Bun’s September 2026 JavaScript runtime performance vs Node.js and

Runtime performance and startup latency

Bun 1.4 delivers 48,243 requests per second in August 2026 benchmarks against Node.js 26.7.0’s 25,181 requests per second. Strapi reported in June 2026 that Bun 1.3.11 reached 52,000 requests per second while Node.js 26.7.0 handled only 13,000. These synthetic gaps shrink when you add database operations or JSON serialization to the workload. Strapi observed the gap narrows to 12,400 requests per second for Bun versus 12,000 for Node.js, and PkgPulse testing in March 2026 found Bun at 8 milliseconds and Node.js at 48 milliseconds for minimal handlers. Bun 1.3 starts in 8 to 15 milliseconds, whereas Node.js 24 requires 60 to 120 milliseconds. Bun uses 256MB of memory for an Express.js API, while Node.js uses 512MB for the same workload. Deno reported in 2026 that Bun delivers 4x faster startup times than Node.js. A migration of a production Express.js API showed Bun achieving 78ms average response times compared to 145ms with Node.js 22. Deno reached 85,000 requests per second in HTTP benchmarks, while Node.js 24 reached 65,000. Node.js 22.22.1 "Jod" includes a test runner and native TypeScript execution, which helps with TypeScript workflows.

Developer experience and installation speed

Bun 1.3 handles package installation in 1 to 3 seconds for a typical React application, a speed that beats npm, which requires 18 to 45 seconds for the same task. The Bun binary includes a bundler, a test runner, and a package manager. Because Bun’s native bundler outperforms esbuild and Webpack by 1.75x to 220x depending on the benchmark, developers use Bun to run TypeScript files directly without any extra build step. You should check your specific production environment before you commit to this runtime. Bun 1.4 rewrote the runtime in Rust in August 2026. The stability of this fast-moving project remains a concern for enterprise teams. Bun currently has 4,800 open issues in its repository. Many users report segmentation faults on macOS and GNU/Linux in production environments. Bun 1.3 also has dependency catalogs for monorepos and the bun update --interactive command. Bun 1.3 includes a Scanner API for vulnerability detection and built-in Redis and SQL clients. This eliminates the need to install separate packages for database adapters. Bun.SQL supports MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQLite with zero external dependencies. The built-in Redis client delivers 7.9 times the performance of the popular redis package. Anthropic acquired Bun in December 2025.

Production reliability and ecosystem

Node.js supports 2.1 million npm packages. Bun reaches 95% compatibility with existing npm packages. Many popular frameworks like Express, Fastify, and Hono work with Bun. However, Bun lacks a formal Long-Term Support channel. This absence of an LTS version makes Bun a risky choice for organizations that require predictable, long-term stability. Large-scale applications favor Node.js because of its 30-month LTS cycles and massive ecosystem. Deno 2.5 includes a permission audit log through OpenTelemetry, while Node.js 24 uses an opt-in permission model. Strapi 5 officially supports Node.js 22, 24, or 26 but cannot run on Bun as a server runtime. Does the speed of Bun justify the risk of its current stability issues? The decision between these runtimes depends on whether your engineering team prioritizes extreme raw throughput and rapid development speed or the predictable, long-term stability provided by the massive, well-tested, and mature Node.js ecosystem. Bun wins for high-performance APIs and greenfield projects where execution speed matters most.