# Hono vs Koa

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Hono

| Attribute | Hono | Koa |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 65.6 (66% (medium)) | 52.9 (67% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 79 | 3 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 668 | 109,950 |
| adoption.github_stars | 31,974 | 35,689 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | - |
| description.long | An open-source TypeScript-based web framework that compiles to under 14kB and runs natively on Cloudflare Workers, Fastly, Deno, Bun, AWS Lambda, Node.js, and other JavaScript runtimes. Emphasizes clean APIs, TypeScript support, and comprehensive middleware ecosystem. | Koa is a lightweight backend framework for Node.js that emphasizes simplicity and developer experience through modern async/await middleware composition, without bundling dependencies. |
| features.capabilities | `{"language":"TypeScript","api_routes":true,"edge_runtime":true,"typescript_first":true}` | `{"language":"JavaScript","api_routes":true}` |
| language.primary | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| license.spdx | MIT | MIT |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | - |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://hono.dev","retrievedAt":"2026-08-16T21:31:54.094Z"}` | - |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | - |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | - |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 4 | 16 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.13.5","date":"2026-08-26T02:00:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.13.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.13.4","date":"2026-08-24T08:49:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.13.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.13.3","date":"2026-08-18T10:57:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.13.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.13.2","date":"2026-08-13T11:56:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.13.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.13.1","date":"2026-08-07T06:45:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.13.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.13.0","date":"2026-08-03T21:55:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.34","date":"2026-08-03T02:37:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.34"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.33","date":"2026-07-31T10:42:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.33"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.32","date":"2026-07-24T08:56:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.32"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.31","date":"2026-07-18T23:16:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.30","date":"2026-07-13T00:36:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.29","date":"2026-07-10T09:33:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.28","date":"2026-07-06T10:08:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.27","date":"2026-06-23T02:51:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.26","date":"2026-06-18T02:19:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.25","date":"2026-06-09T03:30:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.24","date":"2026-06-08T11:16:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.23","date":"2026-05-25T02:00:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.22","date":"2026-05-22T09:16:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/honojs/hono/releases/tag/v4.12.21","date":"2026-05-19T11:40:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.21"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.2.1","date":"2026-05-21T07:26:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.2.0","date":"2026-03-28T05:41:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.1.2","date":"2026-02-25T13:37:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v2.16.4","date":"2026-02-25T13:38:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.16.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.1.1","date":"2025-10-27T04:27:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.1.0","date":"2025-10-26T13:17:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.0.3","date":"2025-10-18T14:22:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v2.16.3","date":"2025-10-18T14:36:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.16.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.0.2","date":"2025-10-17T06:56:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v2.16.2","date":"2025-07-30T00:02:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.16.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.0.1","date":"2025-07-27T07:38:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v3.0.0","date":"2025-04-28T00:40:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/3.0.0-alpha.5","date":"2025-04-06T21:43:50Z","type":"stable","version":"3.0.0-alpha.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/v2.16.1","date":"2025-04-06T21:41:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.16.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/3.0.0-alpha.4","date":"2025-03-21T07:37:11Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.0.0-alpha.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/2.16.0","date":"2025-02-27T05:56:03Z","type":"stable","version":"2.16.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/2.15.4","date":"2025-02-12T14:12:11Z","type":"stable","version":"2.15.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/koajs/koa/releases/tag/3.0.0-alpha.2","date":"2024-11-04T05:10:02Z","type":"prerelease","version":"3.0.0-alpha.2"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | - | 6.2 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":47,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=hono&per_page=100","last_12m":43,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"count":6,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=koa&per_page=100","last_12m":2,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (Web Frameworks)

| Capability | Hono | Koa |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Rendering model | - | - |
| File-based routing | - | - |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| **Rendering** |  |  |
| Server components | - | - |
| Streaming SSR | - | - |
| **Fullstack** |  |  |
| Built-in API / backend routes | ✓ | ✓ |
| **DX** |  |  |
| First-class TypeScript | ✓ | - |
| Fast refresh / HMR | - | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Edge runtime support | ✓ | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:03:05.297Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*