HTTP libraries performance test
Test environment:
Intel 9700K @ 4.6 GHz
32GB RAM
MacOS 10.14.6
NodeJS 12.13.1
Old NodeJS 10 test results are here
Test results:
$ node index.js
http.request GET request x 50,687 ops/sec ±2.16% (80 runs sampled)
http.request POST request x 46,376 ops/sec ±4.27% (81 runs sampled)
node-fetch GET request x 22,029 ops/sec ±6.58% (80 runs sampled)
node-fetch POST request x 20,792 ops/sec ±6.56% (79 runs sampled)
node-fetch Stream GET request x 18,768 ops/sec ±8.70% (81 runs sampled)
phin GET request x 28,670 ops/sec ±3.70% (83 runs sampled)
phin POST request x 29,449 ops/sec ±0.70% (83 runs sampled)
phin Stream GET request x 29,512 ops/sec ±7.27% (81 runs sampled)
axios GET request x 13,466 ops/sec ±9.12% (78 runs sampled)
axios POST request x 12,730 ops/sec ±10.58% (74 runs sampled)
axios Stream GET request x 16,849 ops/sec ±10.54% (79 runs sampled)
bent GET request x 19,608 ops/sec ±11.17% (77 runs sampled)
bent POST request x 18,547 ops/sec ±13.41% (79 runs sampled)
bent Stream GET request x 22,125 ops/sec ±8.28% (84 runs sampled)
@hapi/wreck GET request x 19,390 ops/sec ±16.78% (86 runs sampled)
@hapi/wreck POST request x 18,026 ops/sec ±9.50% (83 runs sampled)
superagent Stream GET request x 19,630 ops/sec ±14.40% (77 runs sampled)
superagent Stream POST request x 15,098 ops/sec ±15.39% (73 runs sampled)
Needle GET request x 13,408 ops/sec ±16.30% (72 runs sampled)
Needle POST request x 13,527 ops/sec ±13.47% (74 runs sampled)
Needle Stream GET request x 15,614 ops/sec ±16.11% (75 runs sampled)
Miniget GET request x 18,197 ops/sec ±16.97% (75 runs sampled)
Simple-get GET request x 27,785 ops/sec ±10.36% (78 runs sampled)
Simple-get POST request x 24,680 ops/sec ±13.49% (77 runs sampled)
Simple-get Stream GET request x 31,679 ops/sec ±0.70% (84 runs sampled)
urllib GET request x 17,603 ops/sec ±21.52% (81 runs sampled)
urllib POST request x 17,737 ops/sec ±15.40% (77 runs sampled)
Postman-request GET request x 9,315 ops/sec ±20.94% (73 runs sampled)
Postman-request POST request x 20,204 ops/sec ±21.91% (41 runs sampled)
Postman-request Forever GET request x 8,316 ops/sec ±19.72% (70 runs sampled)
Postman-request Forever POST request x 18,752 ops/sec ±26.61% (42 runs sampled)
Request GET request x 8,599 ops/sec ±30.38% (55 runs sampled)
Request POST request x 14,549 ops/sec ±33.03% (36 runs sampled)
Request Forever GET request x 8,466 ops/sec ±24.44% (63 runs sampled)
Request Forever POST request x 21,477 ops/sec ±8.21% (40 runs sampled)
Fastest is http.request GET requestSome libraries do some magic when parsing response stream (axios and request), so that's why they are so slow. If you don't need features like redirect handling and response decompression (or you have time\knowledge to write your own implementation) then I recommend you to stick with plain http.request.