Building an app? These are the best JavaScript frameworks in 2025

Building something cool? JavaScript frameworks can speed up your development workflow by giving you a solid foundation to work from. Frameworks cover everything from database connections, user sessions, and backend APIs to well-designed UI elements that look great on any device. Frameworks allow you to focus on your idea and innovation rather than having to reinvent the wheel and write out the basics time and time again.

Whether you're building a front end, a back end, or full-stack application, this guide has collated the best frameworks (no filler, just value) for each task and includes explanations and listings of some compatible libraries for each framework, giving you all the tools you need to build your next app.

What is a JavaScript framework?

JavaScript frameworks simplify and accelerate the process of building web and mobile applications. By providing pre-built functionality including authentication, data management, user interface creation, and server-side communication, frameworks make web development more accessible to developers of all levels of expertise. A codebase with an existing structure that follows programming and security best practices allows you to create complex, secure applications more efficiently, and in less time.

It's worth noting that a framework is not the same thing as a library: a framework provides a complete structure for a project, whereas a library provides only specific functionality that you can add to an existing project. A framework may be made up of a number of different libraries (for example, React-based frameworks like Next.js use the React library for building user interfaces), but this does not make libraries and frameworks the same thing.

A visual representation of a JavaScript framework’s capabilities, showcasing key features such as routing, state management, authentication, templating, API integration and performance optimization. 

Below are a selection of the best JavaScript frameworks for building frontend and backend applications, as well as full-stack and mobile apps (we also throw in a couple of gaming frameworks for your weekend projects). Each selection is based on active community support, reliable maintenance, and widespread usage, ensuring you're equipped with top-tier tools for your projects.

The best frontend JavaScript frameworks

React

React is not a framework — it's a library focused on building user interfaces. So why is it here, and why is it first in the list? Because, combined with a set of fairly standardized React-specific libraries for state management and routing, it pretty much becomes a framework for web apps.

React is known for its high performance thanks to its use of a virtual DOM. This innovation minimizes the time required to update the UI by re-rendering only the components that are affected by state changes.

Pros of React.js

• Component reusability: React allows you to build reusable, modular components, which can speed up development time and consistency across your apps.

• Flexibility: React provides freedom in choosing the overall architecture and libraries, making it highly adaptable to various project requirements.

• Efficient UI updates: The virtual DOM helps with performance by re-rendering only the needed UI components affected by state changes.

• Familiar syntax: JSX combines HTML-like syntax with JavaScript, making it approachable for developers with an understanding of JavaScript and HTML.

Cons of React.js

• High setup complexity: While React provides its own state management tools, many applications require additional libraries and configurations (advanced state management or routing libraries), increasing complexity when compared with other frameworks that come with built-in solutions.

• Poor SEO without server-side rendering: By default, React renders on the client side, which can negatively impact SEO — unless server-side rendering is implemented, which can be complex to set up.

• Verbose boilerplate code: React projects, especially larger ones, often involve significant boilerplate for features like state management and component structure, which can be seen as cumbersome when compared with alternatives.

Key features of React.js

Virtual DOM: Whenever you create or change a component in React, the change is made in a virtual DOM before the actual changes are made in the original DOM. The virtual DOM calculates which specific components need changing and then re-renders those components in the real DOM rather than updating the entire DOM each time. React's one-way (parent to child) data flow ensures better control over the state and data, making applications more predictable and easier to debug. React also boasts an extensive ecosystem of tools like React Developer Tools, Redux, and libraries that enhance productivity and streamline development workflows.

Popular libraries that can help you build React apps

• Form validation: Zod and React Hook Form

• Animation: Framer Motion

• UI component library: Material UI, Ant Design

• State management: Redux

• Routing: React Router

• Auth: Auth.js

Vue.js

Vue.js is one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks for building user interfaces and single-page applications. It is known as the progressive JavaScript framework because it’s designed to be incrementally adaptable. Developers can use Vue.js to add interactivity to specific parts of an existing project without rewriting the entire application. It also comes with out-of-the-box solutions to things like routing and state management.

Vue.js features an incrementally adoptable architecture that focuses on declarative rendering and component composition. It consists of a set of core libraries that are designed to be easy to pick up and use but also extensible and customizable.

The core Vue.js library is focused on the view layer only and is easy to pick up and integrate with other libraries or existing projects. The one-way data flow model used in Vue.js makes it very straightforward to reason about your application, and its small size makes it highly performant.

Vue.js uses HTML-based template syntax to bind data to the rendered document object model by compiling the templates into highly optimized JavaScript code. All Vue format/templates are valid HTML that can be parsed by spec-compliant browsers and HTML parsers.

Pros of Vue.js

• Tiny size: The uncompressed size of Vue.js is only 58 kb, ensuring faster load times, better performance, and less bandwidth usage.

• Approachability: Vue.js is approachable for developers of all experience levels, it has clear documentation and a minimalistic core, and it uses single file components with HTML and JavaScript, usually in the same file.

• Composability: Reactivity in Vue 3 is achieved by using the Composition API. The Composition API provides an interchangeable way to manage state and reactivity without relying on decorators, making it easier to create reusable and modular code structures.

• Ease of integration: Vue.js integrates easily with a number of different tools.

Cons of Vue.js

• Shortage of plugins: Vue only has a small plugin library system.

• Language barrier: Not all documentation is in English, and often the documentation is not internationalized or localized.

• Challenging flexibility: Too much flexibility in the Vue framework can be seen as a disadvantage. For newcomers, the flexibility might lead to "analysis paralysis" or suboptimal architectural choices without guidance.

Key features of Vue.js

By using the Composition API, you can use Redux-like state management within your app without the need for external dependencies. This also results in a more intuitive code structure, making it easier to reason about your application. In addition, the Composition API provides better performance by avoiding unnecessary re-renderings.

Overall, the Composition API provides a more flexible and performant way to manage state and reactivity in Vue. Code might be difficult to manage when it is split between three separate files (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), but with single-file components (SFCs), it can all be written in one file and utilized throughout your application. Using CSS in a single-file component also makes it easier to keep your CSS styles scoped to just that component.

Vue.js provides an in-built component called <Transition> that allows you to apply animations to HTML documents when they are added or removed from the DOM. The <Transition> component is available in every component across your Vue.js application.

Vue uses computed properties to update the UI according to reactive data. It’s a good idea to use computed properties if you’re doing any calculations inside UI templates, so you don’t have to repeat yourself if you need to reuse the same calculations elsewhere in your component.

Popular libraries that can help you build Vue apps

• Form validation: VeeValidate

• Animation: vueuse/motion

• UI component library: Vuetify, Element Plus

The best full-stack JavaScript frameworks

Next.js

Next.js is a free and open source React frontend framework created by Vercel. It is used to build user interfaces and static websites. The framework is also capable of creating server-side rendered and isomorphic applications (applications that can be run both on server and client).

Next.js uses JavaScript or TypeScript with React components to create the UI. Next.js is influenced by React Router, Webpack, the Node ecosystem, and community libraries. The feature that sets Next.js apart from other frameworks is its ability to automatically generate pages based on the file system structure of the project using the App Router. 

Another unique feature of Next.js is its incremental static page generation, which incrementally updates statically generated pages as new content is added or changed. Next.js also provides built-in API routes, which enable you to create serverless endpoints within the same project, making it simpler to build integrated back ends and front ends.

Pros of Next.js

• Fast development: Next.js lets you build static websites fast with dynamic functionalities.

• SEO-friendliness: Next.js offers server-side rendering and the ability to build static websites, improving SEO.

• Comprehensive routing: The extensive routing implementation right out of the box brings built-in performance enhancements.

• Community support: There’s a large and active community offering resources and assistance.

• Fast time to market: With pre-made components, you can enter the market more quickly while saving time and money. These components can help your teams rapidly iterate and produce enhancements.

• Responsive design: Flexible and responsive components ensure that your designs look fantastic on all devices, regardless of screen size.

• Integration: Built-in API routes speed up frontend and backend integration.

Cons of Next.js

• Complexity: Next.js introduces concepts like server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG), which may be challenging for developers unfamiliar with them.

• Opinionated approach: The framework enforces an opinionated structure and routing system, which might limit flexibility for developers more accustomed to customizable setups.

• Build time concerns: Applications with numerous pages or complex configurations might experience significant build times.

Key features of Next.js

You can create pages and navigate them on the browser using the file routing system in Next. The image component is an extension of the HTML element <img>,improved for the modern web. The improved image component can resize images on any device and loads the image only when it is in the viewport. 

Next.js provides an integrated TypeScript experience in both existing and new projects. When creating new projects, you do not need any configurations to set up TypeScript.

Next.js features two types of rendering: static generation and server-side rendering.

• Static generation: Here, the HTML page is generated at build time, cached in a CDN, and is already built whenever it’s requested.

• Server-side rendering: In this case, dynamic content pages are generated and served to the client from the server and rendered on every request.

Next.js simplifies the process of creating consistent layouts across multiple pages by allowing you to define and centralize reusable components (for example, a navigation menu or page footer) in a single place, then reuse them in different pages. Layouts can be nested, further improving reusability.

Popular libraries that can help you build Next apps

• Form validation: Zod and React Hook Form

• Animation: Framer Motion

• UI component library: Material UI, Ant Design

Remix

Remix is a full-stack framework designed to build fast and user-centric applications. Remix emphasizes performance, developer experience, and simplicity in creating scalable applications. Remix enables both server-side and client-side rendering and leverages web fundamentals such as HTTP caching, progressive enhancement, and nested routing. Like Next.js, Remix uses the file structure to define routes in a routes directory.

Pros of Remix

• Data fetching: Remix has built-in data fetching, which simplifies the process with loaders and actions, making it easier to integrate the back end with your client-side logic.

• Reusability: It supports deeply nested routing and layout sharing, improving component reuse.

• Web capabilities: Remix focuses on leveraging native web capabilities like HTTP caching and progressive enhancement, improving performance.

• Maintainability: Features such as error boundaries and a unified backend/frontend development model improve debugging and maintainability.

Cons of Remix

• Complexity: Concepts such as loaders, actions, and nested routing might be unfamiliar to some developers used to more conventional frameworks.

• Small community: Remix has a smaller community compared to frameworks like Next.js, which may impact third-party resources or documentation.

• Missing features: Unlike Next.js, Remix lacks built-in support for certain features like image optimization or API routes.

Key features of Remix

The nested routing system allows developers to create modular routes with shared layouts and components. For example, routes/admin/settings.jsx would inherit layouts from routes/admin.jsx.

Remix introduces loaders for fetching data and actions for handling form submissions or mutations. This reduces boilerplate code by providing developers with reusable functionality. Remix has a strong focus on progressive enhancement: it allows you to build applications that degrade gracefully, ensuring a consistent experience for users with different quality browsers or network capabilities, making your applications more inclusive.

Remix simplifies error handling with route-specific error boundaries, providing the developer with more control over how errors are displayed for specific parts of the application. It supports advanced rendering techniques like streaming server-side rendering (SSR) to incrementally send parts of the UI to the client as they become available. Additionally, its server functions (loaders and actions) can be deployed to edge networks to reduce latency and handle requests closer to the user.

Popular libraries that can help you build Remix apps

• Form validation: Zod and React Hook Form

• Animation - Framer Motion

• UI component library: Chakra UI, Headless UI

The best backend JavaScript frameworks

Express.js

Express.js is a web application framework for Node.js, released as free and open source software under the MIT License. It is designed for building web applications and APIs.

It has been called the de facto standard server framework for Node.js. The main features of Express.js are main features are its soft dependencies, plugin system, high performance, easy routing, and lack of callback hell.

Express.js brought the component-based design to Node.js web applications, allowing developers to reuse middleware and make it easier to scale Express.js projects.

Additionally, Express.js v4 now comes with built-in middleware for handling AJAX requests from the client side, removing the need for third-party libraries. Express.js is a great tool for quickly building out web applications and APIs in Node.js.

Pros of Express.js

• Ease of learning and implementation: Getting started with Express.js will be simple if you are already familiar with JavaScript.

• Cross-platform support: You can use JavaScript to build both the front end and the back end thanks to the Express.js framework, making the development process considerably quicker as you can reuse the same JavaScript tools and knowledge.

• Extensive library: Express.js includes a variety of middleware modules that you can use to add to request and response operations, such as authentication, logging, parsing JSON or URL-encoded data, and handling cookies.

Cons of Express.js

• Poor error management: Error messages are not descriptive, making debugging difficult without additional tools such as Morgan.

• Lightweight but unopinionated: Its lack of structure can be a con for projects needing built-in patterns and conventions.

• Security: Developers must actively implement security best practices as Express doesn’t provide any security measures out of the box.

Key features of Express.js

Express.js is lightweight, flexible, and known for its simplicity and versatility. It offers straightforward client routing capabilities, making it easy to handle and define routes for various HTTP requests. Middleware functions enable you to handle requests and responses, add functionality, and process data efficiently. It has support for various template engines like EJS, and database integrations like Mongoose for MongoDB.

Popular libraries that can help you build Express.js apps

• Input validation: Zod or Joi

• Authentication and authorization: Passport.js

• Database integration: Mongoose or Prisma

NestJS

NestJS is a progressive Node.js framework for building server-side applications. It combines elements from both functional and object-oriented programming with a focus on modularity and TypeScript support. The framework encourages maintainable architecture by using decorators, dependency injection, and a well-structured system. It is ideal for microservices and server-side rendering use cases.

NestJS has support for WebSockets, GraphQL, and REST APIs, making it versatile for a variety of backend scenarios.

Pros of NestJS

• Modularity: It has a modular and scalable architecture that allows developers to organize their applications into reusable and maintainable modules, making it great for large-scale applications.

• TypeScript support: NestJS has built-in support for TypeScript, offering strong typing and modern JavaScript features out of the box, improving code quality and reducing runtime errors.

• Microservice support: NestJS natively supports microservices architecture and real-time communication with WebSockets.

• Extensive libraries: It integrates with a wide range of different libraries, making it easy to extend its core functionality.

Cons of NestJS

• Opinionated approach: It has an opinionated architecture: its strong reliance on TypeScript and use of decorators may require additional time to learn for developers unfamiliar with these concepts.

• Boilerplate: NestJS requires more setup and has a lot of boilerplate code compared to Express.js, potentially slowing down smaller projects with fewer resources.

• Performance overhead: While efficient, NestJS does add some overhead compared to a lightweight framework like Express.js, which might be noticeable in smaller projects.

Key features of NestJS

NestJS features a modular architecture for building maintainable applications. Built with TypeScript, it enforces strong typing and good code quality. With its native support for REST APIs, GraphQL, and WebSockets, along with its dependency injection system, NestJS simplifies component management. Its decorator-based programming and built-in tools for testing further improve the developer experience.

Popular libraries that can help you build NestJS apps

• Input validation: Zod

• Authentication and authorization: Passport.js

• Database integration: TypeORM or Prisma

Fastify

Fastify is a modern, performant, and low-overhead web framework for Node.js. It is designed with performance and scalability in mind, with a lightweight and modular architecture that allows you to build highly efficient APIs and web applications. Fastify has built-in support for JSON schema for validation and serialization, ensuring consistent data handling and security.

Pros of Fastify

• Exceptional performance: Fastify is optimized for speed, making it one of the fastest web frameworks for Node.js.

• Schema-based validation: Built-in JSON schema support ensures strong validation and serialization, reducing runtime errors.

• Plugins: It has a modular plugin system, allowing developers to extend functionality without impacting the core framework.

Cons of Fastify

• Smaller community: While growing, Fastify’s community is much smaller compared to established frameworks like Express.js.

Key features of Fastify

Fastify provides ultra-fast request handling and an extensive plugin system to extend its capabilities. It simplifies validation and serialization with its built-in support for JSON schemas, making API development efficient and predictable. Detailed logging capabilities help with debugging and performance monitoring; it also supports asynchronous programming with full compatibility for promises and async/await.

Popular libraries that can help you build Fastify apps

• Input validation: Ajv (built-in JSON Schema support simplifies integration).

• Authentication and authorization: Fastify plugins like fastify/auth or Passport.js.

• Database integration: Knex.js or Prisma.

The best JavaScript mobile app frameworks

React Native

React Native is a popular JavaScript framework for building cross-platform mobile applications. It allows developers to use React to build mobile apps that feel native, making use of native components instead of web views.

Key features of React Native

• Its cross-platform nature allows you to write code once and deploy it to both iOS and Android.

• It has a vast ecosystem of libraries and tools that you can leverage to save time.

• It offers a near-native experience by using native components.

• It has a hot reloading feature, which improves developer productivity by showing live updates during development.

Popular libraries that can help you build NestJS apps

• Input validation: Zod and React Hook Form

• Animation: React Native Reanimated

• UI component library: gluestack-ui or React Native Paper

NativeScript

NativeScript is an open source framework for building truly native mobile applications using JavaScript and TypeScript with Angular. Unlike React Native, NativeScript directly accesses native APIs without using a bridge, ensuring high performance.

Key features of NativeScript

• It gives you full access to platform APIs, allowing you to use device-specific features.

• It has flexible language support with JavaScript, TypeScript, and Angular, making it adaptable to different tech stacks.

• It provides plugins for integrating platform-specific functionality, including access to cameras, sensors, and file management.

• There’s a large plugin marketplace for third-party integrations.

• Many essential features come prepackaged, such as component libraries and forms, but also animation.

Popular libraries that can help you build NativeScript apps

• Form validation: Zod and NativeScript Forms

• Animation: NativeScript Animation Module

• UI component library: UI components

Ionic

Ionic is a popular open source framework for building hybrid mobile applications using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Unlike NativeScript and React Native, Ionic uses web views to render applications, which makes it great for developers already familiar with web development. It is framework agnostic, integrating with all major frameworks such as React, Angular, and Vue.

Key features of Ionic

• Write once, deploy across iOS, Android and the web with a consistent codebase.

• It’s built on standard web technologies, making it easy for web developers to transition to mobile development.

• It includes a vast library of pre-built UI components.

• It allows you to add native functionality to web-based apps.

• There’s support for progressive web apps (PWAs), enabling enhanced performance, offline capabilities, and a more app-like user experience.

Popular libraries that can help you build Ionic apps

• Form validation: Zod or Angular Forms

• Animation: Ionic Animations API

• UI components: Ionic's built-in UI components

The best gaming JavaScript framework

Phaser

Phaser is an open source, 2D game framework written in JavaScript. It is widely regarded as the best option for building browser-based games. It works well for creating games with rich visual effects, animations, and interactivity. With support for both Canvas and WebGL rendering, Phaser enables developers to build games that work well across different devices and browsers.

Phaser provides a physics engine, sprite management, audio support, and comprehensive tools for animation and input handling. It also includes a built-in asset loader, which helps with managing game resources such as images, sounds, and fonts.

It is used for educational, casual, and even commercial games, and its highly active community provides an abundance of tutorials, plugins, and examples, helping game developers to accelerate their learning and development.

Key features of Phaser

• Beginners can quickly get started as it has extensive documentation and examples.

• Phaser has support for both Canvas and WebGL for optimal performance across various devices.

• It has a large active community ensuring steady updates, plugins, and a plethora of resources.

• It includes an extensive physics system, making it easier to add movement, collisions, and other interactive elements to games.

Popular libraries that can help you build Phaser apps

• State management: Zustand 

• Animations: Phaser’s own animation framework or GSAP

• UI components: PixiJS UI 

The best VR JavaScript framework

A-Frame

A-Frame is a popular framework for building virtual reality (VR) applications using JavaScript and HTML. It simplifies creating immersive 3D and VR experiences for web browsers by using WebXR and Three.js under the hood. A-Frame allows developers to describe 3D scenes using an intuitive HTML-like syntax, making it accessible to those without extensive 3D programming experience.

Key features of A-Frame

• A-Frame allows you to design VR-ready scenes that work across desktop, mobile, and VR devices using standard JavaScript.

• You can add custom interactions like gaze-based navigation, object manipulation, or controller inputs with support for animations and transitions.

• It’s modular and extensible, allowing you to build custom components or integrate with existing libraries like physics engines or shaders.

• Any application you build with A-Frame will work across VR headsets, mobile devices, and desktop browsers, ensuring a wide audience reach.

Popular libraries that can help you build A-Frame apps

• Physics: A-Frame Physics System

• Particle effects: A-Frame Particle System for creating effects such as fire, smoke, and explosions

• Networking and multi-user: Networked-Aframe

The bottom line when choosing a JavaScript framework

Development is subjective and varies depending on the project's specific needs, the development team's expertise, and the desired outcome of the application. It's advisable to evaluate the features, community support, and long-term viability of each framework before making a decision.

Once you’ve established your project requirements, there are several factors you should consider. Here are some tips to help you make the right choice:

1. Developer experience: Consider the experience and expertise of your development team and choose a framework that aligns with their skill set and knowledge.

2. Community support: Look for a framework with an active community of developers. This can provide you with access to helpful resources, libraries, and tools.

3. Scalability: Choose a framework that can scale with your project, to avoid the need to switch to a new framework later on.

4. Maintenance: Consider the maintenance requirements of the framework. Choose a framework that is regularly updated and has good documentation.

5. Ease of use: Choose a framework that is easy to use and understand. This can help you save time and effort during development.

Ultimately, the best JavaScript framework for your project depends on your specific needs and preferences. Consider these factors when making your choice, and don't be afraid to try different frameworks to see which one works best for you.

Consider Contentful as an alternative to your backend framework

When deciding what makes a JavaScript framework worth including in our list of ”the best,” we went with what's stable, proven, popular, and flexible for each category.

The primary benefit every JavaScript framework on this list provides is that it accelerates development and results in better, more reliable apps.

Using Contentful in place of a backend framework can further simplify your development process by offering an easy and quick solution for managing content, APIs, and integrations, without having to code your own back end (with or without a framework). It provides built-in REST and GraphQL APIs, user-friendly interfaces, and global CDN support, allowing you to compose your back end, rather than build it.

It also makes integrating with products like Ninetailed straightforward, adding AI-native personalization to your projects in minutes.

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