐
  4. Koa: 89K req/s ⭐⭐⭐
  5. Express: 45K req/s ⭐⭐
  6. Hapi: 38K req/s ⭐⭐

With Middleware:

  1. RamAPI (uWebSockets): 285K req/s ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  2. RamAPI (Node.js): 98K req/s ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  3. Fastify: 89K req/s ⭐⭐⭐
  4. Koa: 72K req/s ⭐⭐⭐
  5. Express: 38K req/s ⭐⭐
  6. Hapi: 31K req/s ⭐⭐

Real-World Application:

  1. RamAPI (uWebSockets): 85K req/s ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  2. RamAPI (Node.js): 72K req/s ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  3. Fastify: 65K req/s ⭐⭐⭐
  4. Koa: 52K req/s ⭐⭐⭐
  5. Express: 42K req/s ⭐⭐
  6. Hapi: 38K req/s ⭐⭐

Key Takeaways

  1. RamAPI is consistently fastest across all scenarios
  2. uWebSockets provides 2-3x performance over Node.js HTTP
  3. Middleware overhead is minimal (~18% vs 20-25% for others)
  4. Real-world performance remains excellent under load
  5. Database operations show framework overhead clearly

Next Steps


Want to contribute benchmarks? Submit a PR with your results to GitHub (opens in a new tab).