Whether you are seeking to develop a front-end Web application or back-end web application, JavaScript is everywhere. JavaScript handles websites’ scripted behavior, from loading and reloading new page content without totally refreshing the page.

According to stackoverflow’s developer survey 2021, JavaScript is the most commonly used language for the 8th year straight with 67.7% people opting for it. 

Over time, JavaScript’s popularity has increased. The reason behind its popularity is its versatility and its ability to develop both frontend and backend development as well as for testing websites or web applications as well. Among so many JavaScript frameworks available, it’s really become difficult to choose one for your next web development. 

In this blog, we have made a compilation of top 6 javascript frameworks, both frontend & backend that are immensely popular in 2021 and are placed as the best JavaScript framework for 2021 as per the Stackoverflow’s Developer Survey 2021.

Top 6 JavaScript Frameworks of 2021

We have created the best list of JavaScript frameworks and a report of a latest survey in 2021 says that these frameworks are widely used for front end development for almost 2 decades. Here are the 6 best front end frameworks-

1. React.js (Front-end)

React.js is an open-source front end JavaScript library created by a team of Facebook developers. React has consistently topped popularity charts and have emerged as the most popular front end JavaScript framework of recent times.

Popularity

With 8 million downloads per week, React is by far the most downloaded Front-end JavaScript frameworks. As per the StackOverflow developer Survey 2019, React has ranked second most used framework in Web development and Reactjs app development is high in demand.

Companies using React

Being the favorite front end JavaScript framework, React has been used by the world’s biggest companies. Brands like Airbnb, Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Twitter, WhatsApp, and many others have built their websites using React.

Pros of using React

• Reusable components of React help developers to import or reuse UI components across projects and apps.
• React can be easily integrated with other front-end and back-end framework & work without any difficulty.
• React is based on a downward One directional data flow architecture rather than a 2-way data binding as adopted by Angular. Thus, it could not affect the parent code & thus less prone to errors.
• React uses JSX JavaScript extension instead of usual JavaScript which is a HTML like syntax that makes the code easier to read, understand and maintain.
• React creates a virtual representation or a copy of DOM called Virtual DOM– the key behind React’s blazing fast performance.
• React is one of the most SEO friendly front end frameworks that facilitates page crawling. 
• React is backed up by a rich Community Support with almost 1.6k contributors on Github and a wide array of learning resources, tutorials and help guides available to anyone starting out. Also do not forget React is backed by one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world – Facebook.

2. Vue.js (Front-end)

Vue.js is the second most popular JavaScript framework of 2020. Being an open-source lightweight front end JavaScript framework, it is used to build creative user interfaces and high-performance single page web applications with less efforts.

Companies using Vue.js

World’s largest companies like Adobe, Apple, BMW, Louis Vuitton, Nintendo are using Vue.js development framework for their websites.

Pros of using Vue

• Simplicity is what Vue.js is defined by.  Structure of Vue is simple and enables you to code more with type less syntax. Vue uses a single file component system that include HTML, CSS and JavaScript all together.
• Vue has an inbuilt MVC that enables quick and easy configuration unlike React.
• Vue is easier to learn than React or Angular. Vue makes use of easy to grasp HTML templates that does not increase the complexity of code.
• Another key advantage of Vue is- lightweight size with just 18-20kb in size, much lighter than its rivals like React or Angular.
• Vue has the well written and thorough documentation than other frameworks on the list.
• Vue allows easy integration and can be used for both- creating applications from scratch or integration into existing web apps seamlessly without any trouble for creating new components.

3. Angular.js (Front-end)

The 3rd place in our list of best JavaScript frameworks of 2020 in the front-end category goes to Angular.js. Angular is an open-source typescript based framework by Google used to build client-side single-page &  enterprise-scale web applications.

Popularity

Considering GitHub stars, Angular.js is the 4th most popular JavaScript framework.

Companies using Angular.js

Today, Angular is one of the most secure front end JavaScript frameworks that builds enterprise-scale applications. More than a million websites have undergone Angularjs app development including Google, Forbes, IBM, Microsoft among others.

Pros of using Angular

• After MVW, Angular has now adopted a strictly component-based architecture that facilitates reusability. Components can be used n number of times throughout the app.
• Angular is known for efficient server performance and support caching and tons of features to ensure fast server performance.
• Model View Controller in angular establishes key features like scopes and data binding. It also ensures UI and App logic are isolated from each other.
• Angular facilitates 2-way data binding which forms a link between the Model layer and View layer in such a way that each one of them reflects a change in another. 
• Angular is especially used to create Enterprise scale web applications with much ease.
• Angular offers a rich collection of third party integrations to further enhance their web application.
• Angular has massive Community Support with over 1.1k contributors on GitHub. Angular also has great documentation & a huge library of resources readily available for anyone.

4. Express.js (Backend)

Express has been placed at 1st place in the list of best Backend JavaScript framework of 2021. Express.js is an open-source minimal and un-opinionated web framework for Node.js used for building APIs and web applications.

Popularity

With almost 48k stars, it’s the most popular Node framework on Github.

Companies using Express.js

1431 companies reportedly use ExpressJS in their tech stacks, including Twitter, Stack, Bepro Company, Stack, Client Platform, Accenture, Intuit., BlaBlaCar, Bagelcode etc.

Pros of using Express.js

• Express is a mature 10 year old framework & has a massive community backing 1.6k contributors on Github.
• Express is blessed with well written documentation along with many tutorials and resources readily available to all.
• Express.js facilitates fast paced development by simplifying the development of web applications using Node.js.
• Express has 5 types of middleware – Application-level, Router level, Error-handling, Built-in and third party middlewares. These perform various tasks like executing code, making changes to request and response objects and ending request-response cycle..
• Express.js offers a powerful routing mechanism to define routes based on URLs and HTTP methods.
• Express offers seamless connectivity with all major popular databases like MongoDB, MySQL and Redis.
• Express.js can be readily integrated with Template engines like Pug, HAML, EJS.
• With  simple syntax and structure, Express is undoubtedly the easy to learn backend framework for newbie developers. 

5. Node.js (Backend)

With Node Package Manager NPM and countless numbers of frameworks/libraries, Node.js has surpassed many other established Server-side frameworks. Because of its Asynchronous Event-Driven nature and lightweight, fast runtime, Node.js is especially suited for I/O heavy applications like Web, IoT, Serverless and real-time communication apps.

Popularity

Node.js has been placed at the top position by StackOverflow Developer Survey 2019.

Companies currently using Node.js

Big companies like IBM, Microsoft, Netflix and Walmart rely on Node.js development as part of their infrastructure and web-server work.

Pros of using Node.js

• Node.js is a cross-platform and took Java’s “write once, run everywhere” to the next level. It runs smoothly on Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, and many other platforms.
• It has relatively smaller size and faster startup and is heavily used in Serverless computing.
• Node.js is an open-source framework 
• Node.js supports JavaScript natively and all other “Compile to JS” languages like TypeScript, CoffeeScript, Dart. It also supports WebAssembly.
• Node.js has the highest number of contributors on GitHub.

6. Meteor

Meteor is another framework- a bit more like a platform. Meteor comes with a package system, build and deploy features, as well as testing support. Meteor is widely used for building end-to-end applications for Web, Mobile, Desktop platforms. The framework integrates well with popular front-end frameworks like React, Vue.js, Angular, Svelte and builds ‘out of the box’ Enterprise-grade Apps.

Popularity

According to the number of GitHub stars, it is the 7th most popular JavaScript framework.

Companies using Meteor

311 companies reportedly use Meteor in their tech stacks, including Accenture, Shelf, Rocket.Chat, Brainhub, Deloitte, Policy Bazaar and Artificial labs.

Pros of Using Meteor

• Meteor is a full-stack framework popular for developing the complete stack: Frontend-to-Backend.
• For front-end development, it has its own template engine. Yet developers can facilitate Meteor integration with other front-end frameworks like Angular, React, Vue.js or Svelte.
• It is a cross-platform framework and can develop an application for Web, Mobile, and Desktop.
• Meteor has an integrated JavaScript stack, which enables different integrating technologies (e.g., MongoDB database, React front-end) with minimum effort.
• It is an Isomorphic platform sharing the same API on client-side and server-side.

Read more information………..Why and How to Use Meteor JS in Javascript

The End Note

JavaScript will continue to dominate the web development industry powering the development of all sorts of web applications. But choosing the best JavaScript framework for your unique requirement among so many options is by no means an easy task. Every framework is packed with its own unique features, so it’s really important to consult your project requirement from an expert Javascript development company who can guide you well in selecting the best for your dream project.

QSS Technosoft is an award winning Web development company having a decade of expertise in delivering powerful & feature-rich web projects. Our team of 150+ developers first examine your specific needs, your project’s requirements and guide you well with the set of frameworks that can complement your needs and can deliver that best performance at the lowest development cost and time. 

Let’s connect over a call for a free consultation about your project!