hapi is a Node.js HTTP framework that Eran Hammer first built to carry Walmart's traffic, and it is still maintained. The hapi site documents version 21, and npm lists @hapi/hapi 21.4.13 from November 4, 2026, the third patch in three weeks. After Eran stepped away, a seven-person steering committee took over, as set out in the future of the hapi project announcement.
So the reason to move is rarely that hapi broke. People leave for a bigger plugin ecosystem, for TypeScript-first structure with decorators and dependency injection, or to run outside Node. hapi keeps its own strengths: config-driven routes, secure defaults such as payload limits and timeouts, and no outside dependencies, since every package 21.4.13 depends on is an @hapi module. If you need a full-stack platform with a data layer, our Meteor alternatives page fits better, and IBM's API framework has its own LoopBack alternatives guide.
The picks below are ordered by how little of a hapi codebase you would have to rethink.
Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fastify | Closest to hapi's plugin model, faster | Free (MIT) | Node.js 20, 22 |
| NestJS | Large TypeScript codebases | Free (MIT) | Node.js 20+ |
| Express | Biggest middleware pool | Free (MIT) | Node.js 18+ |
| Koa | Minimal async core | Free (MIT) | Node.js 18+ |
| AdonisJS | Full MVC with ORM and auth | Free (MIT) | Node.js 24+ |
| Hono | Edge and multi-runtime APIs | Free (MIT) | Workers, Bun, Deno, Node, Lambda |
| Elysia | Bun servers with typed clients | Free (MIT) | Bun first, Node supported |
Fastify
Fastify borrows more from hapi than anything else on this list. Hooks, plugins and decorators extend the server, and encapsulation keeps each plugin's additions inside its own scope, much like hapi's server.register. Routes take JSON Schema to validate input and serialize output, and logging runs through Pino.
On the framework's own illustrative benchmark, Fastify 5.12.7 serves 89,733 requests per second, against 65,114 for hapi 21.4.11 and 67,794 for Express 5.3.0. The current release is 5.12.8 from November 2, 2026, MIT-licensed, and 6.0.0-alpha.6 is already published.
Best for: hapi teams who want the same plugin discipline with more speed and a larger ecosystem.
Pricing:
- Free, MIT licence
- Paid security support for end-of-life lines through HeroDevs, price on request
Watch out for:
- Majors get security fixes for only six months after the next major ships, per the Fastify LTS policy. Version 4 support ended on June 30, 2025, and v6 is in alpha now.
- Version 5 supports Node 20 and 22 only, so older Node images need an upgrade first.
Official site: Fastify.
NestJS
For teams that liked hapi's structure but now write TypeScript, Nest gives a fixed shape: modules, controllers and providers wired by dependency injection. It runs on Express by default and swaps to Fastify through @nestjs/platform-fastify, so you can keep a fast HTTP layer underneath.
Version 12.0.0 shipped on August 27, 2026, and 12.4.0 followed in early November 2026. It requires Node 20 or newer and is MIT-licensed.
Best for: Growing API teams that want conventions every new hire can follow on day one.
Pricing:
- Free, MIT licence
- Enterprise support from the core team, price on request
Watch out for:
- Majors come quickly. 11.0.0 landed in January 2025 and 12.0.0 in August 2026, and the 11.x line already sits on a legacy tag.
- Paid help is sold by the core team with no public rate on the NestJS site, which makes support costs hard to budget up front.
Official site: NestJS.
Express
Express is what most Node developers learned first, and that is its main selling point against hapi: almost every auth, upload or logging library ships an Express middleware. Version 5.0.0 arrived on September 10, 2024 after a decade on 4.x, and 5.3.0 is from October 9, 2026, with Node 18 as the floor.
The 4.x line is still supported alongside it. Version 4.22.3 shipped on September 14, 2026, so old apps can stay put while new services start on 5.
Best for: Projects that value the widest pool of middleware and developers over built-in structure.
Pricing:
- Free, MIT licence
- Extended security support for old lines through HeroDevs, price on request
Watch out for:
- Only the newest release of each major gets fixes. The Express support page says end-of-life lines may get security patches but with no guarantee.
- There is no built-in validation or config layer like hapi's route options, so each project assembles its own set.
Official site: Express.
Koa
Koa comes from the team behind Express and goes further than hapi in the opposite direction: its core bundles no middleware at all. Middleware are async functions that run down the stack and back up, which makes timing and error wrapping straightforward.
Koa 3.0.0 came out on April 28, 2025, and 3.3.0 on November 3, 2026, with Node 18 as the minimum. Version 3 added app.currentContext through AsyncLocalStorage, so deep helpers can reach the request without passing ctx around.
Best for: Small services where you want to choose every piece yourself.
Pricing:
- Free, MIT licence
- No paid tier
Watch out for:
- Routing, body parsing and CORS all come from separate packages. The Koa homepage says nothing is bundled in core, so a hapi app loses its built-in route config and validation hooks.
Official site: Koa.
AdonisJS
AdonisJS answers a different complaint: that hapi leaves the database, auth and mail to you. It ships an active record ORM on Knex, session and token auth, VineJS validation, mail drivers, file storage, queues, cache and Japa tests, all in TypeScript.
Version 7.0.0 arrived on February 25, 2026, and 7.6.0 on October 5, 2026, under MIT. The AdonisJS homepage also lists Inertia support for React and Vue front ends.
Best for: Full web apps where you want Laravel-style batteries in Node.
Pricing:
- Free, MIT licence
- AdonisJS Plus starter kits and components sold separately
Watch out for:
- @adonisjs/core 7.x declares Node 24 or newer, so hosts still on Node 22 cannot run it.
- Its conventions are opinionated. Moving a large hapi API over means adopting Adonis routing, config and folder layout, not just swapping the server.
Official site: AdonisJS.
Hono
Hono is the pick if part of the reason for leaving hapi is the runtime. It is built on Web Standards with zero dependencies and runs on Cloudflare Workers, Fastly Compute, Deno, Bun, Vercel, Netlify, AWS Lambda and Node. The hono/tiny preset is under 14kB.
The current release is 4.13.17 from November 7, 2026, MIT-licensed, and 5.0.0-rc.1 sits on the next tag since October 10, 2026. Fastify's chart has Hono 4.13.14 at 84,930 requests per second on Node.
Best for: APIs that may run at the edge, on Bun or on Lambda without a rewrite.
Pricing:
- Free, MIT licence
- You pay only the hosting platform
Watch out for:
- On Node it needs an adapter. The Hono docs say Node support comes through a separate Node.js adapter package.
- Version 5 is at release candidate stage, so expect some migration work in the coming months.
Official site: Hono.
Elysia
Elysia is tuned for Bun but not limited to it. Its Eden client reuses server types in the front end without code generation, and OpenAPI docs come from the same types with one plugin. Standard Schema support means existing Joi, Zod or Valibot schemas work as validators, which eases a move off hapi's Joi-based routes.
The stable release is 1.4.31 from November 5, 2026, MIT-licensed. 2.0.0-rc.3 was published the same day.
Best for: New TypeScript services on Bun that want typed clients for free.
Pricing:
- Free, MIT licence
- No paid tier
Watch out for:
- Speed claims need context. The benchmark on the Elysia overview was run on August 6, 2023 with Bun 0.7.2 and only parses parameters and sets a header.
- Version 2 is at release candidate stage, so a 1.x codebase faces a major upgrade soon.
Official site: Elysia.
How to choose
| If you need | Pick |
|---|---|
| The same plugin model with more throughput | Fastify |
| Strict TypeScript structure for a large team | NestJS |
| The most middleware and the most developers | Express |
| A bare core you assemble yourself | Koa |
| ORM, auth, mail and queues in one box | AdonisJS |
| One API for Workers, Bun, Deno and Node | Hono |
| Bun server with end-to-end types | Elysia |
When to stay with hapi
Stay on hapi if your API is stable and your team knows it. The 21.x line has kept the same major version since November 2022, patches keep arriving, and contributors must use two-factor auth under the project's security process. For a regulated service, zero third-party dependencies is a real audit advantage that Express or Koa cannot match.
Frequently asked questions
Is hapi still maintained?
Yes. @hapi/hapi 21.4.13 was published on November 4, 2026, after 21.4.11 on October 21 and 21.4.12 on October 28. A community steering committee replaced the original lead maintainer, and a three-person team holds publish rights.
Is Fastify faster than hapi?
On Fastify's own illustrative chart, Fastify 5.12.7 handles 89,733 requests per second and hapi 21.4.11 handles 65,114. That is a vendor benchmark of a trivial route. Database calls and serialization usually matter more than the framework once real work happens per request.
What happened to @hapi/joi?
The last @hapi/joi release was 17.1.1 in March 2020, and npm marks it deprecated with the note to install joi instead. The standalone joi package reached 18.3.2 on November 4, 2026. Elysia accepts Joi through Standard Schema, so those schemas can move with you.
Hapi vs Express, which should I choose?
Pick hapi when you want config-driven routes, built-in security defaults and no outside dependencies. Pick Express when you want the largest middleware pool. Express 5.3.0 and hapi 21.4.13 are both current, so neither is a dead end.
