Node-API
C++ API for building native Node.js addons with stable ABI.
Languages, types and runtimes npm MIT
How Node-API is used
Node-API joined the catalog on its public numbers (55,843,855 downloads a week on npm and 2,413 GitHub stars), not on our project count: it is a dependency in 6 public GitHub projects of our scan, 2 of them set up for AI coding agents. Projects that use it most often also use Zod (100.0%), ws (66.7%), Anthropic SDK (66.7%).
Node-API popularity over time
Gid Score 53: downloads 100, use in agent projects 10, GitHub stars 26, downloads trend 57 (each 0-100). How it is calculated.
Often used with Node-API
| Zod | 100.0% of Node-API projects · 4.0× more than average |
|---|---|
| ws | 66.7% of Node-API projects · 21.2× more than average |
| Anthropic SDK | 66.7% of Node-API projects · 17.8× more than average |
| OpenAI | 50.0% of Node-API projects · 10.9× more than average |
| Mocha | 50.0% of Node-API projects · 119.4× more than average |
| node-gyp | 50.0% of Node-API projects · 282.2× more than average |
| js-yaml | 50.0% of Node-API projects · 23.2× more than average |
| jschardet | 50.0% of Node-API projects · 1034.7× more than average |
How Node-API is funded
Open Collective: Node.js
| Received, last 12 months | $6,221 Oct 2025 – Sep 2026 |
|---|---|
| Estimated annual budget | $6,373 Open Collective's estimate |
| Balance | $6,272 |
| Raised since the start | $6,272 |
| Typical month median, last 12 months | $24 |
| Contributors, last 12 months | 14 |
Top company backers all time
| Mocha | $5,000 since Jul 2026 |
|---|---|
| Ai music generator | $15 since Aug 2026 |
| Rad Web Hosting | $5 since Jan 2026 |
Mar 2025Sep 2026
Money by month. First money received in Mar 2025. The typical month is the median: one big one-off donation does not move it.
The same collective is named by 2 more tools in our catalog: undici, node-gyp.
USD after payment processor fees, as Open Collective reports it. Source
GitHub Sponsors
| @nodejs | 61 current sponsors |
|---|
GitHub shows how many people and companies sponsor an account, not how much they pay.
Ways to fund Node-API
GitHub Sponsors Open Collective
As the maintainers list them in FUNDING.yml on GitHub. Checked Oct 20, 2026.
Install
| Package | npm install node-addon-api |
|---|---|
| Main stacks | TypeScript / JavaScript (6) |
| Example projects | microsoft/vscode, chdb-io/chdb-node, jcommaret/kodia, NETGVai/NeuroNest, thebenlamm/image-gen-mcp |
Alternatives to Node-API
In our scan, none of the most used tools in Languages, types and runtimes does the same job as Node-API: they are add-ons, companions or tools for a different task.
More in Languages, types and runtimes: TypeScript tsx ts-node jiti vue-tsc Cloudflare Workers Types mypy tsconfig-paths