Web developers should be fast, adaptive, and reliable in their practices to complete a task. And since recently introduced frameworks or development tools often produce better outcomes, developers must keep upgrading their skills and knowledge of new technologies. But what are these web development frameworks?
In this blog post, we will explore some of the most effective web development frameworks and provide a comparison of these frameworks.
So without any further adieu, let’s begin!
For your convenience, we have categorized the Web development frameworks list into two parts:
- Front-end Frameworks
- Back-end Frameworks
Table of Contents
A. Front-End Web Development Frameworks Comparison
The list of best front-end web development frameworks for 2023 is given below:
1. Angular
Angular is an open-source javascript framework designed to create single-page web apps and mobile applications. It uses MVC architectural patterns integrated by top Angular development companies. This front-end framework, though an evolution of AngularJS, is an entirely new web development framework.
The latest Google-validated update of Angular is Angular12.0.5.
Advantages and Features of Angular
- Angular is developed and maintained by Google; thus, it’s widely trusted within the developer community.
- An angular web application is based on HTML and TypeScript code, which defines the layout of your web page.
- It’s an actively maintained framework with a large community, ecosystem, and third-party tools.
- Since the framework opted for TypeScript as the primary programming language, it has a lot of syntactic sugar to JavaScript and several productivity benefits.
- It allows dynamic data to create a web application rather than a static HTML website.
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Disadvantages of Angular
- Angular has a steep learning curve and can’t be used comfortably by beginners, even if they have experience with HTML, CSS, and J.S. Also, since it’s been constantly evolving, beginners often find it confusing.
- Great for building robust single-page web applications but has limitations regarding search engine optimization.
- Developers who want to create simple, dynamic-looking websites can choose Angular as their primary web development framework.
- Angular apps require a lot of boilerplate code, even if you are building a simple app.
2. React
React is one of the javascript frameworks developed by Facebook. It provides only view level and some call-back functions for rendering the HTML code. A robust front-end framework, React is used for building rich internet applications by React development companies in India.
Advantages and Features of React
- Any developer with experience in JavaScript can easily understand and start creating web apps using React in just a few days.
- React is all about fast rendering views. Updating DOM is very slow, especially when you try to update or display a considerable amount of data.
- React allows us to re-render changed elements.
- React apps create a virtual DOM with the same structure next to the real one.
- When the HTML is updated, React first updates the virtual DOM and then finds the difference between it and the real one.
- React components contain a javascript file containing JSX with all necessary logic. You can use the same elements on different pages.
Disadvantages of React
- You cannot create a full-featured server-side application using React if you move to another development framework other than rewriting all HTML codes from scratch.
- Moving complex Photoshop or any other sketch to a JSX file is complicated.
- Developers have to choose other technologies for the complete tooling set for development in the project as ReactJS covers only the UI Layers of the app and nothing else.
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3. VueJS
Vue.js is a javascript library that provides a ViewModel layer of the MVVM pattern. An open-source framework supported by the developer community, Vue.js provides two-way data binding by linking the model and a view.
Advantages and Features of Vue.js
- The most valuable feature of Vue.js is its reactivity. Moreover, unlike React, Vue.js does not use JSX in its components file.
- Vue.js uses HTML, styles, and javascript in different sections. In addition, these syntaxes are more user-friendly to Vue.js developers and are easier to read.
- Vue.js is designed for fast UI development. Moreover, Vue.js developers can use it separately for front-end prototyping.
- Vue.js can be used by businesses and startups who want single-page web applications.
- Being just 20 kilobytes in size, Vue.js makes it relatively easy for developers to download the files instantly.
Disadvantages of Vue.js
- Doesn’t provide features “in the box” for integrating data from the server. You will need additional tools and libraries to make that work.
- It’s a new web development framework with very little documentation and plugins.
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4. Svelte
Svelte is one of the new-age web frameworks, providing a bridge between the server-side app and the front end. It’s written in Javascript and used for building websites that load fast.
Developers familiar with Vue.js find it easier to use Svelte. Also, the framework is lightweight and easy to learn.
Advantages and features of Svelte
- Easy communication between the client and server side.
- Svelte has only 15k files, making fewer network requests for loading page resources.
- The framework has a preloader that can be used independently or with any other web development framework.
- Svelte is used by programmers who want to create single-page apps or small applications.
- Svelte provides almost the same features as Vue.js but can also be integrated with any other javascript framework.
- It is also less complex and easier to learn for programmers new to javascript.
- Svelte is suitable for static websites hosted on servers like Github pages, Amazon S3, etc. In addition, it’s a faster option for personal blogs and portfolios too.
Disadvantages of Svelte
- Svelte is a new framework and, as of now, not supported by any IT giant.
- The framework is yet to gain significant popularity and support from the developer community.
- It lacks a decent router for creating web applications.
Also Read: Java Frameworks for Web Development
5. Aurelia
Aurelia is an open-source javascript web framework that allows you to create web applications on the client side. It works on top of web standards and can be integrated with any existing app.
Moreover, the Aurelia framework features a rich set of modern JavaScript modules that work together when building applications. These open-source projects are built on standards, enabling the creation of portable products across different platforms without worrying about compatibility issues or being limited by other technologies’ limitations.
Advantages of Aurelia
- Aurelia uses standard technologies that are supported by most modern browsers. Thus, you don’t have to bother about backward compatibility issues.
- The framework provides access to native features like Web Audio, IndexedDB, and so on.
- It’s a complete solution for creating JavaScript-based applications.
- It’s lightweight as it excludes modules that are not needed.
Disadvantages of Aurelia
- Developers might find Aurelia challenging to learn because it’s a new framework.
- It only supports one-directional data flow, so it might make large and complex applications complicated and messy.
- Aurelia is suitable for developing large web apps like e-commerce sites, social media sites, etc. It can also be used for creating SPA apps, but it’s not very good for building real-time chat applications.
- Aurelia can be used by developers who want to create web apps that need rich functionality and compatibility across different platforms.
6. Mithril
Mithril also is a lightweight javascript framework, but it’s different from others. It provides an efficient way to develop your applications with clean and optimized codes. Mithril uses the MVC pattern to organize the code better, making it easier to maintain over time.
Though Mithril is simple and lightweight, it can be used to create complex applications. Each component in Mithril is an independent entity that helps the developers when working on more significant projects.
Advantages and Features of Mithril
- You can directly add Mithril to your project as it does not need external dependencies.
- Mithril provides excellent performance, equivalent to the fast speed of handwritten javascript code.
- It follows the MVC pattern for better structure and reusability of codes to support large projects efficiently.
Disadvantages of Mithril
- This new framework is yet to gain popularity and thus lacks community support.
- It does not support browser extensions as large frameworks do, so adding new components or customizations for certain features would be difficult.
- Mithril cannot be used to create web apps like CRM or e-commerce sites, and it’s more suitable for creating landing pages and simple websites.
- If you need a lightweight framework that will boost your project’s performance, then Mithril is perfect for you.
7. jQuery
jQuery is used by developers to make web pages interactive. It is a cross-platform and open-source software that allows web designers to create dynamic websites without writing too many codes for client-side scripting.
Advantages and Features of jQuery
- It supports HTML, CSS, and JavaScript-based user interface components such as menus, popups, and other widgets.
- jQuery provides many widget sized web development framework elements for creating websites. Programmers use these to develop websites based on their needs.
- It has an API that is easy for developers to understand and use in the development process.
Disadvantages of jQuery
- It is primarily used as a library instead of a full-fledged framework. It is not suitable for large and complex dynamic web applications such as desktop-like interfaces.
- jQuery has many features that require further learning to use in your work, such as AJAX and animation.
- Since it’s a full-fledged framework, not all developers know how to code jQuery, and it requires extensive learning and a highly-skilled professional after mastering it.
- jQuery Ajax methods require additional coding for getting a response from the server by using AJAX requests such as GET or POST.
Also Read: Micro Frontends: The Future of Agile Web Development
B. Back-End Web Development Frameworks Comparison
The list of best back-end web development frameworks is given below:
1. Laravel
Laravel is one of the most popular and free open-source PHP frameworks. All the Laravel source codes can be availed through GitHub under the terms of the MIT license.
Advantages and Features of Laravel
- Laravel has a large web development community on GitHub.
- The framework provides fast development cycles.
- It provides convention over configuration.
- Laravel framework documentation is well documented.
- It supports a packaging system with a dedicated dependency manager and provides different ways to access the database.
Disadvantages of Laravel
- Quite a slow and new platform for many new developers.
- Beginners face problems while executing Laravel codes and classes.
- Community support is less when compared to other platforms.
- Methods included in reverse routing are very complex.
2. Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is one of the most famous and reliable open-source MVC frameworks. It was designed to make the development of web applications simple and faster. Moreover, developers can write less significant codes than any other framework.
Advantages and Features of Ruby on Rails
- Ruby on Rails chooses Convention over Configuration.
- Ruby on Rails provides great tooling, which helps developers in delivering more features.
- Libraries for Ruby on Rails are free to download.
- Ruby on Rails developer community provides excellent support for test automation.
- The quality of code in Ruby on Rails is reasonable when compared with other development frameworks.
- Any professional developer can use Ruby on Rails to create any web portal.
Disadvantages of Ruby on Rails
- The runtime Speed of Ruby on Rails is very slow compared to other development frameworks.
- Boot speed is not up to the mark, which hinders its performance.
- It’s tough for a developer to find any documentation related to the codes and configurations in Ruby on Rails.
- Ruby on Rails does not support multithreading like Java, and other frameworks do.
Also Read: PHP vs Python vs Ruby: Detailed Comparison
3. Spring MVC
Spring MVC is a framework for creating/developing Java applications. An open-source framework provides excellent features to build applications on top of the Java EE platform.
Advantages and Features of Spring MVC
- It’s a lightweight container and can deploy Tomcat servers quickly.
- Deploys Tomcat server on the cross-platform Frameworks with no dependence on AS.
- Provides lots of API for various domains.
- Can be configured in three ways XML, @nnotation, or java config.
Disadvantages of Spring MVC
- Developers have to add the JAR file to the separate WAR file.
- Spring MVC Java framework is not based on the Java JEE standard.
- Difficulty in getting knowledge of springs.
4. Django
Django is an open-source full-stacked Python development framework and has support for Python version 3.4. Moreover, it generates the admin panel for configuring the websites made with Python. Django is one of the trending web development frameworks among users.
Advantages and Features of Django
- Django is a well-established framework with many plugins.
- Django supports ORM.
- Django supports a clear and defined MVC organization.
- It has a simple database management system.
- Django is highly customizable when compared with other frameworks.
Disadvantages of Django
- Too big software for small projects.
- Django is a deep learning curve for many developers.
- Processes handle single requests at one time.
Also Read: Ultimate Guide for Outsourcing Web Development
5. Flask
Flask is a free, open-source Python web framework. It was initially developed by the developers at Pinax, and they released it as an open-source platform in July 2011. The current version of Flask is 0.10.
Advantages and Features of Flask
- Flask has an extensive web development community on the official site.
- It is fast and flexible.
- It is capable of running on Google App Engine.
Disadvantages of Flask
- Flask is not appropriate for large-scale projects.
- Flask lacks built-in form validation.
- It does not support W3C standards and security best practices.
- Flask is comparatively new when compared to other platforms.
- No clear documentation for Flask exists on the web.
6. Express
Another excellent web development framework on the list is Express. It is a free, open-source web framework written in Node.js. Express was developed by the developers at the project management site company called “Node Ladies,” and they released it as an open-source platform in January 2011.
Advantages and Features of Express
- Express has a vast web community on Google Groups.
- It is used by many corporate companies, including PayPal, Sony, Uber, Walmart Inc., eBay Inc., etc.
Disadvantages of Express
- Express lacks many things, such as a template engine and an MVC system.
Also Read: Node.js Frameworks for Web Applications
7. CakePHP
CakePHP is a modern, contemporary framework that was developed in 2005. It has allowed developers to create apps quickly and easily with its intuitive tools for web development.
Advantages and Features of CakePHP
- CakePHP simplifies web development with built-in libraries for various tasks such as authentication, caching, validation, etc.
- It has an extensive community support network on the official website.
- CakePHP makes it easier for developers to write a model and a controller simultaneously without any code duplication by using the concept of behaviors.
Disadvantages of CakePHP
- CakePHP’s templating system is not suitable for large-scale projects.
- CakePHP is not very flexible.
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, each web development framework has its pros and cons. It depends upon the businesses which framework they want to use. Before concluding, analyze your business goals, target user base, and budget. The best web development framework should be selected based on your needs and requirements.
If you need something simple but powerful like Bootstrap and Foundation, we suggest React. All in all, it is entirely your choice what framework you want to use. Ultimately, it’s about making your business stand out from the rest of the people!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Which One is the Best Framework for Web Development?
Angular. Angular is one of the top front-end web development frameworks for programmers. It is an open-based, TypeScript-based web application framework powered by Google Angular Team. It is possible to use Angular to construct vast, high-functioning web apps.
Q2. What are the Best Web Development Frameworks for Beginners?
Beginners must use Angular.js or React.js, as they provide an easy way to write code. Also, MEAN stack is one of the best web development frameworks that beginners can use to learn web development.
Q3. What are the best web development frameworks for mobile apps?
Ionic, Sencha Touch, and JavaFX Mobile are a few of the top frameworks for creating native mobile applications. But React Native is the best web development framework for mobile apps.
Q4. What are the most popular enterprise web development frameworks?
Java, .Net, and PHP are among the top enterprise-level web development frameworks you can use while developing complex applications in 2021.
Q5. What is the Top Framework for Building Web APIs?
Python and Django are the best frameworks that you can use to build RESTful APIs that consume less memory and fetch data quickly. These frameworks also provide support for database management, SEO, and user authentication.
Q6. Which is the Fastest Web Development Framework?
Node.js is a high-performance framework that can be used to build data-intensive real-time apps on the web. It breaks down code into small units of operation, which allows it to perform more tasks simultaneously and increase overall system efficiency.
Don’t forget Yii 2 as a back-end framework 🙂 As it is extremely good for big applications. Yii 2 have rich features and documentation with code examples.
Ruby on Rails is very well explained
Haven’t considered Yii2 for back-end framework? Cheers! 🙂
Very well written
Looks like Symfony 3 and Angular 2 won this competition.
I will definitely use Django in my next project
From above all framework, Which one is best for the developer.
The article is nicely portrayed and covers important web development frameworks. Thank you for sharing the web development frameworks.
a nice read
Well researched. Kudos!
Front-end: React
Back-end: Laravel
These frameworks have helped me a lot