Bun Outperforms Node.js on High-Throughput SQLite JSON API in Real-World Test

ViralVidVault, a European viral video tracking platform, ran a week-long benchmark comparing Bun and Node.js on a batch video metadata API that processes up to 200 video IDs per request. The existing Node.js service had a p99 latency of 40ms, with profiling revealing that only 2ms was spent on SQLite reads while the remaining 38ms came from JSON serialization, HTTP framing, and garbage-collection pauses. The test used a single POST endpoint querying a 350,000-row SQLite database in WAL mode, deliberately stripped of framework overhead to isolate runtime and SQLite driver performance. Node.js relied on the better-sqlite3 driver, while Bun used its built-in bun:sqlite module, eliminating native compilation dependencies entirely. The benchmark aimed to provide measured, infrastructure-based data rather than relying on vendor launch-day performance claims.