10 Best Frontend JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2025 (original) (raw)

When web development became a thing, websites were created with HTML, CSS, and **plain JavaScript. As technological advancements occurred, it became harder to create complex web applications that required user interactivity. Moreover, it was difficult to even maintain the already-built web apps.

To solve these issues, front-end JavaScript frameworks started to develop. Gradually, they changed the game of creating user interfaces with a good amount of user interactivity. Now, developers are able to code faster, build a great number of amazing features, and ship the product quickly.

In this article, we will discuss what a JavaScript frontend framework is, why it is even required in the first place, and the best frontend frameworks for JavaScript by stating their pros and cons..

Table of Content

• What is a JavaScript Frontend Framework?
• But Why is a JavaScript Frontend Framework Needed?
• Best Frontend JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2025
  • 1. React
  • 2. Angular
  • 3. Vue.js
  • 4. Svelte
  • 5. Ember.js
  • 6. Backbone.js
  • 7. SolidJS
  • 8. Preact
  • 9. Alpine.js
  • 10. Nuxt.js
• Conclusion

What is a JavaScript Frontend Framework?

A JavaScript frontend framework can be thought of as **a structure that helps frontend developers create amazing user interfaces. They encourage the use of maintainable, modular, and testable code by providing separation of concerns. This means developers can focus on separating the data fetching logic from the data displaying code. Moreover, they include support for additional third-party libraries that can be used to build more features on top of the web application.

But Why is a JavaScript Frontend Framework Needed?

**JavaScript **is known as the language of the web and for frontend developers to create impactful user experiences, they are required to make websites with a good look and feel without compromising on usability.

Creating good user interfaces is difficult with pure JavaScript (without any framework), as a lot of tasks are required for DOM manipulation. Working with DOM is a verbose and complex task, as just to create a button, multiple lines of code are required.

To overcome this issue, frontend JavaScript frameworks were created and are now used by **millions of frontend developers.

Best Frontend JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2025

New **frontend JavaScript frameworks keep on getting added so frequently that it is more difficult than ever to curate a list of the best frameworks. But below are some of the best frontend JavaScript frameworks that developers can use in 2025:

1. React

According to GitHub,**React ****(built by Facebook) is the most popular frontend JavaScript framework that developers use to build exquisite user interfaces. A point to note here is that React is a frontend library and not a framework.** But since these two terms are used so interchangeably, we have included React in this list.

React allows developers to create individual components that they can club together to build pages. Moreover, developers have been using different design patterns in React to write more modular code.

Pros of React

• **Virtual DOM to increase performance: A virtual DOM is an in memory representation of the actual DOM. A new virtual DOM is created after a change is made in the React app, and it is compared to the snapshot of the **virtual DOM that was there before the change was made. Finally, only the element that has changed is updated in the actual DOM.
• **React uses a declarative approach: Declarative means “what we want to do” instead of “how we want to do it”, which is an imperative approach. We simply tell React to create a button on the page, and it does exactly that. We don’t need to know when or how to create that button. React takes care of it.
• **Extremely large community: With more than **220,000 stars on GitHub, React is the most popular JavaScript library. Since it is used by the majority of front-end developers, a lot of support is present on the internet for all types of problems.

Cons of React

• **By default, view and logic are mixed: React does not have a strict rule to separate component view and logic. In every React component, there is a render function that returns JSX. JSX can contain both view and logic, which can be difficult to read and maintain. It is advised to create container components for logic and presentational components for view.

2. Angular

Developed by Google, **Angular is a very popular component-based frontend JavaScript framework. It is open-source and has more than 94,000 stars on GitHub.

Angular uses two-way data binding, which combines property binding and event binding into a single notation. This means that changes made in the model (data) get reflected in the view (user interface) and vice versa.

Pros of Angular

• **Angular CLI: Angular CLI is a command-line tool by Angular that helps to initialize and develop Angular applications with the command line. It allows code generation, the creation of production builds, and dependency management.
• **TypeScript support by default: An Angular application is shipped with TypeScript to enable better tooling and greater maintainability for developers.
• **Enhanced server-side rendering: Angular projects come with server-side rendering, which increases loading speed and is good for **SEO as different search engines can crawl these websites better.

Cons of Angular

• **Steep learning curve: New developers usually have a hard time getting familiar with Angular as there are a lot of new concepts involved, such as **dependency injection, services, templates, and many more.
• **Low performance on older devices: Angular’s two-way data binding works well for modern devices containing a good amount of **RAM or **CPUs, but for older devices, there will be a lot of time used by the browsers to perform **DOM manipulation.

3. Vue.js

**Vue.js is a declarative and component-based progressive frontend JavaScript framework. It can be used for building single page applications, websites with server-side rendering and static-site generation, and for embedding as web components on a page.

Vue.js is not as popular as React and Angular, but it is gradually being used by more JavaScript developers as it is comparatively easier to learn.

Pros of Vue

• **Ease of integration: Vue.js can be integrated into older projects very easily without worrying about rewriting the codebase. It can even work with older versions of Vue because of the compatibility mode. It also uses a declarative method of writing code, so it is simple to understand.
• **High performance: Vue updates the necessary changes in the DOM efficiently as it has a reactive system that can track different dependencies during the rendering process.
• **Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) architecture: With thee use of the MVVM architecture’s UI event-driven programming, Vue is able to create impactful **UI experiences. Ultimately, this enhances the overall performance.

Cons of Vue

• **Low community support: Although the Vue community is gradually growing, it still has a small community, and it is difficult to find solutions to the problems the developers would be running into.
• **Scalability issues: Vue is mostly suitable to build lightweight single page applications instead of large, complex applications. Some big organizations are using Vue with millions of users, but if they are not careful, they could run into performance issues later.

4. Svelte

With more than 76,000 stars on GitHub,**Svelte **is a frontend JavaScript framework used for its ability to build faster and more effective web applications with less code. Its components are built on top of HTML.

By default, **CSS is component-scoped in Svelte; hence, there are no specificity issues while applying the styles to the markup. Svelte does not use the concept of a virtual DOM. It converts declarative components into imperative code to update the real DOM.

Pros of Svelte

• **Good performance: Since Svelte does not have a virtual DOM, it increases the performance of the website and makes it more responsive. This is because it makes the changes in the DOM directly, making it more efficient.
• **Compiler-based framework: Svelte is a compiler, as during build time, it compiles components into JavaScript, resulting in a tiny bundle size. This works wonders on devices with slow network connections.

Cons of Svelte

• **Less support for tooling: Svelte has fewer tools to enhance the development experience. There are fewer plugins and libraries available in the community, so it is difficult to find solutions to various problems.

5. Ember.js

**Ember.js is another great frontend JavaScript framework with more than 22,000 stars on GitHub. It provides its own built-in tools that solve some of the most common problems, such as routing, data fetching, etc.

Ember.js encourages the use of reusable components to create an exquisite user interface for the user. It has its own command line tool to help developers get started with Ember.js really easily.

Pros of Ember.js

• **Ember CLI: Developers can create, build, and test their Ember application with this command line interface provided by Ember. With this CLI, developers do not need to configure the application. It works like a dependency packager and an application optimizer.
• Use of addons: In regular projects, developers can install packages with “npm”, but in Ember.js, they can use the CLI to install any other open-source package. By using this approach, some addons can create files or perform modifications to the application.

Cons of Ember.js

• **Not suitable for small projects: Ember.js should only be used with large scale web applications because it needs heavy business logic to develop. This could also hamper the learning of a new developer on the project.

6. Backbone.js

**Backbone.js is another open-source JavaScript frontend framework with more than 28,000 stars on GitHub. It is suitable for creating smaller, single-page web applications.

Backbone.js takes a Model and View approach and separates both in the application meaning, it separates the app logic and the user interface logic.

Pros of Backbone.js

• **Lightweight application: Backbone.js is a very lightweight application compared to other frontend JavaScript frameworks. As a result, it is more responsive, and the loading speed is faster.
• **MV Structure: The separation of Model and the View helps developers write code more conveniently. This increases the overall maintainability of the web application.

Cons of Backbone.js

• **Absence of two-way data binding: Unlike Angular, there is no support for two-way binding in Backbone.js, which means that changes in the **View (UI) do not get updated back to the Model.

7. SolidJS

With more than 31,000 stars on GitHub, Solid is a declarative frontend JavaScript framework that is pretty similar to React except that it uses signals instead of hooks and does not have a virtual DOM. Instead, it compiles the template for the nodes in the actual DOM.

Another specialty of Solid is that it is extremely lightweight because it is only around 7 kb, making it blazingly faster than other frontend JavaScript frameworks. Moreover, it uses JSX, which is a familiar concept for most front-end developers.

Pros of SolidJS

• **Performance enhancement: Due to the extremely low bundle size of SolidJS, it is highly performant. It even beats some of the most used frontend JavaScript frameworks in speed battle.
• **Highly reactive: In SolidJS, the component functions run only once just to set up the DOM. When any change occurs, only the reactive functions re-run. This increases the overall performance and allows for a quick re-render of the page.

Cons of SolidJS

• **Small ecosystem: SolidJS is still growing, and currently, it has a smaller number of third-party libraries. In addition, the community is small at the moment, and there may be some trouble finding support for any issues.

8. Preact

Preact is a lightweight alternative to React, offering similar APIs and functionality but with a much smaller footprint. It aims to deliver the same performance and developer experience as React, making it easy for React developers to transition without needing to learn a new framework. Preact’s minimal size makes it ideal for projects where loading speed is crucial, allowing for fast and efficient web applications.

**Pros:

• **Small Size: Very minimal bundle size for faster load times.
• **React Compatibility: Easy transition for React developers.

**Cons:

• **Limited Features: Lacks some advanced features found in React.

9. Alpine.js

Alpine.js is a minimal framework that brings the declarative and reactive principles of modern frameworks to traditional HTML. It allows developers to add interactivity to their applications without the complexity of larger frameworks. Ideal for enhancing static sites or building small interactive components, Alpine.js promotes simplicity and ease of use, making it an excellent choice for developers looking for a lightweight solution.

**Pros:

• **Simplicity: Easy to learn and implement for small projects.
• **Low Overhead: Very lightweight, perfect for enhancing static sites.

**Cons:

• **Limited Scope: Not suitable for complex applications requiring robust architecture.

10. Nuxt.js

Nuxt.js is a framework built on top of Vue.js that enables server-side rendering and static site generation. It simplifies the development process by providing a set of conventions and configurations that streamline building Vue applications. With its powerful features for SEO, performance, and code organization, Nuxt.js is an excellent choice for developers aiming to create highly optimized and scalable applications with Vue.js.

**Pros:

• **SEO-Friendly: Enhanced search engine visibility through server-side rendering.
• **Easy Configuration: Provides a structured way to develop Vue applications.

**Cons:

• **Learning Curve for Newbies: May be overwhelming for those unfamiliar with Vue.js or server-side rendering.

Also Read

• Best Backend Technologies for React
• Angular vs ReactJS
• 7 Best React.js Frameworks to Use

Conclusion

Understanding the details of front-end JavaScript frameworks like React, Angular, Vue.js, Svelte, Ember.js, Backbone.js, and SolidJS is crucial for crafting modern web applications. Whether you're a seasoned developer seeking performance breakthroughs with Svelte or a beginner embracing approachable frameworks like Vue.js, this guide empowers you to choose the best tool for the job. **Consider project scale, desired features, and community support to leverage the power of these frameworks and build dynamic, user-friendly web experiences.