Top 15 JavaScript Frameworks to Contemplate In 2023

The world of application development has seen a revolutionary change, all thanks to JavaScript and JavaScript frameworks. Since it came into existence, JavaScript has been reigning on the top charts and has won over developers’ confidence globally. It is the most popular and most utilized programming, markup, and scripting language.

As a multi-paradigm language supporting object-oriented, functional, event-driven programming, JavaScript has been offering client-side and server-side support. It is considered the language of the web and hence has great community support.

Be it a startup, small, medium, or large enterprise, JavaScript offers frontend and backend frameworks that have been leveraged by popular names like Facebook, Google, eBay, Uber, PayPal, Netflix, Paytm, Hulu, Flickr, Groupon, and the list seems endless.

JavaScript has a light weighted design and hence it is ideal for web application development, desktop applications, mobile apps, game development, and server-side applications. The JavaScript ecosystem comprises frameworks, libraries, and toolkits.

There are multiple JavaScript frameworks (JS frameworks) that are being implemented and there are new ones coming up. It is interesting to see which of these will shine bright in 2023 and offer innovative experiences. Selecting the right kind of JavaScript framework is highly significant and must be done with expertise and accuracy.

This write-up introduces readers to the top JavaScript frameworks that are sure to increase their popularity quotients in 2023. Let us first understand what JavaScript frameworks are and their significance.

What is a JavaScript Framework?

A JavaScript framework is an application framework written in JavaScript, meant to offer software with specific functionalities that can be changed through coding. Developers can change the functions and implement them as per their requirements. These JavaScript frameworks list assist in easing working with JavaScript and implementing newer features.

JavaScript frameworks are a set of templates that are used to create application features on top of an already existing structure for faster processing and efficacy. It also has a group of JavaScript libraries for the creation of pre-existing code for supporting applications. This can be of use while designing UI or managing huge volumes of data. Even functions can be used to perform actions instead of writing all the code from scratch.

Popular JS frameworks could be based on two categories – Frontend JavaScript framework and JavaScript Backend framework. These frameworks collect shared resources like images, documents, libraries, etc., and packages them to make them useful to developers. It mainly helps developers by not letting them write the code from scratch.

Best JavaScript Frameworks facilitate:

• Manipulation of user interface depending on data
• Writing easy code that is readable and maintainable
• Usage of domain-specific languages like TypeScript, JSX etc
• Solving usual challenges
• Reusing of components
• Communication of ideas and patterns
• Standardization of UI elements like buttons, color, typography
• Enhanced developer experience by writing tests and debugging code
• Automation of installation and library configuration, packages, tools, etc.

15 Best JavaScript (JS) Frameworks to Know

• AngularJS
• ReactJS
• Vue.js
• Ember.js
• Node.js
• Backbone.js
• Next.js
• Express.js
• jQuery
• Meteor
• Polymer
• Sencha Ext JS
• Mithril.js
• Svelte
• Preact JS

AngularJS:

AngularJS is one of the Front-end JavaScript frameworks that has been highly popular for years, thanks to its salient features. It is an open-source framework that is ideal for developing Single Page Applications (SPA). It is based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, making it simple for creation of dynamic applications. It offers an extension of HTML vocabulary for creating interactivity with the help of directives, creating expressive and readable code.

Features of AngularJS:

• Progressive web apps
• Easy DOM manipulation
• Turns templates into optimized code
• Simple and powerful template syntax
• Angular CLI for the creation of components
• Two-way data binding and dependency injection
• Easy creation of custom libraries and modules

ReactJS:

Powered by Facebook, ReactJS is one of the best JavaScript frameworks that creates a dynamic user interface leveraging the features of a virtual DOM. It is concerned with sending data to the DOM and hence asks for more state management libraries and routing. It facilitates the reusing of components that are self-contained modules of code. This saves big on time spent in writing code across applications. It can be extended to servers and supports JSX for simple and short syntax.

Features of ReactJS:

• Compatible W3C object model event system
• Declarative views with readable code
• JSX markup syntax to make the writing of React components easy
• One-way data binding with Flux controls
• High performance due to virtual DOM
• Supports server-side rendering for better performance
• Supports enterprise applications with ease

Vue.js:

Vue.js is one of the modern-day front-end JavaScript frameworks that has been offering data-reactive components that have a simple and flexible API. It is considered a trustworthy platform for cross-platform development and showcases dual integration features for building user interfaces and Single Page Applications. It is also known as a progressive JavaScript framework. There are core libraries that are meant to be customizable and extensible. It is flexible and light weighted.

Features of Vue.js:

• Data binding and Virtual DOM
• CSS transitions and animations
• Simple in terms of design and API
• One-way data flow model
• Tiny size makes it more performance driven
• Reactivity with Composition API
• Easy to adapt and learn

Ember.js:

Ember.js is a known name on the JavaScript frameworks list for 2023. It has a huge application area, and it is considered a trustworthy platform for managing complex user interfaces. It makes web development effective and robust through its complete toolset that encompasses the development procedure through a view layer, router, and library. It makes use of FastBoot technology for serving rendered HTML pages without any download. All services and components in Ember are accessible anytime, anywhere.

Good Read: Ember vs React: Comparing Two Popular Frontend Frameworks

Ember.js Features:

• Easy creation and maintenance of web apps
• HTML and CSS features at the core
• Ember Inspector tool for debugging
• Offers instance initializers for classes
• Makes use of templates for updating the model in case of any change
• Component-based JS framework
• Server-side rendering of apps

Node.js:

A well-known JavaScript backend framework, Node.js is a server-side JS run-time environment that is competent to drive asynchronous I/O owing to its event-driven architecture. It depends upon the V8 JavaScript engine and executes on the Node.js runtime, from any platform that supports Node.js. These applications are single-threaded and event-driven, hence becoming scalable and effective. It is cross-platform and showcases properties such as loop formation, packaging, threading, etc.

Node.js features:

• Follows a single-threaded model
• Faster code execution
• Faster audio/video uploading because of no buffering
• Good community support
• Easy to grasp if known to JavaScript
• Management of concurrent connections
• Optimized for effective management of resources

Backbone.js:

Backbone.js is one of the best JavaScript frameworks that is fast to grasp and ideal for the creation of Single Page Applications. It emphasizes the fact that all server-side functions must go through an API to fulfill complicated functionalities easily with lesser coding. It offers Model-View-Presenter (MVP) architecture for web applications. The library offers support for different components like routers, models, views, options, events, sync, collections, etc.

Backbone.js Features:

• Lightweight, convenient, and easy to use
• Free and open-source library with 100+ extensions
• Soft dependency on jQuery and hard dependency on Underscore.js
• Detailed documentation support
• Easy combination and matching of components
• Creation of web and mobile apps in an organized manner

Next.js:

Next.js figures on the list of best JavaScript frameworks since it has its own popularity quotient. It is a free, open-source React framework that is meant to create user interfaces, universal applications, and static websites. Through server-side rendering, it makes use of JavaScript and React components to create the user interface. It has the competence to generate pages automatically depending on the file system structure of the project. It offers an integrated TypeScript experience in all types of projects.

Next JS Features:

• Quick development process
• Incremental static generation
• Good community support and SEO friendly
• Pre-designed components saving on time and money
• Supports responsive design
• Creation of pages and navigation through a file-routing system

Express.js:

Express.js is at a leading position in the JavaScript frameworks list. It is a web application framework for Node.js to create APIs and web apps. It is based on the component-based design for web applications and hence it is scalable. There is a set of inbuilt middleware packages to manage AJAX requests from the client side. It works well as a frontend JavaS framework as well as a JavaScript backend framework. It is known for finishing complicated server-side rending activities.

Features of Express.js:

• Easy routing, minimalistic and fast
• Soft dependencies
• Effective plug-in system
• Easy to learn and grasp
• Fastens web development process
• Free and open source

jQuery:

jQuery is a known name in the world of JavaScript frameworks. It is easy to adapt and open source in nature. It is majorly utilized in the simplification of DOM and helps in the navigation of the DOM tree with ease. It is ideal for creating simple applications. There is large community support that helps in the easy grasping of the framework. Though it does not showcase much of modernization, it still holds strong as a potential JS framework.

jQuery Features:

• Fit for simple and smaller applications
• Open-source and easy to learn
• Easy DOM manipulation
• HTML, DOM, CSS manipulation
• Simple, light-weighted, and progressive

Meteor:

Meteor is one of the top JavaScript frameworks that has proven to be a full-stack solution to create web applications. There are multiple usages that it portrays – database management, backend development, frontend rendering, and business logic. It offers good support for functional, object-oriented, and event-driven programming. It is based on the Node.js model and hence utilizes an asynchronous programming model. It is meant to develop real-time web apps and cross-platform apps that can function well on diverse actions.

Meteor Features:

• Multiple inbuilt libraries for many useful activities
• Automated JS and CSS modification
• Command-line too to create web apps
• Isomorphic JavaScript code
• Effective database integration
• Open-source, Isomorphic Development Ecosystem (IDevE)

Polymer:

As an open-source JavaScript framework, Polymer has been apt at creating websites and web applications with Web Components. It supports both, one-way binding, and two-way binding. It is a comprehensive framework that is flexible with reusable components and hence ideal for mobile apps and single-page applications. It is created on top of web standards APIs that permit the creation of custom HTML elements.

Polymer Features:

• Flexibility to create own components with HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Supports responsiveness with app layout components
• Offers cross-browser compatibility with web components
• Makes use of Google Material Design for the development of hybrid mobile apps
• Offers Polymer command line interface for dealing with simple components to complex web applications

Sencha Ext JS:

A comprehensive JavaScript framework, Sencha Ext JS has been a popular one amongst developers. It assists in the creation of cross-platform applications with data-intensive HTML5 applications for modern-day devices. It includes over 140 UI components like pivot grid, HTML5 calendar, menus, toolbars, trees, panels, windows, D3 adapter, etc. There are many user extensions accessible from the Sencha community. Sencha Test assists developers in enhancing the quality of their applications by functional and unit testing for Ext JS apps.

Sencha Ext JS Features:

• Protocol agnostic data package
• Creation of enhanced applications with Sencha tools
• Advanced MVC architecture
• Fast and easy prototyping
• No compatibility issues
• Supports MVC and MVVM architecture

Mithril.js:

Mithril.js is a modern-day JavaScript framework for creating Single Page Applications on the client side. It in tiny in size and hence offers faster processing. It also offers routing and XHR utilities. It has no dependencies on other libraries. Mithril has more documentation in its GitHub repository than source code. It is an open-source tool that offers a templating engine with a virtual DOM.

Mithril.js Features:

• Supports routing and componentization
• Rendering model to recreate the virtual DOM
• Easy to learn and grasp
• Gives hierarchical MVC components
• Intelligent auto-redrawing system
• Does not offer base classes to extend

Svelte:

Svelte is competent for creating cybernetically enhanced web apps. It has its own way of operations and is different from the traditional way of working. It is a simple framework and hence is gaining traction among the developer community. It is also called a Disappearing framework since there is no framework-oriented work in the browser. Users can write CSS in the svelte files within the style tags.

Svelte Features:

• Component-based frontend framework
• Does not use Virtual DOM and executes at build time
• Easy to learn and implement
• Faster execution since there is no framework
• Very tiny bundle sizing

Preact JS:

Preact JS is one of the smallest, thinnest, and fastest JavaScript frameworks with Virtual DOM abstraction on top of DOM. It is a streamlined version of React and can be utilized directly in the browser. It has strong community support with fast performance. Preact is so small that the application code is the most vital component of your app. The design leverages hundreds of components that are accessible in the React ecosystem.

Preact JS Features:

• Light weighted, efficient, and fast in performance
• Robust command-line interface
• Automatic updates in batches
• Easy sharing of reusable objects
• High-end compatibility
• Presence of a link-state module

Few Other Popular JavaScript Frameworks

• Jest
• Nuxt JS
• Jasmine
• Aurelia
• Gatsby JS

JS Frameworks: Wrapping It Up

As you set to explore the vast variety of JavaScript frameworks, there are certain parameters that help in ascertaining which is the best JavaScript framework that can be of help to your organization:

• Speed to ensure the chosen framework offers great performance in terms of selecting the right too, metrics and memory utilization
• Size limit to suit your project size and deadlines offering lightweight solutions
  o Complexity of the project as against the skills that developers possess
• Sizing of the developer community for getting the latest updates on trends and performance
• The popularity of the JavaScript framework
• Design and features of your application

Hence, organizations must analyze in depth which is the most popular JavaScript framework amongst all those mentioned above.