Cow vs Hono

A Cow page can contain JavaScript, TypeScript, and HTML. Its path within the site directory determines its URL.

<?js
const name = 'herd'
?>
<h1>Hello, <?= h(name) ?>!</h1>

Hono defines routes on an application. It has starters for different runtimes and deployment platforms. The entry point depends on where you run it. See the Hono getting-started guide.

import { Hono } from 'hono'

const app = new Hono()
app.get('/', c => c.html('<h1>Hello, herd!</h1>'))

export default app

Cow suits a site organized around files and folders, with server-rendered HTML, forms, and shared modules.

Hono suits an application organized around explicit route handlers, particularly when you need one of its platform starters. Cow runs on Node.js, Bun, Deno, or Nub. That does not make it compatible with those deployment platforms.

Cow can return JSON and stream responses too. The difference is how you organize and run the application, not whether it can serve an API.