Micro Apps Showdown: Bun + Hono, Go, or Next.js?

For small “micro apps,” all three can work well, but they shine in different situations:

Bun + Hono is best if you want a very fast, lightweight TypeScript/JS backend with modern tooling and easy edge/serverless deployment.
Go is best if you care most about raw performance, concurrency, reliability, and a single small binary.
Next.js is best if your micro app is primarily UI‑heavy (a web app) and you want server + frontend in one framework.

Below is how they compare, with practical guidance on when to pick which.

1. What do you mean by “micro apps”?

“Micro app” can mean two things:

Microservice-style backend (small REST/JSON API, webhook handler, background jobs).
Small full-stack web app (UI, auth, CRUD, dashboard, etc.).

The choice changes depending on which of these you mean:

Use case focus	Strongest fit
Tiny API / webhook / edge	Bun + Hono or Go
High‑throughput backend	Go
Small dashboard / UI app	Next.js
JS/TS everywhere, edge	Bun + Hono or Next.js

2. Bun + Hono

What it is

Bun: a fast JavaScript/TypeScript runtime with built‑in bundler, test runner, and package manager.[2][5]
Hono: an ultralight web framework/router that runs on Bun, Node, Deno, Cloudflare Workers, etc., with extremely high benchmarked throughput.[3][4]

Why it’s good for micro apps

Speed + low overhead: Hono’s router is among the fastest in the JS world; benchmark results show Hono hitting hundreds of thousands of ops/sec on Node and being one of the fastest frameworks on Bun.[3]
Tiny footprint: Hono is ~13–14 kB in its tiny preset and has 0 npm dependencies, which is ideal for small deploys and edge functions.[4]
Great for edge/serverless: Designed to run on Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Functions, Deno Deploy, etc., which fits “micro” APIs that you sprinkle near users.[3][4][6]
JS/TS end‑to‑end: You can share types between frontend and backend; Hono has strong typing and middleware for type‑safe APIs and OpenAPI generation.[6]

Trade‑offs

Early ecosystem vs Go/Next.js: Bun is still maturing; while its performance can beat Node and approach Go for simple workloads, independent benchmarks and experience indicate Go still wins for heavy, real‑world workloads (DB, heavy logic).[1][2][5]
Operations story: For large teams or long‑running critical services, Bun doesn’t yet have the “battle‑tested in production everywhere” reputation that Go has.

When to choose Bun + Hono

You like TypeScript, want a tiny, fast HTTP API, and probably deploy to edge/serverless.
You’re building small REST APIs, webhooks, or backend-for-frontend (BFF) services.
You want quick iteration with built-in tooling (test runner, bundler, package manager) and don’t need Go‑level low‑level control.

3. Go (Golang)

What it is

A compiled language designed at Google, famous for simplicity, fast compilation, and excellent concurrency via goroutines and channels.[2]

Why it’s good for micro apps

Raw performance & scalability: Benchmarks consistently show Go handling very high requests per second with low latency, approaching Rust and beating Bun/Node in most real HTTP workloads.[1][2][5]
Concurrency: Goroutines make it trivial to run many concurrent tasks, ideal for APIs that fan out to multiple services or handle many concurrent long‑lived connections.[2]
Single binary deploys: A microservice becomes one static binary: easy to Dockerize, ship, and run anywhere.
Mature ecosystem for services: Observability, logging, metrics, profiling, and libraries for HTTP, gRPC, and databases are all battle‑tested for large-scale systems.

Trade‑offs

Different language: You can’t reuse frontend TypeScript types directly; you split into a JS/TS frontend and Go backend, or use Go templates.
Less “out‑of‑the-box full stack”: You assemble libraries rather than use an all‑in‑one web framework like Next.js.

When to choose Go

The micro app is more service than UI: e.g., an API that might grow into a serious microservice.
You expect high load, need predictable latency, or care about minimal resource usage.[1][2]
You value robustness and long‑term maintainability over having JS everywhere.

4. Next.js

What it is

A React-based framework for building full‑stack web apps: routing, server-side rendering (SSR), API routes, and edge functions in one project.

Why it’s good for micro apps

Front‑and‑back in one codebase: For a micro app that has UI + a few endpoints (auth, CRUD, webhooks), Next.js lets you define both in one framework.
DX and ecosystem: First‑class support on platforms like Vercel, lots of examples and integrations, great for quickly building dashboards, internal tools, and SaaS‑style apps.
Edge & serverless options: Modern Next.js can run API routes and server components on edge runtimes, which overlaps with the Bun+Hono use case.

Trade‑offs

Heavier runtime than plain Bun/Go: You pay the React + framework cost. For pure API microservices, that’s overkill compared to Bun+Hono or Go.
More complexity: File-routing, server/client boundaries, data fetching patterns add complexity you might not need for a tiny API.

When to choose Next.js

Your “micro app” is primarily a front‑end experience with some backend sprinkled in (auth, DB reads/writes, small workflows).
You want to move fast with React, and deploy easily via Vercel or similar.
The performance bottleneck is almost certainly not the framework; developer speed matters more.

5. Performance vs reality for micro apps

A few important realities:

Framework overhead is often negligible: Hono benchmarks show over 100k–400k requests/sec in synthetic tests; the overhead is microseconds, which is dwarfed by real work like DB calls or external APIs.[3][6]
Go still wins under “real work”: Tests that include DB work and CPU tasks generally show Go with lower latency and CPU usage than Bun/Node at high throughput.[1][2][5]
For most small apps, developer experience and hosting model matter more than raw RPS.

6. Practical recommendations

Choose Bun + Hono if:

You want a tiny, ultra‑fast HTTP API in TypeScript/JavaScript.
You like the idea of deploying to edge/serverless and sharing types with a JS frontend.
The micro app is mostly routes + small bits of logic, not a complex backend.

Choose Go if:

Your micro app is service‑centric, may get heavy traffic, or must be very reliable.
You’re comfortable with a second language and like the single‑binary, strong‑concurrency model.
You care more about runtime efficiency and robustness than JS everywhere.

Choose Next.js if:

Your micro app is a full UI + backend and you want everything in one React project.
You’re already in the React/Vercel ecosystem and want to ship quickly.
The backend needs are modest (a handful of routes/APIs) and tightly coupled to the UI.

Micro Apps Showdown: Bun + Hono, Go, or Next.js?

1. What do you mean by “micro apps”?

2. Bun + Hono

3. Go (Golang)

4. Next.js

5. Performance vs reality for micro apps

6. Practical recommendations

Sources

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