Okapi vs Huma

Both Okapi and Huma aim to improve developer experience in Go APIs with strong typing and OpenAPI integration. The key difference is philosophy: Okapi is a batteries-included web framework, while Huma is an API layer designed to sit on top of existing routers.

Feature / Aspect	Okapi	Huma
Positioning	Full web framework	API framework built on top of existing routers
Router	Built-in high-performance router	Uses external routers (Chi, httprouter, Fiber, etc.)
OpenAPI Generation	Native, framework-level; 3.1 and 3.0 documents, Swagger UI, ReDoc and Scalar included	Native, schema-first API design
Request Binding	Unified binder for JSON, XML, YAML, protobuf, forms, query, headers, cookies, path params	Struct tags + resolver pattern for headers, query, path params
Validation	Tag-based (min, max, enum, required, default, pattern, etc.), applied when the handler binds	Included
Response Modeling	Output structs with `Body` pattern; headers & status via struct fields	Strongly typed response models with similar patterns
Middleware	Built-in + custom middleware, groups, per-route middleware	Router middleware + Huma-specific middleware and transformers
Authentication	Built-in JWT, Basic Auth, security schemes for OpenAPI	Security schemes via OpenAPI; middleware via router
Dynamic Route Management	Enable/disable routes & groups; the router honours the change immediately	Not a core feature
Templating / HTML	Built-in rendering (HTML templates, static files, SPA hosting)	API-focused; not intended for HTML apps
CLI Integration	Built-in CLI support (flags, env config)	Included
Testing Utilities	Built-in test server and fluent HTTP assertions	Relies on standard Go testing tools
Learning Curve	Very approachable for Go web developers	Slightly steeper (requires OpenAPI-first mental model)
Use Case Fit	Full web apps, APIs, gateways, microservices	Pure API services, schema-first API design
Philosophy	"FastAPI-like DX for Go, batteries included"	"OpenAPI-first typed APIs on top of your router of choice"

Quick Comparison

Okapi — define a route with OpenAPI metadata declared next to it:

app := okapi.Default()
app.Register(okapi.RouteDefinition{
    Method:      http.MethodPost,
    Path:        "/users",
    Handler:     createUser,
    OperationId: "create-user",
    Summary:     "Create a new user",
    Tags:        []string{"users"},
    Request:     &UserRequest{}, // documents the request schema
    Response:    &User{},        // documents the 200 response
    Options: []okapi.RouteOption{
        okapi.DocResponse(401, &ErrorUnauthorized{}),
        okapi.DocResponse(404, &ErrorNotFound{}),
    },
})

Request and Response shape the OpenAPI document. Validation happens where the handler binds the request — c.Bind(&in), or automatically with okapi.Handle / okapi.H:

func createUser(c *okapi.Context) error {
    in := &UserRequest{}
    if err := c.Bind(in); err != nil { // binds and validates
        return c.AbortBadRequest("Invalid request", err)
    }
    return c.Created(saveUser(in))
}

Huma — similar concept, different style:

huma.Register(api, huma.Operation{
    OperationID: "create-user",
    Method:      http.MethodPost,
    Path:        "/users",
    Summary:     "Create a new user",
    Tags:        []string{"Users"},
}, createUser)

Both approaches generate OpenAPI documentation automatically.

Quick Comparison​

Quick Comparison