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Comparison

msw vs json-server

Dev servers and API mockingPackage data 25 Sept 2026

The two packages

mswv2.15.0, 8 Jul 2026

Seamless REST/GraphQL API mocking library for browser and Node.js.

$ npm install msw
json-serverv1.0.0-beta.15, 23 Mar 2026

[![Node.js CI](https://github.com/typicode/json-server/actions/workflows/node.js.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/typicode/json-server/actions/workflows/node.js.yml)

$ npm install json-server

At a glance

Metricmswjson-serverDifference
Weekly downloads14,417,590356,808msw 40.4x higher
12-month download growth+159%+12%msw +147 pts
Gzip size---
Minified size---
Dependencies1813msw 5 more
Unpacked size5.8 MB38 kBjson-server 155.1x smaller
Latest release2.15.0, 8 Jul 20261.0.0-beta.15, 23 Mar 2026msw 3 months more recent
Releases, last 12 months340msw 34 more
First published18 Nov 20183 Dec 2013json-server 5.0 years earlier
GitHub stars18,22475,719json-server 4.2x higher
Open issues33617json-server 584 more
Open pull requests4104json-server 100 more
Contributors---
Commits, last 52 weeks11764msw 1.8x higher
TypeScript typesBundledNoneDiffers
Module formatESM + CommonJSESM onlyDiffers
Runtimes---
LicenseMITMITSame

Green marks the smaller size or the more recent release. Bold marks the higher count, with no judgement implied. Sizes are for the whole package per Bundlephobia. Growth compares the average of the last 4 weeks with the first 4 weeks of the 52-week series.

Downloads over 52 weeks

msw14.4m latest weekjson-server356.8k latest week
Week of 23 Sept 2025Week of 15 Sept 2026
Weekly npm downloads, 52 weeks. Y axis starts at zero. Values are not smoothed.

Release history

msw

Major versions
  1. 0.1.018 Nov 2018
  2. 1.0.025 Jan 2023
  3. 2.0.023 Oct 2023
Last 5 releases
  1. 2.15.08 Jul 2026
  2. 2.14.77 Jul 2026
  3. 2.14.611 May 2026
  4. 2.14.58 May 2026
  5. 2.14.47 May 2026
298 releases in total, 34 in the last 12 months

json-server

Major versions
  1. 0.0.03 Dec 2013
Last 5 releases
  1. 0.17.429 Sept 2023
  2. 0.17.321 Mar 2023
  3. 0.17.222 Feb 2023
  4. 0.17.13 Nov 2022
  5. 0.17.06 Oct 2021
126 releases in total, 0 in the last 12 months

API style

msw

-

json-server

-

Notes

msw

-

json-server

-

Which one fits

  • Need both ESM and CommonJS entry pointsmsw (msw: ESM + CommonJS; json-server: ESM only)
  • Need to load it with require()msw
  • Need TypeScript types in the package itselfmsw (msw: Bundled; json-server: None)
  • Node.js version requirementmsw: >=18; json-server: >=22.12.0 (engines field in package.json)
  • Need the more recent releasemsw (2.15.0 on 8 Jul 2026 vs 1.0.0-beta.15 on 23 Mar 2026)
  • Higher weekly npm downloadsmsw (14.4m vs 356.8k)

Each line is generated from the data above.

Other comparisons with msw or json-server

Sources

msw: msw npm registry, msw npm downloads, msw GitHub, msw jsDelivr. Data fetched 25 Sept 2026.
json-server: json-server npm registry, json-server npm downloads, json-server GitHub. Data fetched 25 Sept 2026.

Indexability: Indexed.