Alternative libraries to request

Since the announcement of request going into "maintenance mode" (full details in #3142) I'd like to collect a list of alternative libraries to use. Please comment below and I'll update this table. When we have a list of good alternatives we should add this to the readme.

In no particular order and dreadfully incomplete;

Package Name	Bundle Size	API Style	Summary
node-fetch	0.4kb	promise / stream	A light-weight module that brings window.fetch to Node.js
bent	1kb	fp / promise / stream	Functional HTTP client w/ async/await
got	48.4kb	promise / stream	Simplified HTTP requests
make-fetch-happen	442kb	promise / stream	make-fetch-happen is a Node.js library that wraps node-fetch-npm with additional features node-fetch doesn't intend to include, including HTTP Cache support, request pooling, proxies, retries, and more!
axios	11.9kb	promise / stream	Promise based HTTP client for the browser and node.js
unfetch	1kb	promise / stream	Tiny 500b fetch "barely-polyfill"
superagent	18kb	chaining / promise	Small progressive client-side HTTP request library, and Node.js module with the same API, sporting many high-level HTTP client features
tiny-json-http	22kb	promise	Minimalist HTTP client for GET and POSTing JSON payloads
needle	164kb	chaining / promise	The leanest and most handsome HTTP client in the Nodelands
urllib	816kb	callback / promise	Help in opening URLs (mostly HTTP) in a complex world — basic and digest authentication, redirections, cookies and more.

As a frontend focused guy who also does node.js from time to time, axios has been my go to.
Easy API, from Facebook, works on browsers and node? Done

@mikeal

Per a recent discussion with @mikeal, I have Bent a try. As a Node.js developer whose been using request for a while now, bent was definitely an easy transition - highly recommended 💖

@reconbot

@reconbot You might want to add ~~got~~, needle and urllib.

Well, it feels kind of wrong to promote my own little library here, but since that's the goal of the issue, here it is: request-compose is a functional, 0 deps HTTP client with support for promises, streams, and a bunch of other useful options, most of which are very close to the ones found in request.

I also wrote an article about it. The general idea is that everyone is encouraged to compose their own HTTP clients, specifically tailored to their own needs.

As for the bundle size, I've no idea, but it should be pretty small, though this client was never designed to be used in the browser.

It might be good to add the following columns to the table:

Number of stars in Github (yes I already know this is not the only factor when choosing a lib)
Number of npm downloads (maybe weekly, same stat as npm website, and yes I already know this is not the only factor when choosing a lib)

When putting side by side these numbers some libs have thousands of stars and million of downloads weekly, vs others in the hundreds.

My 2 cents, OK to ignore and move on, no need to correct or dispute the comment.

@csantanapr

@csantanapr I agree, it might be worth comparing feature sets too. Proxy support, cache support, auth features etc. If you use a specific feature of request and need to find it elsewhere, this would be a good time to talk about it.

axios gets my vote, especially as a front-ender.

Worth a look: ky (frontend) and ky-universal (isomorphic)

Axios user here. That way, all our teams can use the same library regardless the environment: browser or nodejs (running in server or serverless). Very well maintained, and all our people love it.

We have a good comparison between got, request, node-fetch, axios, and superagent in the got readme: https://github.com/sindresorhus/got#comparison
(PR welcome if you see any inaccuracies. We've tried to keep it as neutral as possible)

Got also has a migration guide for moving from request: https://github.com/sindresorhus/got/blob/master/migration-guides.md

For me, I tend to do wrappers around fetch api, so node-fetch is my goto. Despite the negative aspects, I usually load it onto global.fetch in node, so I can rely on it always being available, much like in the browser (via polyfill for older browsers). Can also use isomorphic-fetch which is pretty much a wrapper around node-fetch for node, and the fetch polyfill (or already available fetch) in browser. Since I don't have to support legacy browsers, I just use the global, and establish the global for use in node.

Hey, Wreck (https://www.npmjs.com/package/wreck) is what I use

I would prefer something that mimics the fetch api on the client. Libs like axios, superagent, etc are higher level abstractions on top of a standard request library. As a replacement for the low-level request library, I'd like to see something that mirrors the low-level equivalent on the client for the purposes of universal js development. Libs like axios and superagent can then just reimplement themselves on top of that, and its users can continue using them, but those shouldn't be considered foundational for this purpose.

🏗 Remove `request` package and friends (#33613)

@csantanapr

+1 for @csantanapr's suggestion of adding numbers, and thanks to @sindresorhus for sharing the comparison:

	`got`	`request`	`node-fetch`	`ky`	`axios`	`superagent`
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TypeScript support
Last commit

Added follow_set_referer option.

Replace deprecated request library with simple-get (#47)

Since the announcement of request going into "maintenance mode" (full details in #3142) I'd like to collect a list of alternative libraries to use. Please comment below and I'll update this table. When we have a list of good alternatives we should add this to the readme.

In no particular order and dreadfully incomplete;
Package Name Bundle Size API Style Summary
node-fetch 0.4kb promise / stream A light-weight module that brings window.fetch to Node.js
bent 1kb fp / promise / stream Functional HTTP client w/ async/await
got 48.4kb promise / stream Simplified HTTP requests
make-fetch-happen 442kb promise / stream make-fetch-happen is a Node.js library that wraps node-fetch-npm with additional features node-fetch doesn't intend to include, including HTTP Cache support, request pooling, proxies, retries, and more!
axios 11.9kb promise / stream Promise based HTTP client for the browser and node.js
unfetch 1kb promise / stream Tiny 500b fetch "barely-polyfill"
superagent 18kb chaining / promise Small progressive client-side HTTP request library, and Node.js module with the same API, sporting many high-level HTTP client features
tiny-json-http 22kb promise Minimalist HTTP client for GET and POSTing JSON payloads
needle 164kb chaining / promise The leanest and most handsome HTTP client in the Nodelands
urllib 816kb callback / promise Help in opening URLs (mostly HTTP) in a complex world — basic and digest authentication, redirections, cookies and more.

Hello, I have took the references from the API of request/request and created a new HTTP request library Poke in written typescript by myself. Appreciate if anyone can give it a try and make things better together :) Cheers🍺

https://github.com/LawsonCheng/poke

The comparison table in the README of got looks more detailed than the table here.

🏗 Remove `request` package and friends (ampproject#33613)

My default would be node-fetch, but got while I've never personally used it seems interesting.

edit: Some more reflecting has me thinking that node-fetch more acceptable testing and coverage and is probably the “safer” bet. It’s really not used in more than a handful of places.

You might want to add undici - it's made by the nodejs team.

What is the alternative for this Node.js code?:

var request = require("request")
/* var parser = require("robots-txt-parser") */


var options = {
  url: "https://google.com/",
  headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Alternabot/1.0; +https://example.info/path/to/alternabots/info.html)'
  }
};

function success(error, response, body) {
  if (error !== undefined) {
    return
  }
  console.log("Is fetched: " + ((response && response.statusCode) == 200).toString())
  console.log("Content: " + body)
}

request(options, success)

This Node.js code requests Google's main page with the user agent Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Alternabot/1.0; +https://example.info/path/to/alternabots/info.html).

101 comments LOL!

Shameless plug: I've just updated request-micro to V2, now written in typescript. It weighs in at 7kb and has no dependencies. If you just need standard HTTP(s) stuff its the lightest-weight you can get. It's been getting a non-trivial >2k downloads a week for at least a year and is in use in several production systems, so I am confident it is stable and safe to use.

It is only for Node, but it is the smallest library in the OP table (which no longer has accurate sizes, sometimes off by a factor of over 50).

Worth noting that fetch itself is in recent node, and pretty much all browsers at this point.

If you need an ultra small & ultra fast NodeJS request library (< 150 LOC, no dependencies), focused on simple and reliable retries (even with streams), with many features (gzip/deflate/brotli response follow redirect, instance, ...). Here is our modest contribution:

https://github.com/carboneio/rock-req

Library	NodeJS 16	NodeJS 18	NodeJS 20*	Size deps inc.
rock-req 🙋‍♂️	22816 req/s	21797 req/s	21964 req/s	144 LOC
simple-get	2937 req/s	3260 req/s	21258 req/s	317 LOC
axios	5090 req/s	4910 req/s	3196 req/s	13983 LOC
got	2163 req/s	1762 req/s	9961 req/s	9227 LOC
fetch	2101 req/s	2102 req/s	2020 req/s	13334 LOC
request	2249 req/s	1869 req/s	15815 req/s	46572 LOC
superagent	2776 req/s	2100 req/s	2895 req/s	16109 LOC
phin	3178 req/s	1164 req/s	21299 req/s	331 LOC
undici*	24095 req/s	24378 req/s	24191 req/s	16225 LOC

It is written in pure JS for performance.

Sanyakry

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jeffscottward commented on Apr 1, 2019

bnb commented on Apr 1, 2019

paambaati commented on Apr 1, 2019

simov commented on Apr 1, 2019

csantanapr commented on Apr 1, 2019

reconbot commented on Apr 1, 2019

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