JavaScript runtimes: star history compared

Node.js normalized JavaScript on the server and spent a decade unchallenged. Then Deno arrived with a security-first pitch from Node's own creator, and Bun's first months of stars rank among the fastest climbs GitHub has recorded for infrastructure software. The totals still favor the incumbent; the recent-velocity numbers are a much closer race.

Ranked by current GitHub stars · growth = stars gained in the trailing 90 days · data updated Jul 2026

JavaScript runtimes — star history

FromTo

nodejs/node
denoland/deno
oven-sh/bun
quickjs-ng/quickjs

Ranking

4 repositories

#	Repository	Stars	+90d	First star	Health
1	nodejs/node	118,590	~124	2014	debt charts
2	denoland/deno	107,885	~127	2018	debt charts
3	oven-sh/bun	95,118	~474	2022	debt charts
4	quickjs-ng/quickjs	3,494	~21	2023	debt charts

Decision matrix

Repository health compared

Live Postgres analysis · unavailable data stays labeled

Popularity is only one axis. Compare technical scale, maintenance cadence, ownership resilience, and change pressure using the same completed repository analysis behind each report.

:: Reach

Popularity and real-world adoption

Signal	nodejs/node	denoland/deno	oven-sh/bun	quickjs-ng/quickjs
GitHub starsCurrent public GitHub metadata total.	◆118,590	107,885	95,118	3,494
Stars gained · trailing 90dChange in the newest 90 days covered by each cached series.	+124	+127	◆+474	+21
ForksCurrent public GitHub metadata total.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Largest package audienceLargest resolved registry total; sources are shown explicitly.	No resolved package	No resolved package	No resolved package	No resolved package
Repository ageElapsed years since the GitHub creation timestamp.	12 years	8.2 years	5.3 years	2.7 years

:: Codebase

Size and technical center of gravity

Signal	nodejs/node	denoland/deno	oven-sh/bun	quickjs-ng/quickjs
Dominant languageLargest share of analyzed code lines at current HEAD.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Code linesAnalyzed source lines at current HEAD, excluding blanks and comments.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Languages representedLanguages with non-zero files or line counts.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available

:: Maintenance

Commit volume and recent operating cadence

Signal	nodejs/node	denoland/deno	oven-sh/bun	quickjs-ng/quickjs
Repository commitsFull repository commit total reported by the analysis.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Commits · trailing 90dCommit count in the newest 90 days covered by the repository analysis.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available

:: Ownership

How broadly maintenance responsibility is distributed

Signal	nodejs/node	denoland/deno	oven-sh/bun	quickjs-ng/quickjs
Bus factorFewest analyzed contributors carrying at least half the commits.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Top contributor concentrationShare of attributed commits carried by the most active contributor.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available

:: Change signals

Debt markers and fix pressure in frequently changed files

Signal	nodejs/node	denoland/deno	oven-sh/bun	quickjs-ng/quickjs
Fix-labelled share · frequently changed filesFix-labelled commits divided by commits across the analyzed high-frequency file set.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Recent TODO/FIXME movementLatest cumulative marker count and its change over the trailing 90 days.	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available

Head to head

open in the builder

deno vs node node vs bun deno vs bun

Frequently asked

Which of these javascript runtimes has the most GitHub stars?

nodejs/node is the most-starred of the javascript runtimes gitdebt compares, with 118,590 GitHub stars as of Jul 2026. It earned its first star in 2014.

Which of these javascript runtimes is growing the fastest?

oven-sh/bun added the most stars over the last 90 days of its cached history — about 474 new stars, compared with about 124 for the category leader nodejs/node. 90-day figures are approximate for older repos, whose history is downsampled.

How is this comparison computed?

The table ranks public repository metadata by current total stars. When historical stargazer timestamps are available, gitdebt plots their cumulative series on shared axes and estimates trailing 90-day growth. Repo-health charts come independently from each repository's commit history.

Related categories

all categories

Fastest-growing repos across all of gitdebt