Top 5 In-Demand JavaScript Frameworks for Front-End Development in 2020
By: Md Kamaruzzaman
Tags: React, Programming, JavaScript, Angular, Vuejs

In-depth analysis and ranking of the top JavaScript frameworks for modern JavaScript front-end development

Photo by Judi Neumeyer on Unsplash

Long, long ago, software engineers used server-side MVC Web frameworks like JSP/JSF, Ruby On Rails, PHP Laravel, Django to develop Web Application. The table was turned in 2010 when JavaScript-based client-side Web development frameworks Knockout.js, Backbone.js, and especially AngularJS came into the scenario. Currently, JavaScript-based Web frameworks are dominating the Front-end development landscape, and the trend will continue.

If you want to start your career in front-end development or if you are an experienced JavaScript developer and now want to level up your tech skills, then which framework should you learn? Or, if your organization is finally planning to modernize its front-end stack, then which JavaScript framework to choose?

The answer is tricky. First, there are too many JavaScript based Web Development framework in the market. Every year, new JavaScript frameworks are joining the market with lots of fanfare whereas some other JavaScript frameworks are bowing out. In one year, a new JavaScript framework can rise to prominence only to fade away the next year.

Here I am listing five JavaScript frameworks mainly for Job Seekers and JavaScript developers who want to enter modern front-end development. Also, I am giving an overview and ranking of these frameworks so that organizations can choose the right framework for their Single Page Application projects. Here are the criteria I have used to make the list and ranking:

The frameworks are already established in the industry and adopted by companies and communities.

and adopted by companies and communities. They are highly popular according to well established and reputed sources (GitHub, NPM trends)

according to well established and reputed sources (GitHub, NPM trends) They are backed by some large corporations or by industry.

by some large corporations or by industry. They have a large and vibrant community .

. They have excellent tooling and libraries.

They have a high demand in the Job Market (Indeed.com)

(Indeed.com) The frameworks are not at the End of their life-cycle and waiting for slow death (like jQuery, AngularJS, Knockout.js)

(like jQuery, AngularJS, Knockout.js) They are not Meta frameworks like Preact, Next.js, Nuxt.js.

1. React

The Server Side front-end frameworks heavily influenced the earliest JavaScript front-end frameworks like AngularJS. All these frameworks used MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern or a variant of it (MVVM, MVW).

In 2013, a group of young Facebook engineers led by Jordan Walke questioned the MVC framework and two-way data-binding in front-end development. They have developed the front-end library React as a Component-based web framework with the one-way data flow. It also introduced some other back-end patterns in front-end development, e.g., Event sourcing, declarative programming, immutable state.

The other major novelty of React was to introduce Virtual DOM. As manipulating the DOM is a heavy operation, it maintains a virtual DOM in memory and only updates the difference between the Virtual DOM and real DOM in Batch. Thus React gave significantly better user experience in highly interactive web pages.

React is the most disruptive front-end framework to-date and has influenced the other JavaScript-based front-end frameworks heavily.

Today, React is like the 800-pound Gorilla among the front-end frameworks. Also, in one of my previous article, I put React as the number one JavaScript-based Web development framework:

5 Key Features:

React-Core is just a Component-based library for the View layer . For implementing a business application, additional react libraries are used for Routing, state management, styling, development. It is the most unopinionated framework in this list.

. For implementing a business application, additional react libraries are used for Routing, state management, styling, development. It is the most unopinionated framework in this list. With all its success, React is not stagnating and always trying to improve. Facebook has overhauled the React-Core by introducing the React-Fiber project for better concurrency. React has also introduced React hooks to remove boilerplate codes and Suspense for improved rendering.

project for better concurrency. React has also introduced to remove boilerplate codes and for improved rendering. Facebook is backing React with all its might . Unlike Google with Angular, Facebook is using React in all its Applications. As a result, Facebook features are battle-tested. It also has excellent tooling support.

. Unlike Google with Angular, Facebook is using React in all its Applications. As a result, Facebook features are battle-tested. It also has excellent tooling support. React comes with the motto: “ Learn Once, Write Anywhere.” Facebook’s cross-platform Mobile App development platform “ React Native” is based on React. React can also be used to develop Desktop App (with Electron) and Back-end development (with Node.js). Thus developers can use the same React component in Web, Mobile, Desktop, and Back-end.

Facebook’s cross-platform Mobile App development platform “ is based on React. React can also be used to develop Desktop App (with Electron) and Back-end development (with Node.js). Thus developers can use the same React component in Web, Mobile, Desktop, and Back-end. React also offers the best in class Server-Side Rendering (SSR) with excellent SEO support.

Top 3 Pros

The number one Web Development framework hands down.

hands down. React can be used in Web, Mobile, Desktop, and Back-end development.

Backed by Tech giant Facebook, React features are tested first with 2.37 billion Facebook users.

Top 3 Cons

React is not an end-to-end framework. Need some React expert in the team to choose the right kind of libraries for the right type of application.

React bundle size is relatively large, and the DOM rendering performance is relatively slow compared to some other frameworks.

The learning curve is moderate because of many functional programming paradigms.

Popularity

React is the most popular and most used front-end framework as shown from NPM download trends:

According to GitHub, it is the second most starred Web framework with the second most number of contributors:

StackOverflow Developer survey has ranked React as the second most used Web framework:

According to “The State of JavaScript” survey, React ranked first in terms of satisfaction and awareness: