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overviewIntroduction

Last Updated: 3/9/2026

Introduction to Hono

Hono — means flame 🔥 in Japanese — is a small, simple, and ultrafast web framework built on Web Standards. It works on any JavaScript runtime: Cloudflare Workers, Fastly Compute, Deno, Bun, Vercel, Netlify, AWS Lambda, Lambda@Edge, and Node.js.

Fast, but not only fast.

import { Hono } from 'hono'
const app = new Hono()
 
app.get('/', (c) => c.text('Hono!'))
 
export default app

What is Hono?

Hono is a web application framework similar to Express, but designed for the modern edge computing era. It runs on CDN edges and allows you to construct larger applications when combined with middleware.

Originally created for Cloudflare Workers when no good framework existed for that platform, Hono has evolved into a universal framework that works anywhere Web Standards are supported.

Key Features

🚀 Ultrafast

The router RegExpRouter is really fast. Not using linear loops. Hono is the fastest compared to other routers for Cloudflare Workers.

Hono x 402,820 ops/sec ±4.78% (80 runs sampled)
itty-router x 212,598 ops/sec ±3.11% (87 runs sampled)
sunder x 297,036 ops/sec ±4.76% (77 runs sampled)
worktop x 197,345 ops/sec ±2.40% (88 runs sampled)
Fastest is Hono

🪶 Lightweight

The hono/tiny preset is under 14KB when minified. Hono has zero dependencies and uses only Web Standards. For context, Express is 572KB.

$ npx wrangler dev --minify ./src/index.ts
Total Upload: 11.47 KiB / gzip: 4.34 KiB

🌍 Multi-runtime

Works on Cloudflare Workers, Fastly Compute, Deno, Bun, AWS Lambda, Node.js, and more. The same code runs on all platforms.

🔋 Batteries Included

Hono has built-in middleware, custom middleware, third-party middleware, and helpers. Everything you need is included:

  • Basic/Bearer/JWT Authentication
  • CORS, ETag, Cache
  • Compress, Body Limit
  • Cookie handling
  • SSG, Streaming
  • And much more!

😃 Delightful Developer Experience

Super clean APIs with first-class TypeScript support. Path parameters are literal types. The Validator and Hono Client hc enable RPC mode for type-safe full-stack applications.

Use Cases

Hono excels at:

  • Building Web APIs — RESTful services with type safety
  • Proxy of backend servers — Edge proxies and gateways
  • Front of CDN — Edge computing applications
  • Edge applications — Serverless functions at the edge
  • Base server for a library — Framework for other tools
  • Full-stack applications — With RPC and client libraries

Philosophy

Hono follows the principle of “Write Less, do more” while maintaining:

  • Web Standards compliance — Built on fetch, Request, Response
  • Universal compatibility — Same code, any runtime
  • Performance first — Speed without sacrificing features
  • Type safety — Full TypeScript support throughout
  • Developer happiness — Clean, intuitive APIs

What’s Next

Ready to get started? Jump into the Quick Start guide to create your first Hono application in under 15 minutes.

Want to understand the core concepts first? Check out Web Standards to learn about Hono’s foundation.

Curious about performance? See detailed benchmarks comparing Hono to other frameworks.

Who Uses Hono