The Top 3 Frontend JavaScript Frameworks

A frontend JavaScript framework is a series of JavaScript code libraries that assists developers with standard programming features and tasks. In addition, a framework offers app-facilitating features like reusable code components, a universal development environment, compilers, toolsets, code libraries, APIs, and so on.

There are a lot of frontend JavaScript frameworks, many of which offer similar features. Still, some stand out from the crowd because of their popularity and ability to facilitate productivity when delivering on the front end. In web development, every developer wants to be up-to-date on frameworks that provide standard features that encourage web development and efficient task handling. So what are the top javascript frontend frameworks in 2023?

The Best JavaScript Frameworks for Frontend Development Projects

React, Svelte and Vue.js are the best frameworks for frontend development. Let’s talk about what they are, how to use them, their key elements and why they stand out from other frontend frameworks.

React.js

The React.js framework, generally known as React, is a front-end-based JavaScript library for web development and building user interfaces based on UI components. Jordan Walke, an engineer at Facebook, created React back in 2013, and React has recently gained over a thousand open-source contributors, Facebook included. Today, it's far ahead of other front-end development frameworks because of its unique and advanced features like the Virtual DOM (Data Object Model), which allows you to create web applications more quickly. Virtual DOM compares the components' previous states and only updates the items in the Real DOM that have changed instead of updating all of the features, as traditional web applications do. In addition, there are reusable components (standalone bits of code), which are an essential factor in any React app and reduce an application's development time by using their logic and controls. Finally, React conveniently combines with other JavaScript libraries and frameworks.

Uses of React.js

• Creating web and mobile apps: While React.js is commonly used to build web apps, the React Native framework is used to create mobile apps. Hence, you can use React for developing both web and mobile apps like Netflix, Facebook, Reddit, etc.
• You can also use React to build dynamic websites like to-do sites, blogs and other sites that need frequent updates.

Key Elements of React.js

• JavaScript XML (JSX): This is a JavaScript syntax extension (an XML or HTML-like syntax used by ReactJS) which processes JavaScript into calls of the React framework. It extends the ES6 so that HTML-like text can co-exist with JavaScript React code.
• React comprises multiple reusable components, which have their own logic and controls. These assist you in maintaining code when working on large-scale projects.
• One-way data binding gives you better control throughout an application because the data flows in only one direction.
• The virtual DOM facilitates excellent performance in React by re-rendering the entire UI whenever there are modifications to a web app.

Pros of React.js

• It's a piece of cake for a developer already familiar with JavaScript, it's easily understandable and you can start using it after just a few days of learning.
• It’s SEO friendly because it doesn't have the same issues as search engines when reading JavaScript-heavy applications. Instead, it helps developers easily navigate various search engines.
• It’s equipped with an open-source JavaScript User Interface (UI) library, which helps users to easily conduct tasks.
• The virtual DOM in React improves the performance of an application.
• A React web app has various reusable components with logic and controls.
• In React, you can create Dynamic Web Applications by combining HTML strings with fewer lines of code.
• It’s easily testable.

Cons of React

• There's always an evolution or update to React, and some developers feel it's an additional task to regularly learn these updates.
• Updates to React are often under-documented.
• The syntax extension that combines HTML with JavaScript can be hard to learn, especially for new developers.
• React covers only front-end development. You'd have to add other tools to complete development on the back end of a mobile application.

If React.js is the best framework for you and the project you are working on, read how to elevate your project by integrating particles.js with react.

Svelte

The Svelte framework is a fantastic front-end framework that combines modern user interfaces with unique advantages, like lightweight syntax. It’s a framework and compiler that generates minimal and highly optimized JavaScript code. It works a bit differently than traditional frameworks; Svelte compiles everything down to JavaScript. You can also use it to create single-page applications (SPA).

Svelte creates user interfaces using components as building blocks. Components are reusable pieces of the UI, made up of the output (HTML), logic (JS), and styling (CSS), all three of which are encapsulated in a single Svelte component. In addition, Svelte can extend HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as a compiler, generating JavaScript code without running overhead. When using Svelte, just like any of these frameworks, you should first be familiar with JavaScript.

Uses of Svelte

• Applications built with Svelte have lesser bundle sizes, perfect for devices with slow network connections and limited processing power. Less code means fewer KBs to download.
• Svelte ensures that user interactions are fast and responsive, perfect for creating highly interactive pages or complex visualizations. You can use Svelte for building dynamic front-end interactive user interfaces, fast web applications and fast and lean static web apps. The New York Times, Absolute Web and Cashfree are a few websites that were built with Svelte.

Key Elements of Svelte

• It uses no Virtual DOM, as it's a proper compiler.
• In Svelte, an application is composed of multiple components.
• Svelte is reactive.

Pros of Svelte

• It produces highly optimized JavaScript code with no overhead.
• Svelte is the framework that best meets the API of the web. It only adheres to the standard and only builds on what exists. It doesn't invent anything new, unlike React (which built JSX).
• Svelte is 30% faster than other frameworks.
• It’s a "disappearing framework," giving it freedom from client-side dependencies.
• Svelte enforces single-file components to help organize your projects.
• It offers out-of-the-box animations and transitions like Sapper.
• It’s used to create server-side rendered apps.
• Svelte Native can be used to create mobile apps.
• Svelte is easy to use; you can do a lot with less code.
• Svelte is a compiler, giving it the ability to do many things that non-compiler frameworks can't do.

Cons of Svelte

• There are routing issues attached to using Svelte. You can't build a one-page web application without a standard router, and there aren't many offered in Svelte.
• Svelte lacks significant support, unlike Angular or Vue, which are supported by Google, or React, which is supported by Facebook.

Interested in both Svelte and React? Find out which one is better for your development project that you are currently working on.

Vue.js

Evan You, Founder and creator of the Vue.js framework, the Vue.js project in 2013. It launched in China in 2014 and gained fame as a progressive front-end JavaScript framework for building websites and user interfaces. This frontend javascript framework is generally used to create single-page applications that run on a client, but you can create full-stack applications by making HTTP requests to a back-end server. It’s popularly used with Node.js and Express.js (MEVN Stack) and can also run on the server side by using a server-side rendering framework like Nuxt, which is similar to Next.js for React.

Uses of Vue.js

• Vue.js is primarily used to build single-page applications.
• Vue.js is also useful for prototyping. With the proper data binding, it can handle a lot of animations, interactive elements and graphics. Once you’ve learned your front end and installed the Vue CLI, you can easily build clickable prototypes.
• Vue.js is compatible with back-end frameworks and can easily integrate into any project that uses JavaScript.

Key Elements of Vue.js

• Vue.js inherited two-way data-binding from Angular. Two-way data binding connects model data updates and UI. Bound components contain data that you can update regularly. Two-way data binding makes it easier to update related components and track updates.
• Out-of-the-box tools & libraries. Vue.js has an excellent package of tools for all basic programming needs offered on its main page:

1. Vue’s official CLI - The Command Line Interface (CLI) is used for the development and installation of the Vue.js framework’s core libraries and third-party plugins.
2. Development Tools - For debugging applications built with Vue.js.
3. Vue Loader - The official loader for web packs.
4. Vue Router - For routing and mapping components.
5. VuePress - Initially created for writing technical documentation, this is a small, compact and powerful headless CMS.

Pros of Using Vue.js

• When compared to other front-end frameworks like Angular and React, Vue.js has the easiest learning curve because it's closest to the structure of JavaScript. It has correctly laid out documentation, too— perfect for beginners.
• Vue.js is easy to integrate into other projects. Simply include the CDN in your HTML and create specific Vue.js components or elements for your website.
• It's a fast and lightweight framework.
• It uses virtual DOM, which enhances app performance.
• Vue.js has excellent community support on Stack Overflow.
• It gives you a standard for code organization and expectations. Its code is easy to read and understand, you can store all the components in separate files, and each component is just a single file.

Cons of Vue.js

• The two-way data-binding primarily keeps components in sync. However, it introduces the issue of reactivity complexity into the system.
• You can encounter issues in Vue.js when working on relatively large projects because of its lack of support for large-scale projects.
• Its flexibility and room for plenty of options can breed confusion among developers.
• As Vue.js was largely built and popularized in China, much of its content and discussions are in Chinese, creating a language barrier.

Interested in using Vue.js? Learn more about Vue.js with Pieces introduction to vue 3!

Conclusion

All of these frontend javascript frameworks and libraries have unique features that developers can leverage. This article briefly discussed the highlights of React.js, Svelte and Vue.js. Of course, other JavaScript frontend frameworks exist, including Ember.js, Backbone, and more, but React, Svelte, and Vue.js have proven to be the best javascript frameworks. They’ve evolved over the years to suit modern programming and keep themselves at the top of the stack.

Still unsure about what JavaScript framework to use? Well we got you covered with everything you need to know to choose a modern JavaScript Framework. For your next frontend project download our IntelliJ plugin or VS Code extension to improve your developer productivity.