Top JavaScript Frameworks: 6 Best Frameworks

How do you choose the best JavaScript framework from the many options available? Whether you're looking to add a framework to your skill set, decide on the right one for your project, or hire a JavaScript development company, understanding the top frameworks and their uses is essential. This guide will help you make an informed decision by exploring the leading JavaScript frameworks and their applications.

Top 6 JavaScript Frameworks

A JavaScript framework is a collection of JavaScript code libraries. The pre-written code libraries allow developers to write routine code faster, making the process more scalable. According to Stack Overflow, JavaScript has been the most popular programming language for the tenth year in a row. Given its popularity, various JavaScript frameworks have emerged over the years. Each JavaScript framework has its pros and cons. Below, we discuss frameworks that are currently the most popular and the traits that make them popular.

React JS

React helps build interactive user interfaces. Don’t confuse React with React Native, though, which is a Javascript framework used for mobile app development. Over the last decade, React has managed to become the most popular JavaScript framework and will continue gaining popularity in the future too. The reason? React is a fast, reusable, and scalable framework.

Unlike most frameworks, React has components that make it easier to use the framework for enterprise applications. A component is an independent and reusable piece of code that helps developers write code faster and use it across applications. React is also used for server-side scripting and supports JSX—a markup language similar to HTML that makes using React components easier.

More importantly, React is easier to learn than opinionated JavaScript frameworks like Angular and Ember. The active and supportive React community and the comprehensive documentation and guides further ease the learning process. React is evolving fast, though. You’ll need to keep yourself updated as the framework evolves.

Vue.js

Vue is an open-source framework that fills the gaps of several frontend frameworks. For example, Vue has Angular’s two-way binding capabilities and a virtual DOM like React.

Interestingly, even as one of the most recent frameworks, Vue has become more popular than older frameworks like Angular or Node.js—mainly because it's versatile, fast, and easy to learn.

You can use Vue to build advanced single-page applications (SPAs) and progressive web applications (PWAs). Moreover, Vue supports incremental use, so you don’t necessarily need to go for full adoption.

Vue mainly focuses on the View element of the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture. When you need to build a page that updates quickly without the need for a refresh, Vue can accomplish that by using the virtual DOM model.

If you want to learn a simple framework to build applications in a day, Vue might be a good place to start. Plus, support for HTML and JSX makes learning Vue easier for those who already work on the front end.

Angular

Angular is an open-source framework that supports MVC architecture. It’s one of the highest-performing web frameworks available. You can use Angular on the front or back end to create both SPAs and PWAs.

With Angular, you’ll be able to use two-way binding to sync the model and view it in real time. Two-way binding saves developers plenty of time by eliminating the need to define requests and responses for user interactions.

In addition to two-way binding, Angular offers various features like support for dynamic rendering, if conditions, local variables, and dependency injection. Angular builds pages using the browser and goes easy on the server, which helps load apps faster. However, onboarding Angular can take longer than other frameworks since it’s written in TypeScript.

Ember.js

Ember is one of the top JavaScript frameworks that’s highly rated. Like Ruby on Rails (a Ruby framework), it focuses on convention or configuration. Ember focuses on ready-to-use code, which helps reduce the number of decisions you’ll need to make. However, this also means you’ll have fewer opportunities for customization.

Even as an opinionated framework, Ember isn’t that hard to learn.

Its development model is mostly based on HTML and CSS. If you’re familiar with those already, you’ll get the hang of Ember faster. Also, Ember’s support for two-way data binding makes coding and managing complex user interfaces easy.

Ember uses the Handlebars templating library, making it easier to build a rich interface. You can also use features like the Ember Inspector, which makes debugging easy.

If you don’t mind going by Ember’s opinionated approach, you’ll find developing apps with Ember easy. However, if you like flexibility, Ember isn’t the best choice.

Express.js

Express is the most popular framework for Node.js (a server-side runtime environment).

If you’re looking to acquire some backend skills or develop mobile applications using JavaScript, Express is your best bet. You’ll find Express used in many popular applications as it’s part of the popular MERN and MEAN stacks. It fits nicely in these stacks because it easily connects with database technologies like MongoDB, Datadog, and more.

Using middleware, you can create RESTful APIs with Express to build integrations and extend its functionality beyond existing functions. Express is a minimal framework. If you already have JavaScript experience, you’ll find Express reasonably easy. You might need to invest a little bit of time learning advanced concepts, though.

jQuery

jQuery is the oldest framework on this list that was introduced to simplify complex JavaScript tasks like DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation and AJAX calls. Additionally, jQuery has an extensive library of JavaScript plugins for other tasks.

Learning and using jQuery is relatively simple. However, the framework was introduced in 2006 when the web was much simpler than today. You can learn jQuery quickly, but it might not equip you with the advanced features you see on modern websites.

It also creates a large code base, so developing a large application with jQuery and maintaining the code is hard. That said, some basic understanding of jQuery can still provide value.

Many websites— 67.81% of the top 1 million websites—still use jQuery, and someone needs to maintain that code. You might not want to spend a lot of time mastering jQuery, but basic knowledge is helpful.

Is Node.js a framework?

If you’ve been researching top JavaScript frameworks for a while, you’ve probably come across Node.js. However, you should know that Node is not a JavaScript framework. Node is an open-source runtime environment. You can use Node to run applications outside the client’s web browser. Node runs single-threaded, asynchronous programming that’s more memory efficient than PHP or ASP and runs on the V8 JavaScript runtime engine. If you’re keen on learning how to use JavaScript for backend development, Node should be your go-to choice.

Did You Pick a JavaScript Framework?

There are over 20 frameworks for JavaScript, and picking one to learn or use for a project can be a little overwhelming. As a beginner, it’s best to start with React to learn frontend development and Node to learn backend development.

However, if you have JavaScript experience and want to learn another framework to broaden your skill set, pick one of the top JavaScript frameworks from this guide. Over time, you can keep learning new frameworks for new use cases—did you know you can use JavaScript for game development too?

FAQs

Q1. Which JavaScript framework is the best?

React (for frontend) and Node (for backend) are the most popular choices. However, what one developer considers the best may differ from another’s opinion. You should learn a framework that best suits your needs and offers features that will make your coding journey easier.

Q2. Which is better: Node.JS or React.JS?

Node.JS and React.JS aren’t comparable. Node.JS is a runtime environment for running applications outside the client’s browser. React.JS is a top JavaScript framework used for frontend development. Both are excellent technologies to learn and aren’t comparable.

Q3. Is Angular better than React?

Angular and React are top JavaScript frameworks, and you should select one based on your project’s needs and preferences. React is easier to learn but can only help with UI development, and it requires working with additional libraries to broaden the scope. Angular is relatively complex but is a more holistic framework.

You should know that both frameworks are updated continuously, which means both frameworks will have fewer differences in the future. For example, one of React’s major advantages was its virtual DOM. However, Angular caught up on this front by implementing change detection.