JavaScript Frameworks: Which Ones to Use in 2022?

Old doesn’t mean obsolete, and JavaScript is the living proof of this. Despite being around for more than two decades, it continues to be one of the most popular programming languages for web development. However, despite its benefits and overall popularity, programmers also use JavaScrip frameworks to improve their development processes. 

Code-reusability, effectiveness, and ease of maintenance are a few of the reasons why JavaScript frameworks are a great tool for programmers. Find out which ones to use during 2022. 

What is a JavaScript Framework?

A JavaScript framework is a collection of ready-made components and solutions customized to speed up the development process. These frameworks provide benefits that JavaScript itself doesn’t offer. 

JavaScript frameworks include support programs, compilers, code libraries, toolsets, and APIs to develop software and create systems. 

When programming and working on different projects, developers can optimize processes as these frameworks provide them with basic foundations, making coding easier and faster. 

JavaScript is one of the most popular (and oldest)  programming languages. Because of this, many different frameworks adapt to the needs of each developer. But overall, most JavaScript frameworks offer functionality, consistency, documentation, and an active community.

Difference Between JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries

Frameworks and libraries are not the same things. While both are reusable codes written by someone else, they are not synonyms. 

On the one hand, libraries are collections of code designed for specific use cases. When developers use them, they call specific functions from the parent code. 

On the other hand, frameworks are a more holistic approach. These don’t just offer one solution or one specific function but a complete template for development.

The technical difference is called Inversion of Control (IoC). When using a library, you manage the application’s flow and decide when to call the library for a specific function. However, when you use a framework, it takes charge of the flow as it provides places to plug in your code. It gives you a complete template that adjusts to your needs. 

7 Best JavaScript Frameworks in 2022

1. AngularJS

Angular is one of the most popular JS frameworks. It was built by Google to simplify the development and testing process. The framework focuses on building efficient single-page applications, and it supports both MVC and MVW architecture.

Angular uses data binding, which synchronizes data between the database and clients, eliminating from developers the task of defining requests and responses when a user interacts with the UI. 

Features:

1. It’s cross-platform: Developers can build progressive, native, or desktop apps. 
2. Generates code: The framework transforms templates into highly optimized code for JS virtual machines. 
3. Its fully customizable 
4. MVC implementation makes it easier to build a separate client-side application. 
5. Unit testing: Code is divided into the smallest testable parts (units), making it easier to identify mistakes in each line of the code. 

Companies that use Angular:

• Freelancer
• IBM
• PayPal

Pros	Cons
Two-way data binding	Requires JS and Typescript knowledge
Highly testable products	It has limited SEO capabilities
Collection of third-party integrations	Complex and verbose (Not the best option for small applications)

2. React

Built by Facebook, React prioritizes the simplification of building interactive UIs. Developers use React to build and operate the dynamic UI of web pages with high incoming traffic. The framework has functional, declarative, and component-based styles. 

React is also characterized by using a virtual DOM (Document Object Model) that makes web applications perform better and faster as these don’t recalculate every time the DOM changes. Additionally, React is declarative and component-based; developers can reuse components to create complex UIs in a short amount of time. 

Features: 

1. It’s declarative, making the code readable and easy to debug. 
2. React uses a Virtual DOM: For every DOM object, there’s a corresponding “virtual DOM object,” which means it creates a virtual copy of the original DOM. 
3. One-way data-binding: React uses an application architecture called Flux controls. The framework updates the View for the user, and Flux controls the application workflow.
4. It’s component-based.
5. Offers stable code as it uses downward data flow only (When changes occur in the small structure, the big structure isn’t affected.) 

Companies that use React:

• Airbnb
• Dropbox
• Asana

Pros	Cons
SEO-friendly	Only focuses on the UI layer of applications
Ease of integration with front-end and back-end	Complex state management
Simplifies the creation of dynamic web applications	Poor documentation (Mostly because of the constant updates)

3. Vue.js

Vue baptized itself as “the progressive JavaScript Framework,” as it focuses on an incremental use model approach. In this framework, the core library exclusively focuses on the view layer; any additional functionality must be adopted in increments.

Vue.js uses a model-view-ViewModel (MVVM) architectural pattern. This pattern separates the UI from the business logic of the application. It also has a virtual DOM and uses two-way binding as in Angular.  

Features:

1. HTML-based templates: Vue.js provides HTML-based templates that bind the DOM with the Vue.js instance data. These templates are compiled into Virtual DOM render functions.
2. Data binding: It allows developers to easily manipulate or assign values to HTML attributes, enabling them to change the style. 
3. Components help create custom elements that can be reused in HTML.
4. Animations and transitions: Vue.js provides various ways to apply transitions to HTML elements when added/updated from the DOM. These include third-party animation libraries. 
5. Has built-in directives: v-if, v-else, v-show, v-bind, v-on, v-model used on the frontend. 

Companies that use Vue.js:

• Nintendo
• Gitlab
• Chess

Pros	Cons
Lightweight framework	Lack of support for large-scale projects
Easy learning curve	Limited resources (It doesn’t have as many plugins as other frameworks)
Quick configuration (Thanks to its MVVM architecture).	Language barrier (A lot of the documentation is in Chinese)

4. Node.js

Node.js has been on the JavaScript framework panorama since 2009. It is open-source and has a runtime environment built to execute JS outside of a browser, which makes it different from other frameworks.

The primary purpose of NodeJS is to build network applications at scale. The framework is optimized for efficient handling of resources and integrates well with different frameworks and libraries. Additionally, NodeJS has the Node Package Manager (NPM), which consists of a directory of almost one million JavaScript libraries. 

Features:

1. NodeJS follows a single-threaded model
2. Its scalability: As the framework follows an event mechanism that makes the server respond non-blocking, it makes it more scalable than other frameworks. 
3. Async and event-driven: All APIs of the NodeJS library are async, and therefore, non-blocking. 
4. Fast: It is a built-in Google Chromes VS JS engine, so it is fast in code execution.
5. No buffering: Applications made with Node.js never buffer any data as the application gets out the data in chunks.

Companies using Node.js: 

• Microsoft
• Amazon
• Uber

Pros	Cons
Scalable	Not suitable for CPU-intensive tasks
Robust technology stack	Outdated tooling ecosystem
Fast-processing and event-based model	Lacks library support

5. Ember.js

Ember.js focuses on building rich and interactive UIs regardless of the website’s size. Its development model is built around HTML and CSS, and it has a component-based approach built off the Handlebars templating engine. Additionally, it focuses on convention over configuration, prioritizing out-of-the-box functionality. 

The components in Ember.js are central to the framework, which means that almost everything can be categorized as either service or component. Components can manipulate the markup text and styles of an application user interface. Services are objects that live for an application’s duration and are made for different parts of the application.

Features: 

1. Ember offers routes that are the core features to manage the URL
2. It provides the instance initializers
3. Ember integrates with large teams 
4. It has a giant ecosystem with over 1,500 addons
5. Follows the principles of Convention over Configuration (CoC) and Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) 

Companies using Ember.js:

• LinkedIn
• Accenture
• Square

Pros	Cons
Great mechanism to work with APIs	High learning curve
Supports two-way data binding	Lacks functionality of component reuse
Easy upgrades	Scalability issues

6. Svelte

Svelte offers an innovative approach to building user interfaces. While other frameworks require developers to do the bulk of work in the browser, Svelte acts like a compiler that transforms declarative components into efficient JavaScript that surgically updates the DOM.

With Svelte, programmers write fewer lines of code that help them save time, reduce bugs, and increase readability. All of this is thanks to its simple format written in TypeScript. 

Features: 

1. Mostly used to create interactive web pages
2. Less code as Svelte embraces a simple format of writing that is in TypeScript
3. It contains out-of-the-box features such as reactive declarations and statements, wait for template blocks, animation and transition helpers, and a debugging helper. 
4. Built-in animations – Svelte comes with built-in animations and effects. This makes it easy to implement sophisticated UI and interactive behavior. 
5. Readable stores: Great to deal with immutable data that requires access from different spots on your app. 

Companies that use Svelte: 

• QuickBudget
• Upstream
• Decathlon

Pros	Cons
Great performance	Small community
Automated updates	Lacks support
Compile code without a virtual DOM	Routing issues

7. Meteor

Meteor is a full-stack and open-source development JavaScript framework written in Node.Js. It requires less code, so it offers developers higher quality while spending less time on development.

This framework enables rapid prototyping and cross-platform code creation, making it a one-stop solution for various functionalities. One of its major benefits is integrating with different JavaScript frameworks such as React and Angular. It can even integrate with MongoDB and Cordova to build hybrid applications. 

Features:

1. It’s reactive: The user interface automatically changes each time there’s a change in data. 
2. The Meteor package has over 14,079 packages. 
3. All of the data is synchronized in real-time, facilitating collaboration on a project
4. The Meteor framework allows using the same code for the front-end and the back-end and mobile and web applications.
5. It’s easy to use: Developers do not have to include JavaScript, CSS files, and HTML tags. It uses Handlebars and Spacebars for the context work. Additionally, it enables to mix and match components due to its modularity.

Companies that use Meteor:

• Telescope 
• Personal
• Hagglemate

Pros	Cons
It’s cross-platform	Lacks control mechanism over order of loading files
Focuses on the user experience.	No reactive joins
Code reuse	Absence of native server-side rendering

How to Choose the Best Javascript Framework?

Now that you have understood the difference between JavaScript frameworks and libraries, let’s talk about how to choose the best JavaScript framework for your needs. There are 3 main criteria in choosing a javascript framework:

• Size of Framework: The size of most JavaScript frameworks varies so if you are targeting a low-bandwidth or mobile device, it’s important to choose a size-efficient framework.

• Features: Features-wise, JavaScript frameworks come with different functions, and it’s important to choose one that matches your needs. For example, ReactJS is great for building user interfaces, while AngularJS offers more in terms of routing, templates, and data-binding. So choose depending on your intended project.

• Performance: This is the most important criterion while choosing a JavaScript framework. Different frameworks perform differently under different loads, so it’s important to do some research before making your final decision. You want to ensure that your chosen javascript framework offers good performance and can handle the required load. For example, ReactJS is faster than AngularJS, so if you want to speed the obvious choice would be the former.

Speed Up Your Development Project

When it comes to finding the best JavaScript framework, you can’t go wrong with any of the frameworks mentioned above. Each of these frameworks has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose one that will fit the specific needs of your project. 

If you’re looking for a cutting-edge JavaScript framework to build user interfaces easily, Svelte is a good choice. If you’re looking for a JavaScript framework that is easy to use and has a small footprint, then Vue.js is a good option. And if you want to create real-time web applications, then Meteor is the right choice for you. It all depends on your needs!

However, if you still l struggle with choosing the right one, feel free to reach out.  DistantJob can help you find Javascript experts that can oversee your entire project and become part of your team. In less than two weeks, we can help you hire certified developers who will match all your expectations. 

Contact us to hire qualified Javascript Developers.