# Express vs Symfony

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Express

| Attribute | Express | Symfony |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 75.7 (77% (high)) | 63.4 (61% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 10 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1,853,938 | 22,779 |
| adoption.github_stars | 69,528 | 31,164 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 168,467,798 | - |
| adoption.stackoverflow_questions | 96,000 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A minimal framework providing essential routing, middleware, and HTTP utilities for building web applications and APIs in Node.js without imposing architectural constraints. It is indexed under Web Frameworks.","source":"https://expressjs.com","question":"What is Express?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Express is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://expressjs.com","question":"Is Express free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Express supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://expressjs.com","question":"What platforms does Express support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Express can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://expressjs.com","question":"Can Express be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 13 integrations for Express, including Cassandra, Couchbase, CouchDB, LevelDB, MySQL, MongoDB, Neo4j and Oracle, plus 5 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://expressjs.com","question":"What does Express integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Express is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/expressjs/express","question":"Is Express open source?","confidence":0.99},{"answer":"Express is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://expressjs.com","question":"Where is Express available?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Symfony is a full-stack PHP framework offering built-in tools for routing, templating, database access, validation, email handling, testing, and security. It provides comprehensive documentation and is maintained by a large global developer community. It is indexed under Web Frameworks.","source":"https://symfony.com/","question":"What is Symfony?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Symfony is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the MIT licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://symfony.com/","question":"Is Symfony free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Symfony supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://symfony.com/","question":"What platforms does Symfony support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Symfony, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://symfony.com/","question":"Can Symfony be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for Symfony, including Drupal, Laravel, API Platform and Composer. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://symfony.com/","question":"What does Symfony integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Symfony. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Symfony not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://symfony.com/packages/security","question":"What security certifications does Symfony have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Symfony is published under the MIT licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony","question":"Is Symfony open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | A flexible web framework providing essential features for web applications and APIs while allowing developers to choose their own complementary tools and libraries. | A complete PHP framework that bundles routing, database mapping, templates, validation, testing, and security tools in a cohesive package for building web applications. |
| features.capabilities | `{"language":"JavaScript","api_routes":true,"hot_reload":false,"edge_runtime":false,"file_routing":false,"license_type":"MIT/BSD","orm_included":false,"streaming_ssr":false,"language_runtime":"JS/TS","typescript_first":false,"server_components":false,"architecture_style":"minimalist","templating_included":true}` | `{"language":"PHP","rendering":"hybrid","api_routes":true,"license_type":"MIT/BSD","orm_included":true,"cli_scaffolding":true,"language_runtime":"PHP","architecture_style":"full-stack-mvc","templating_included":true,"testing_framework_included":true}` |
| integrations.count | 13 | 4 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Cassandra"},{"name":"Couchbase"},{"name":"CouchDB"},{"name":"LevelDB"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Neo4j"},{"name":"Oracle"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"SQL Server"},{"name":"SQLite"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"}]` | `[{"name":"Drupal"},{"name":"Laravel"},{"name":"API Platform"},{"name":"Composer"}]` |
| language.primary | JavaScript | PHP |
| license.spdx | MIT | MIT |
| market.availability | `{"source":"https://expressjs.com","hqCountry":"US","confidence":0.95,"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://expressjs.com","retrievedAt":"2026-10-05T10:08:30.684Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Free and open source under MIT license","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://symfony.com/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T23:05:44.888Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 4 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v4.22.2","date":"2026-05-11T18:54:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.22.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v5.2.1","date":"2025-12-01T20:54:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v5.2.0","date":"2025-12-01T16:21:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v4.22.1","date":"2025-12-01T20:55:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.22.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.22.0","date":"2025-12-01T16:19:48Z","type":"stable","version":"4.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v5.0.1","date":"2024-10-08T19:41:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v5.1.0","date":"2025-03-31T14:04:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.21.2","date":"2024-12-05T22:41:41Z","type":"stable","version":"4.21.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.21.1","date":"2024-10-08T18:38:48Z","type":"stable","version":"4.21.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.21.0","date":"2024-09-11T22:34:26Z","type":"stable","version":"4.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v5.0.0","date":"2024-09-10T04:51:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.20.0","date":"2024-09-10T02:06:04Z","type":"stable","version":"4.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/v5.0.0-beta.3","date":"2024-03-25T14:59:35Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v5.0.0-beta.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.19.2","date":"2024-03-25T14:32:36Z","type":"stable","version":"4.19.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/5.0.0-beta.2","date":"2024-03-25T14:59:09Z","type":"prerelease","version":"5.0.0-beta.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.19.1","date":"2024-03-25T14:31:15Z","type":"stable","version":"4.19.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.19.0","date":"2024-03-20T16:43:00Z","type":"stable","version":"4.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.18.3","date":"2024-02-29T11:44:48Z","type":"stable","version":"4.18.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.18.2","date":"2022-10-08T20:12:36Z","type":"stable","version":"4.18.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/expressjs/express/releases/tag/4.18.1","date":"2022-04-29T19:32:52Z","type":"stable","version":"4.18.1"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.1.8","date":"2026-09-29T14:10:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v7.4.20","date":"2026-09-29T14:07:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.4.20"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v6.4.47","date":"2026-09-29T14:04:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.4.47"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.1.7","date":"2026-09-15T07:15:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v7.4.19","date":"2026-09-15T07:12:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.4.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v6.4.46","date":"2026-09-15T07:08:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.4.46"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.1.6","date":"2026-08-30T21:44:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v7.4.18","date":"2026-08-30T21:39:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.4.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v6.4.45","date":"2026-08-30T21:23:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.4.45"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.1.5","date":"2026-08-22T13:47:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v7.4.17","date":"2026-08-22T13:44:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.4.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v6.4.44","date":"2026-08-22T13:40:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.4.44"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.1.4","date":"2026-08-07T18:08:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v7.4.16","date":"2026-08-07T18:03:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.4.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.1.3","date":"2026-07-29T21:50:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.1.2","date":"2026-07-29T11:58:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.0.16","date":"2026-07-29T21:46:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.0.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v8.0.15","date":"2026-07-29T11:49:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.0.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v7.4.15","date":"2026-07-29T11:43:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v7.4.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/symfony/symfony/releases/tag/v6.4.43","date":"2026-07-29T11:39:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.4.43"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 8.9 | 7.9 |
| security.trust_center | https://expressjs.com/en/advanced/security-updates | https://symfony.com/packages/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":6,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=express&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` | `{"count":94,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=packagist&package_name=symfony%2Fsymfony&per_page=100","last_12m":31,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (Web Frameworks)

| Capability | Express | Symfony |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Rendering model | - | Hybrid (SSR+SSG+CSR) |
| File-based routing | ✗ | - |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| **Rendering** |  |  |
| Server components | ✗ | - |
| Streaming SSR | ✗ | - |
| **Fullstack** |  |  |
| Built-in API / backend routes | ✓ | ✓ |
| **DX** |  |  |
| First-class TypeScript | ✗ | - |
| Fast refresh / HMR | ✗ | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Edge runtime support | ✗ | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:01:51.898Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*