node.js - Difference between a server with http.createServer and a server using express in node js

Question

What's the difference between creating a server using http module and creating a server using express framework in node js? Thanks.

Answer 1

Ultimately, express uses node's http api behind the scenes.

express framework

The express framework provides an abstraction layer above the vanilla http module to make handling web traffic and APIs a little easier. There's also tons of middleware available for express (and express-like) frameworks to complete common tasks such as: CORS, XSRF, POST parsing, cookies etc.

http api

The http api is very simple and is used to to setup and manage incoming/outgoing ,HTTP connections. Node does most of the heavy lifting here but it does provide things you'll commonly see throughout most node web framework such as: request/response objects etc.