FastAPI vs Hono for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

FastAPI Overview

FastAPI is the Python framework that makes API development feel like filling out a form. Define your data models with Pydantic, add type hints to your endpoints, and the framework generates validation, serialization, and interactive documentation automatically. It's built on Starlette for speed and uses Python's async/await for concurrent request handling.

I've used FastAPI for multiple API projects and the developer experience is genuinely excellent. The auto-generated Swagger docs mean I never write API documentation manually. Pydantic validation catches malformed requests before they reach my business logic. Dependency injection keeps the code clean as endpoints grow more complex.

For Python developers who need to build APIs quickly, FastAPI is the best option available. It's faster than Django REST Framework, more structured than Flask, and the type-driven approach catches bugs that other frameworks let through.

Hono Overview

Hono is the framework built for the edge computing era. It runs on Cloudflare Workers, Deno, Bun, and Node.js using Web Standard APIs. The core is tiny, around 14KB, and the performance is exceptional. It's what Express would look like if it were designed in 2024 instead of 2010.

What sold me on Hono is the runtime flexibility. I write my API once and deploy it to Cloudflare Workers for edge computing, Bun for raw speed, or Node.js for traditional hosting. Same code, different runtimes. For a solo developer experimenting with deployment strategies, that portability is valuable.

Hono's middleware system is clean and composable. JWT auth, CORS, rate limiting, and caching are available as built-in middleware. The TypeScript support is first-class, and the framework includes a validator middleware that works with Zod for type-safe request validation.

Key Differences

Runtime environment is the fundamental split. FastAPI runs on Python. Hono runs on JavaScript/TypeScript across multiple runtimes. This isn't just a language choice. It determines your deployment options, your available libraries, and your performance ceiling.

Edge deployment. Hono was designed for edge computing. Deploy to Cloudflare Workers and your API runs in 300+ data centers worldwide with sub-10ms cold starts. FastAPI runs on traditional servers. You can put it behind a CDN, but the API itself doesn't execute at the edge. For latency-sensitive applications, Hono's edge capability is a real differentiator.

API documentation. FastAPI auto-generates interactive OpenAPI docs from your type hints. Hono has OpenAPI support through its Zod OpenAPI middleware, but it requires more setup. FastAPI's documentation generation is more mature and requires less configuration.

Validation approach. FastAPI uses Pydantic models for validation, which are deeply integrated into the framework. Hono uses Zod validators through middleware. Both provide runtime type checking, but FastAPI's integration is tighter and more automatic.

Ecosystem depth. FastAPI runs on Python, giving you access to the data science, ML, and scientific computing ecosystem. Hono runs on JavaScript/TypeScript, giving you access to npm and the ability to share code with frontend frameworks. The choice depends on what libraries your project needs.

Performance. Hono on Bun or Cloudflare Workers significantly outperforms FastAPI on Python. We're talking orders of magnitude for raw request handling. In real-world applications with database queries and external API calls, the gap narrows, but Hono is objectively faster.

When to Choose FastAPI

• Your project needs Python's data science or machine learning libraries
• You want the most mature auto-generated API documentation
• You prefer Pydantic's validation model with deep framework integration
• You're deploying to traditional servers and don't need edge computing
• You value Python's readability and developer experience

When to Choose Hono

• You want to deploy APIs to the edge (Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy)
• You need the absolute best performance from your API framework
• You want runtime portability across Workers, Bun, Deno, and Node.js
• Your frontend is JavaScript/TypeScript and you want one language everywhere
• You're building lightweight APIs or microservices where bundle size matters

The Verdict

These frameworks serve different worlds. FastAPI is the best Python API framework. Hono is the best edge-first JavaScript API framework. The identical 8/10 ratings reflect that both are excellent for solo developers, just in different contexts.

If your project lives in the Python ecosystem or needs ML/data science capabilities, FastAPI is the clear choice. If you're building JavaScript APIs and want edge deployment, runtime flexibility, or maximum performance, Hono is exceptional.

For solo developers in 2026, I'd give Hono a slight edge (pun intended) for new API projects that don't require Python-specific libraries. The ability to deploy to Cloudflare Workers with global distribution, combined with TypeScript type safety, makes it a compelling modern choice. But FastAPI remains the king of Python API development, and Python isn't going anywhere.