5 most used javascript frameworks

When searching for the top JavaScript frameworks, you'll come across a profusion of alternatives, each with its benefits and uses. The many options, including front-end, back-end development, and testing, can make choosing the best JavaScript framework for your needs difficult.

According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2023, JavaScript is the most popular programming language for the 11th consecutive year, with 54.45% of respondents choosing it. JavaScript's popularity originates mostly from its versatility, which allows it to be used for both front-end and back-end development, as well as testing websites and web applications.

What is JavaScript Frameworks?

JavaScript is suitable for creating any web application from scratch. It has all of the essential libraries to construct any features your application requires to function properly. However, creating these features each time you need to construct an application can be difficult and time-consuming, thus the concept of a template streamlines the process.

Frameworks are a set of templates for building specific application functionalities. Instead of starting from scratch, you may quickly build on top of an existing framework, allowing developers to create even more sophisticated systems faster and more efficiently.

Furthermore, a JavaScript framework is a set of JavaScript libraries that generate pre-written code for common programmer jobs.

Popular JavaScript Frameworks in 2024

JavaScript has numerous frameworks, which we will explore later. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for selecting the right framework. Many characteristics and criteria are evaluated while determining which is the finest framework and why developers favor it.

When determining the most popular framework, we take into account data from GitHub Stars, NPM Downloads, Developer Survey Results, and other sources. According to Statista, the top two best frameworks are ReactJS and jQuery, which outperform others. This statistic demonstrates that JavaScript continues to rule the programming world a decade after its initial release.

Let's take a high-level look at StackOverflow's JavaScript Frameworks and Web Technologies Survey for 2022. According to the survey, Node.js and React.js are the most popular JavaScript frameworks among professional developers and those beginning to code. Professional Developers use Angular more than those learning to develop (23% vs. 10%).

JavaScript frameworks can be divided into two parts. 

• Front-end
• Back-end

Let’s discuss some of the most popular frameworks of JavaScript for front-end and back-end.

JavaScript Frameworks for Front-End Development

ReactJS

React, or React.js is a top JavaScript framework for front-end development. It is an open-source front-end JavaScript framework developed by a team of Facebook developers led by Jordan Walke in 2011 and made available in June 2013. The earliest prototype was called "FaxJS" and was tested on Facebook's Newsfeed. React can be regarded as one of the most prominent innovators in the web development area, having achieved a significant breakthrough in defining the web applications we see today.

React pioneered a component-based, functional, and declarative programming methodology for developing interactive user interfaces for single-page online apps. React uses 'Virtual DOM' to provide blazing-fast rendering. DOM stands for Document Object Model, and it renders only the modified components rather than the entire page. Another significant element of React is the simplified JSX syntax, which replaces JavaScript.

Although React has a somewhat steeper learning curve than the other best JavaScript frameworks on this list, it is backed by a large developer community, abundant learning materials, and wide industry usage throughout the world.

Usage stats of React

• According to the State of JS, it has ranked first in the list of the world's top front-end JavaScript frameworks for the seventh year running! Since 2016, React has ranked first among JavaScript frameworks, ahead of prominent rivals Vue.js and AngularJS.
• According to the State of JS 2022 poll, 81.8% of JavaScript developers are already using React.js, and an additional 47.2% are interested in learning this JavaScript framework soon.
• With 40.58% of the vote, React surpassed jQuery to take second place in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey for the top JavaScript frameworks in 2024, leaving it in third.
• GitHub – 220k+ Stars and 1,651+ Contributors.
• NPM – Averaging close to an all-time high of 25M+ weekly downloads.

Pros

• Reusable Components - Its component-based approach allows developers to easily import or reuse UI components rather than having to code them from scratch.
• Easy Integration - Easily integrates with various front-end and back-end frameworks, such as the renowned PHP framework Laravel, so that everything runs smoothly.
• The primary difference is that React.js uses a downward- oriented data flow design. This assures that a child element cannot affect the parent, making the code more reliable and error-free.
• Simpler Syntax - Instead of standard JavaScript, the JSX JavaScript extension is used, which provides an HTML-like syntax that makes the code easier to read, understand, and maintain.
• Virtual DOM - Creates a virtual representation or duplicate of DOM known as Virtual DOM or vDOM. React compares the virtual DOM to the real DOM, rendering only the components that have changed rather than the entire page. This is the key to React's lightning-fast performance.
• SEO - Following several developments React.js is now one of the most SEO-friendly front-end frameworks for page crawling. Traditional JavaScript frameworks that dynamically displayed content were known for their poor SEO performance and incompatibility with search engine crawlers.

cons 

Although JSX has a simpler syntax that is easier to read and understand, it may pose an additional learning challenge for new developers.

Many developers may believe that React has a significantly steeper learning curve and is more sophisticated than important rival frameworks such as Vue.js or any other excellent JavaScript frameworks.

React is frequently plagued by complaints about inadequate documentation that cannot keep up with new updates and features, forcing developers.

Deals with the View Layer of the MVC Model, leaving no choice but to rely on other technologies to handle the Model and Controller Layers.

Some popular websites built with react

Airbnb, Asana, BBC, Cloudflare, Codecademy, Dropbox, Facebook, GitHub, Imgur, Instagram, Medium, Netflix, OkCupid, Paypal, Periscope, Pinterest, Product Hunt, Reddit, Salesforce, Scribd, Shopify, Slack, Snapchat, Squarespace, Tesla, The New York Times, Typeform, Twitter, Uber, Udemy, WhatsApp, Zendesk.

Angular

Angular is Google's open-source framework for creating dynamic single-page web apps. It employs TypeScript for type safety, reusable components for structure, and two-way data binding for faster development, making it a popular choice for scalable web projects.

Usage stats of Angular

• For the second year in a row, Angular rated second among front-end Best JavaScript frameworks in the State of JS 2022 poll.
• Angular was placed fifth for front-end best JavaScript frameworks in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2023, with 17.46% of respondents rating it positively.
• GitHub – 93.9k+ Stars and 1873k+ Contributors.
• NPM – Angular registered a massive 3.5M + weekly downloads on NPM.

Pros

• Component-Based Framework - After abandoning the MVW (model-view-whatever) model, Angular 2 later introduced a strictly component-based architecture that promotes reusability. Components can be utilized repeatedly throughout the application. It also makes code more readable and easier to maintain.
• Server Performance - Angular includes built-in caching and other capabilities to ensure fast server performance.
• MVC - Model View Controller - in Angular defines crucial elements such as scopes and data bindings. It also separates the user interface and application functionality.
• 2-Way Data Binding - One of Angular's main features is 2-way data binding, which creates a relationship between the Model and View layers so that each one reflects changes in the other. For simplicity, various alternative frameworks have used one-way data binding.
• Third-Party Integrations - Angular provides a diverse set of third-party integrations to enhance their online application.
• Massive Community Support - Angular has Google's backing and a large developer community on GitHub, with over 1.6k contributions to date. AngularJS also features excellent documentation, a large library of resources, and community support.

Cons

• TypeScript - Angular requires TypeScript, which has numerous advantages but can be difficult to understand for inexperienced developers. TypeScript presents a significant barrier to entry, explaining why Angular has struggled versus React and Vue.js.
• Heavy and Bloated - Compared to lightweight alternatives such as React and Vue, AngularJS is exceedingly bulky and huge, weighing in at around 550-600kb, making it unsuitable for most small-scale projects.
• Poor SEO - Angular struggles with SEO due to acute accessibility difficulties that trap search engine crawlers/spiders. If SEO is your primary goal, React is a far more SEO-friendly solution.

Popular websites built with angular

Google, Allegro, Blender, Clickup, Clockify, Delta, Deutsche Bank, DoubleClick, Freelancer, Forbes, Guardian, IBM, Instapage, iStock, JetBlue, Lego, Mailerlite, Microsoft Office, Mixer, Udacity, Upwork, Vevo, Walmart, Weather, WikiWand, Xbox, YouTube.

Vue.js

Vue.js, sometimes known as Vue, is an open-source, lightweight front-end JavaScript framework that allows you to quickly create imaginative user interfaces and high-performance single-page web apps.

Evan You, a Google developer, created Vue.js in 2014 after being inspired by AngularJS to provide a simple, lightweight, and efficient alternative. Since then, Vue.js has remained one of the top JavaScript frameworks for front-end development. Although Vue.js has inherited the majority of its functionality from ReactJS and AngularJS, it has significantly improved those features to create a more robust, user-friendly, and secure framework. The most notable example of this approach is Vue.js, which provides 2-way data binding, as seen in AngularJS, and 'Virtual DOM', as seen in React.

Usage stats of Vue

• In the State of JS 2022 developer survey, Vue.js was ranked third among the finest JavaScript frameworks for the front end.
• 46.2% of JavaScript developers now use Vue.js and want to continue using it, while 50.7% have expressed a strong interest in utilizing it.
• GitHub – 206k+ Stars and 364+ Contributors.
• NPM – Vue.js registered an impressive 4.8M+ weekly downloads on NPM.

Pros 

• Simplicity - Vue.js' greatest strength is its simplicity. Any React or AngularJS developer can learn Vue quickly and easily. Vue's structure is straightforward, allowing you to code more using typeless syntax. Vue is a single-file component system, which means that HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are all included in a single file for each component.
• Built-in MVC - Unlike ReactJS, it has built-in MVC that allows for rapid and straightforward configuration.
• Easy to Learn - Unlike React and AngularJS, you do not need to learn JSX or TypeScript. Vue makes use of simple HTML templates that do not add complexity to the code.
• Small Size - Despite its amazing capability, it is deceptively lightweight in size. The compressed version of Vue.js is only 18-20 kb in size, far smaller than its bloated, hefty competitors such as React or AngularJS.
• Integration - It can be used not just to construct applications from scratch quickly, but it can also be smoothly incorporated into existing web apps without the need to design new components.

Cons

• Small Community - Unlike React and Angular, Vue.js does not have the support of a major like Facebook or Google. However, Vue has successfully built a community of backers. On GitHub, Vue has 360+ contributors, which is nice but nowhere near React's 1.6k collaborators.
• Limited Employment Opportunities - While Vue is popular in China and the United States, it may not be so in other parts of the world. Traditionally, the United States has been the leader in new technology adoption, with the rest of the world falling behind.

Popular website made with Vue

9gag, Adobe, Apple Swift UI, Behance, Bilibili, BMW, Chess, Font Awesome, GitLab, Hack The Box, Laravel, Laracasts, Louis Vuitton, Namecheap, Netlify, Netguru, Nintendo, Pluralsight, Shien, Stack Overflow, Trivago, Trustpilot, Upwork, Wizzair, Zoom.

JavaScript Frameworks for Back-End Development

Nest.js

Nest.js is a rapidly growing Node.js framework for developing efficient, scalable, and enterprise-grade backend applications. It is well-known for creating highly testable, maintainable, and scalable apps with current JavaScript and TypeScript.

With over 46.6k stars and 5.4k forks on GitHub, with a weekly download count of up to 700,000, the framework is a popular choice for building your Node.js backend project..

Usage stats of Nest

• GitHub – 46.6k+ Stars,  5.4k+ Forks, 3167+ Contributors.
• NPM – Nest has clocked close to 6,079,295+ weekly downloads on NPM.

Pros

• Modular and Scalable: Nest.js encourages a modular architecture, making it easy to organize code into modules. This helps in building scalable applications where different modules can be developed and tested independently.
• TypeScript Support: Nest.js is built with TypeScript, which brings strong typing and enhances the development experience by providing features such as type checking and autocompletion, leading to fewer runtime errors.
• Dependency Injection: It uses dependency injection, which promotes loose coupling and better maintainability by allowing you to inject dependencies into classes rather than creating them inside the class.
• Built-in Support for WebSockets: Nest.js provides built-in support for WebSockets and microservices, making it suitable for real-time applications and microservices architectures.
• Built-in HTTP Module: It includes an easy-to-use HTTP module that abstracts away some of the complexities of handling HTTP requests and responses in Node.js, providing decorators for routing and parameter handling.
• Active Community and Support: Nest.js has a growing community and good documentation, making it easier to find solutions to problems and get support when needed.

Cons

• Learning Curve: There's a learning curve, especially for developers new to TypeScript or unfamiliar with Nest.js's conventions like decorators and dependency injection.
• Opinionated Structure: Nest.js's structured approach may not always align with specific project needs or existing codebases.
• Performance Overhead: Compared to simpler frameworks, Nest.js introduces some performance overhead due to its abstraction layers and additional features.
• File Size: Projects built with Nest.js can have a larger file size due to TypeScript and additional features, which might be a consideration for resource-constrained environments.
• Ecosystem Maturity: While growing, the ecosystem and third-party library support for Nest.js might not be as extensive as more mature frameworks like Express.js.

Popular websites made with Nest.js

Handelsblatt GmbH, Caribou, CTR (WM) Ltd., Netskope, Dandy, Ensemble Systems, WELL Health Inc., WebNet, Workrise, Wiser Solutions.

Node.js

Node.js is an open-source server platform compatible with Windows, Linux, Unix, macOS, and other operating systems. Node.js executes JavaScript code outside of a web browser using the V8 JavaScript Engine, which is a back-end runtime environment for JavaScript.

Ryan Dahl designed the original version of Node.js in 2009, around thirteen years after Netscape's LiveWire Pro Web, the first server-side JavaScript environment. The initial release supported just Linux and Mac OS X. In 2019, the JS Foundation and Node.js Foundation merged to form the OpenJS Foundation, and Node.js has since been named first among the finest JavaScript frameworks.

Node.js only supports JavaScript natively, however it can be translated into a variety of languages. Because of this, Node.js programs may be written in a variety of languages, including Dart, TypeScript, ClojureScript, and CoffeeScript.

Node.js is available on macOS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows, with tier 2 support for SmartOS, IBM AIX, and FreeBSD. OpenBSD also operates on IBM I (AS/400), and long-term support versions are available.

Usage stats of Next

• Node.js was the most popular technology in the Stack Overflow annual survey for the previous two years; nevertheless, in the 2023 poll, it is ranked first among the most popular web frameworks and technologies.
• The average response time for the same page on PayPal fell by 35%. Pages are 200ms faster when Java is replaced with NodeJS.
• GitHub – 102k+ Stars, 27.4k+ Forks, 3338+ Contributors.
• NPM –Node.js recorded 168,860+ weekly downloads on NPM

Pros

• As efficiency increases, so will the cost of servers and the manpower necessary to operate them. Furthermore, scaling-induced performance degradation can be avoided. Although most developers prefer to run Node on scalable cloud clusters, the process can be performed using a VPS server or a low-cost dedicated server.
• It may minimize development expenses by 58% and grow quicker than any other JavaScript framework.
• Organizations that have employed Node.js for over two years have seen a 12% reduction in development costs.

Cons

• Node.js employs an event loop to handle concurrency and runs on a single thread. This design decision allows it to manage a large number of connections efficiently, but it also means that long-running blocking processes will halt the entire process and hamper the processing of future requests. This can lead to performance bottlenecks, particularly in programs that require a lot of CPU power or I/O.
• Node.js does not include a native way for multithreading or parallel processing. It is single-threaded and runs in a single process, making it difficult to use multi-core systems to their full capacity.
• Node.js uses JavaScript, which is well-known for its versatility and usability, but it might be difficult for developers who are new to it. JavaScript differs from other popular programming languages such as Java, C++, and Python.

Popular website made with Node.js

LinkedIn, eBay, Netflix, GoDaddy, Groupon, Uber, NASA, Walmart, etc.

Which framework should you choose?

It is critical to choose the finest JavaScript frameworks for the front end, back end, and testing. It's important to note that each framework has unique benefits and downsides, and what works for one project may not work for others. First and foremost, you must understand the project's requirements, which include the type of application you want to construct, your feature preferences, and your scalability requirements. After that, consider the framework's features, community support, your team's learning curve, and ease of use.

It's important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this topic, and the appropriate structure for your project will ultimately be determined by your individual goals and objectives. It is critical that you properly assess your options and, if necessary, seek the opinion of industry professionals.

Regardless of which JavaScript framework you choose, it is essential that you confer with a professional such as IBTI IT Solutions. Along with other IT services, we offer software development. Contact us if you want to produce high-quality software.

Conclusion

JavaScript will remain the driving force behind the development of all types of online apps. However, selecting the finest JavaScript frameworks for your needs from among dozens of accessible possibilities is not an easy task. Every framework has distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Pay close attention to your project's requirements to determine which collection of frameworks would best meet your goals while requiring the least amount of development time and cost. Aside from performance, other decisive elements to examine include the learning curve, complexity, compatibility documentation, and community support.