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Yevhen Kozachenko 🇺🇦
Yevhen Kozachenko 🇺🇦

Posted on • Originally published at ekwoster.dev

Deno Is Eating Node’s Lunch: Why You Should Start Using It Now

#deno #node #javascript #webdev

Deno Is Eating Node’s Lunch: Why You Should Start Using It Now

For over a decade, Node.js was the hero of server-side JavaScript. But what if I told you that Node’s spiritual successor, Deno, is quietly solving many of Node’s long-standing issues—and doing so with the elegance of modern JavaScript?

In this post, we’re diving deep into why Deno might soon overtake Node.js, offering better security, top-notch developer experience, and an ecosystem aligned with the future.

🚨 The Node.js Problem Nobody Talks About

Node has served us well, but as apps scale and complexity increases, developers face some persistent issues:

  • Vulnerability-prone dependency management via npm
  • Lack of out-of-the-box security (everything is accessible by default)
  • Inconsistent module systems (require vs import)
  • Heavy reliance on third-party tools (eslint, prettier, nodemon, typescript, etc.)

Deno rewrites this story completely.

🤯 Enter Deno: A Runtime 2.0

Created by Ryan Dahl, the same person who initially created Node, Deno is essentially his redemption arc. When he introduced Deno in 2018, he openly mentioned '10 Things I Regret About Node.js.'

Deno is built to fix those problems from the ground up:

  • Uses modern ES Modules (import/export)
  • Secure by default sandboxing (no file, network, or environment access unless explicitly allowed)
  • Built-in TypeScript support 🎯
  • Ships with formatting, linting, bundling, testing — no need for third-party tools
  • Modern std lib: no more left-pad nightmares

Here’s a basic Deno app for comparison:

🆚 Hello World in Node vs Deno

Node.js 

// index.js
const http = require('http');

http.createServer((req, res) => {
  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
  res.end('Hello from Node!');
}).listen(3000);

console.log('Server running at http://localhost:3000');
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Deno 

// index.ts
import { serve } from "https://deno.land/std@0.204.0/http/server.ts";

serve((req) => new Response("Hello from Deno!"));
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Run with security flags:

deno run --allow-net index.ts
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Boom. Secure, modern, and no npm install required.

⛓️ No More node_modules Hell

Deno manages dependencies via URLs and caches them locally. That’s right. Your import statements look like this:

import { v4 } from "https://deno.land/std@0.204.0/uuid/mod.ts";
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No package.json. No node_modules. You can pin specific versions and even host your modules anywhere (including GitHub or your own domain).

🔥 Built-in Developer Tools

Forget configuring .eslintrc, .prettierrc, and nodemon.json. Deno has your back:

deno fmt        # Format code
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deno lint       # Lint code
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deno test       # Run tests
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deno bundle     # Bundle code
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No extra setup needed. Just ship it.

🔐 Security On By Default

Unlike Node, where your script can read/write files or ping random IPs out of the box, Deno is sandboxed unless you grant it permissions.

Running a script that needs file system access?

deno run --allow-read files.ts
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Need network access too?

deno run --allow-read --allow-net server.ts
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Upside: you sleep better at night.

🧪 Built-In Test Runner Example 

// sum.test.ts
import { assertEquals } from "https://deno.land/std@0.204.0/testing/asserts.ts";

function sum(a: number, b: number): number {
  return a + b;
}

deno.test("sum should add two numbers", () => {
  assertEquals(sum(2, 3), 5);
});
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Run it:

deno test
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🛠️ Creating a REST API: Deno vs Express

Deno doesn’t need Express. It already has a standard library and frameworks like Oak.

// server.ts
import { Application, Router } from "https://deno.land/x/oak/mod.ts";

const app = new Application();
const router = new Router();

router.get("/", (ctx) => {
  ctx.response.body = { status: "ok", message: "Hello from Deno API" };
});

app.use(router.routes());
app.use(router.allowedMethods());

console.log("Listening on http://localhost:8000");
await app.listen({ port: 8000 });
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Simple. Clean. Modern.

🧬 Is Deno Production Ready?

Yes. Companies like Netlify, Supabase, and Deploy by Deno are already using it. Deno Deploy allows edge computing at scale, and their recent partnership with the likes of Slack shows a bright future.

📦 Bonus: Deploy Serverless Deno Functions

Did you know you can deploy Deno functions just like AWS Lambdas?

Check out Deno Deploy:

  • Ultra-fast edge function platform
  • GitHub integration
  • One push deploy

⚠️ When to Stick with Node

  • You’re maintaining a mature Node system
  • Your stack relies heavily on npm packages
  • You need legacy support or non-standard packages

Otherwise…

🚀 Final Verdict

If you’re starting a new project today—and especially if you care about:

  • Security
  • Clean architecture
  • Natively supported TypeScript
  • Performance

💣 Then avoiding Deno would be a huge missed opportunity.

🔮 What’s Next?

Deno is shaping up to be what Node should have been in 2024. Don’t wait 5 years to regret not learning it earlier.

Set it up today:

curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh
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Get building. Or keep dealing with node_modules. Your call. 😉

✅ If you need help building modern Deno-based fullstack apps or APIs — we offer such services.

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