Should I use Bun or Deno instead of Node.js for a new project?

Both Bun and Deno are production-capable today and have good Node compatibility. The pragmatic view:

- Node.js has the widest compatibility with native modules, hosting, APM tools and docs. It now runs TypeScript directly too (type stripping, on by default in Node 23.6+ / 22.18+). It's the safe default for a team or a job. - Bun gives very fast installs, test runner and bundler in one binary, and fast startup. Great for tooling and scripts; check your dependencies (especially native addons) before committing. - Deno has a secure-by-default permission model, built-in formatter, linter and test runner, and first-class web-standard APIs.

A common middle ground: use Bun as the package manager and test runner and deploy on Node. Benchmark *your* workload. Most apps are bottlenecked by the database, not the runtime.