Golang Web Framework Comparison

This suite aims to compare the public API of various Go web frameworks and routers.

NOTE While code blocks are self-explained the list of PROs an CONs are highly opinionated and targeted Go 1.7+. Even if some frameworks has a more :thumbsdown: than another they still are awesome and may work better for your use cases.

Contents

• Reviewed libraries and frameworks
• HTTP handler. Signature
• HTTP middleware. Signature and sample code
• HTTP handler. Write Go struct as JSON response
• HTTP handler. Bind JSON payload into Go struct

Reviewed libraries and frameworks

• stdlib net/http
• gin-gonic/gin
• go-macaron/macaron
• go-martini/martini
• go-ozzo/ozzo-routing
• gocraft/web
• goji/goji
• gorilla/mux
• hoisie/web
• julienschmidt/httprouter (router)
• labstack/echo
• mholt/binding (request binding)
• pressly/chi
• TODO astaxie/beego
• TODO revel/revel
• unrolled/render (response rendering)
• urfave/negroni
• zenazn/goji

HTTP handler. Signature

• :thumbsdown: :exclamation: revel, beego are not idiomatic Go because they forces you to embed handler to the Framework's struct
• :thumbsdown: martini, hoisie/web, macaron handlers are not strongly typed due to reflective dependency injection (which leads to poor performance)
• :thumbsdown: zenazn/goji handler and middleware is not strongly typed to emulate function overload
• :thumbsdown: gocraft/web handler is not strongly typed because it's a method with pointer receiver that could be any user-defined struct
• :thumbsdown: negroni, stdlib net/http does not dispatch request by HTTP verb (more boilerplate code)
• :thumbsdown: hoisie/web, zenazn/goji offers to use singletone istance of the server struct which is quite bad practice
• :question: goji/goji has quite unusual API to dispatch requests by HTTP verb but it's still more verbose than in echo, gin, julienschmidt/httprouter
• :thumbsup: echo, gin, julienschmidt/httprouter, zenazn/goji, goji/goji, ozzo-routing, pressly/chi handers are stronly typed
• :thumbsup: echo, gin, julienschmidt/httprouter, zenazn/goji, ozzo-routing, pressly/chi do dispatch requests by HTTP verb
• :thumbsup: echo, gin, zenazn/goji, ozzo-routing, pressly/chi support HTTP middleware
• :thumbsup: echo, ozzo-routing handers returns error value which could be handled in next middlewares in the chain
• :question: julienschmidt/httprouter does not support HTTP middleware, gorilla/handlers are recommended instead
• :question: goji/goji keeps handler interface standard but it's quite verbose to type
• FYI labstack/echo has own router, supports most handler / middleware APIs
• FYI gin uses julienschmidt/httprouter, per-request context map
• FYI negroni recommends gorilla/mux router; Golang 1.7 context can be used (or gorilla/context for Golang < 1.7)
• :thumbsdown: gorilla/context uses global context map which may lead to lock contention
• :thumbsup: Golang 1.7 context uses per-request context map, Request.WithContext does a shallow copy of *Request

stdlib net/http

stdlib net/http or negroni + stdlib net/http or negroni + gorilla/mux, https://golang.org/pkg/net/http/#ServeMux.HandleFunc

func (mux *ServeMux) HandleFunc(pattern string, handler func(ResponseWriter, *Request))

mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) { ...

gin-gonic/gin

https://godoc.org/github.com/gin-gonic/gin#RouterGroup.GET

func (group *RouterGroup) GET(relativePath string, handlers ...HandlerFunc) IRoutes
type HandlerFunc func(*gin.Context)

g.GET("/", func(c *gin.Context) { ...

go-macaron/macaron

https://godoc.org/github.com/go-macaron/macaron#Router.Get

func (r *Router) Get(pattern string, h ...Handler) (leaf *Route)
type Handler interface{}

m.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, log *log.Logger) { ...
m.Get("/", func(ctx *macaron.Context) (int, []byte) { ...

go-martini/martini

https://godoc.org/github.com/go-martini/martini#Router

func (r *Router) Get(string, ...Handler) Route
type Handler interface{}

m.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, u *SomeUserService) { ...
m.Get("/", func() (int, string) { ...

gocraft/web

https://godoc.org/github.com/gocraft/web#Router.Get

func (r *Router) Get(path string, fn interface{}) *Router

w.Get("/", func (c *SomeUserContext) SayHello(w web.ResponseWriter, r *web.Request) { ...

goji/goji

https://godoc.org/github.com/goji/goji#Mux.HandleFunc

func (m *Mux) HandleFunc(p Pattern, h func(http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request))
func (m *Mux) HandleFuncC(p Pattern, h func(context.Context, http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request))
type Pattern interface {
    Match(context.Context, *http.Request) context.Context
}

g.HandleFunc(pat.Get("/"), func (w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) { ...
g.HandleFuncC(pat.Get("/"), func (ctx context.Context, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) { ...

go-ozzo/ozzo-routing

https://godoc.org/github.com/go-ozzo/ozzo-routing#RouteGroup.Get

func (r *RouteGroup) Get(path string, handlers ...Handler) *Route
type Handler func(*routing.Context) error

r.Get("/", func(c *routing.Context) error { ...

hoisie/web

https://godoc.org/github.com/hoisie/web#Get

func Get(route string, handler interface{})

w.Get("/", func(ctx *web.Context, val string) { ...
w.Get("/", func(val string) string { ...

julienschmidt/httprouter

https://godoc.org/github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter#Router.GET

func (r *Router) GET(path string, handle Handle)
type Handle func(http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request, Params)

r.GET("/", func Index(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, ps httprouter.Params) { ...

labstack/echo

https://godoc.org/github.com/labstack/echo#Echo.Get

func (e *Echo) Get(path string, h HandlerFunc, m ...MiddlewareFunc)
type HandlerFunc func(echo.Context) error
type MiddlewareFunc func(HandlerFunc) HandlerFunc

e.Get("/", func(c echo.Context) error { ...

pressly/chi

https://godoc.org/github.com/pressly/chi#Mux.Get

func (mx *Mux) Get(pattern string, handlerFn http.HandlerFunc)

c.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) { ...

zenazn/goji

https://godoc.org/github.com/zenazn/goji#Get

func Get(pattern web.PatternType, handler web.HandlerType)
type PatternType interface{}
type HandlerType interface{}

g.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) { ...

HTTP middleware. Signature and sample code

TODO add godoc urls

• :thumbsdown: revel, beego are not considered, they forces you to embed handler to the Framework's struct
• :thumbsdown: martini, hoisie/web, macaron are not considered, their handers are not strongly typed due to reflective dependency injection
• :thumbsdown: zenazn/goji handler and middleware are not strongly typed to emulate function overload
• :thumbsdown: gin has "func (c *Context) Next()" function that visible to all handlers but must be called only inside middleware
• :thumbsup: echo, goji/goji, ozzo-routing, pressly/chi, negroni has strongly typed middleware with reasonable signatures
• :question: negroni uses quite unusual signature for middleware. Why? I have only one explanation at this point. Author decide to avoid usage of higher-order function, so it would be easier to grasp for not-experienced developers
• TODO gocraft/web PROs and CONs that related to the middleware API

stdlib net/http, gorilla/mux, julienschmidt/httprouter, pressly/chi

func(http.Handler) http.Handler

func Middleware(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
  return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	// do some stuff before
	next.ServeHTTP(w, r)
	// do some stuff after
  })
}

gin-gonic/gin

// gin uses same signature for both handler and middleware
type HandlerFunc func(*Context)

func Middleware() gin.HandlerFunc {
    return func(c *gin.Context) {
        // do some stuff before
        c.Next()
        // do some stuff after
    }
}

gocraft/web

// TODO

func (c *SomeUserContext) SetHelloCount(w web.ResponseWriter, r *web.Request, next web.NextMiddlewareFunc) {
    // do some stuff before
    next(w, r)
    // do some stuff after
}

goji/goji

func(http.Handler) http.Handler // standard middleware
func(goji.Handler) goji.Handler  // context-aware middleware

func Middleware(inner goji.Handler) goji.Handler {
	return goji.HandlerFunc(func(ctx context.Context, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
		// do some stuff before
		inner.ServeHTTPC(ctx, w, r)
		// do some stuff after
	})
}

go-ozzo/ozzo-routing

// middlewares and handers share the same type "Handler" in ozzo-routing

func Middleware(c *routing.Context) error {
	// do some stuff before
	err := c.Next()
	// do some stuff after
	return err
}

labstack/echo

type MiddlewareFunc func(HandlerFunc) HandlerFunc
type HandlerFunc func(Context) error

func Middleware(next echo.HandlerFunc) echo.HandlerFunc {
	return func(c echo.Context) error {
		// do some stuff before
		err := next(c)
		// do some stuff after
		return err
	}
}

urfave/negroni

type HandlerFunc func(rw http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, next http.HandlerFunc)

func Middleware(rw http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, next http.HandlerFunc) {
  // do some stuff before
  next(rw, r)
  // do some stuff after
}

HTTP handler. Write Go struct as JSON response

Common part

type Greeting struct {
    Hello string `json:"hello"`
}

stdlib net/http, gorilla/mux, negroni, zenazn/goji, goji/goji, julienschmidt/httprouter. V1 - use only stdlib

http.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=UTF-8")
    w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)    
    if err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(Greeting{Hello: "world"}); err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
})

stdlib net/http, gorilla/mux, negroni, zenazn/goji, goji/goji, julienschmidt/httprouter. V2 - use unrolled/render that mentioned in negroni's README

r := render.New()
mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
    if err := r.JSON(w, http.StatusOK, Greeting{Hello: "world"}); err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
})

gin-gonic/gin

r.GET("/", func(c *gin.Context) {
    // method will panic if serialization fails
    c.JSON(http.StatusOK, Greeting{Hello: "world"})
})

go-macaron/macaron. Use either macaron.Context or macaron.render.Render

// render.Render or macaron.Context will be passed to the handler by using dependency injection
m.Get("/", func(r render.Render) {
    // method will render HTTP 500 response if serialization fails
    r.JSON(http.StatusOK, Greeting{Hello: "world"})
})

// V2
m.Get("/", func(ctx *macaron.Context) {
    ctx.JSON(http.StatusOK, Greeting{Hello: "world"})
}

go-martini/martini + martini-contrib/render that menioned in README

// render.Render will be passed to the handler by using dependency injection
m.Get("/", func(r render.Render) {
    // method will render HTTP 500 response if serialization fails
    r.JSON(http.StatusOK, Greeting{Hello: "world"})
})

go-ozzo/ozzo-routing

// Context.Write will write the data in the format determined by the content negotiation middleware (included)
r.Get("/", func(c *routing.Context) error {
    // if Write returns an error, the framework will render HTTP 500 response by default
    return c.Write(Greeting{Hello: "world"})
})

gocraft/web + corneldamian/json-binding than mentioned in README

TODO Review implementation in https://github.com/corneldamian/json-binding/blob/master/response.go#L47

hoisie/web

// web.Context will be passed to the handler by using dependency injection
w.Get("/", func(ctx *web.Context) string {
    ctx.ContentType("json")
    data, err := json.Marshal(Greeting{Hello: "world"})
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    return string(data)
})

// V2
w.Get("/", func(ctx *Context) []byte {
    ctx.ContentType("json")
    data, err := json.Marshal(Greeting{Hello: "world"})
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    return data
})

labstack/echo

e.Get("/", func(c echo.Context) error {
    //  method will return error if serialization fails, then handler return that error to the middleware/framework
    return c.JSON(http.StatusOK, Greeting{Hello: "world"})
})

pressly/chi

c.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    // method will render HTTP 500 response if serialization fails
    render.JSON(w, r, Greeting{Hello: "world"})
})

HTTP handler. Bind JSON payload into Go struct

Common part

type Greeting struct {
	Hello string `json:"hello"`
}

stdlib net/http, gorilla/mux, negroni, zenazn/goji, goji/goji, julienschmidt/httprouter, go-macaron/macaron, hoisie/web. V1 - use only stdlib

mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	g := new(Greeting)
	defer r.Body.Close()
	if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(g); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	// TODO put here validation code
	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusCreated)
}

stdlib net/http, gorilla/mux, negroni, zenazn/goji, goji/goji, julienschmidt/httprouter, go-macaron/macaron, hoisie/web. V2 - use mholt/binding

// mholt/binding is the reflectioness data binding library developed by co-author of the martini-contrib/binding

// for JSON you can return an empty field map
func (g *Greeting) FieldMap() binding.FieldMap {
	return binding.FieldMap{}
}

mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	g := new(Greeting)
	errs := binding.Bind(r, g)
	// If parsing failed Handle will render HTTP 400 response with error details and return true
	if errs.Handle(w) {
		return
	}
	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusCreated)
}

gin-gonic/gin

r.POST("/", func(c *gin.Context) {
	g := new(Greeting)
	if c.BindJSON(g); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	c.Abort(http.StatusCreated)
})

go-martini/martini + martini-contrib/binding that menioned in README

// Greeting struct may also contain binding tags
type Greeting struct {
	Hello string `json:"hello" binding:"required"`
}
// TODO check is binding.Bind(..) renders HTTP 400 response if validation fails
m.Post("/", binding.Bind(Greeting{}), func(g Greeting) (int, string) {
	return http.StatusNoContent, ""
})

go-ozzo/ozzo-routing

r.Post("/", func(c *routing.Context) error {
	var g Greeting
	// Context.Read will read the data in the format specified by the "Content-Type" header
	if err := c.Read(&g); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	c.Response.WriteHeader(http.StatusCreated)
	return nil
})

gocraft/web + corneldamian/json-binding than mentioned in README

TODO Review implementation in https://github.com/corneldamian/json-binding/blob/master/request.go#L56

labstack/echo

e.POST("/", func(c echo.Context) error {
	g := new(Greeting)
	if err := c.Bind(g); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return c.NoContent(http.StatusCreated)
})

pressly/chi

c.Post("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	g := new(Greeting)
	if err := render.Bind(r.Body, g); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	render.NoContent(w, r)
})