According to Statista reports, Javascript was developers’ most widely used programming language in 2022 and retained that position in 2023 .
This versatile language is used to create server-side, client-side, desktop, and mobile applications. Its applications range from designing apps with specific features and functionalities to building interactive user interfaces.
However, selecting the right JavaScript framework for a project can be challenging, even for experienced JavaScript developers.
To help you with this, we’ve compiled a list of the best and most powerful JS frameworks that you can choose from for your next project.
Before we get into the list, let’s first understand what JavaScript frameworks are.
JavaScript frameworks for mobile app development are powerful tools that make it easier to create mobile apps using JavaScript. They offer a structured and effective approach to building mobile apps that work across different platforms or are native to a specific platform.
This means developers can use their JavaScript knowledge to create mobile apps more efficiently.
As we start 2024, there’s still a need for JS frameworks that are efficient, flexible, and can grow with our needs. Let’s take a look at the top JavaScript frameworks for 2024.
React Native is used to create mobile apps that look and work like they were built using native tools for iOS and Android. It’s built on React, a JavaScript library from Facebook to create user interfaces. Unlike React, which is mainly for web apps, React Native is for mobile apps. This means developers can use their JavaScript skills to make mobile apps that feel like they belong on the device without learning a new language. And since much of the code can be used for both platforms, it’s easier to develop for iOS and Android simultaneously.
Key features:
Let’s quickly examine the advantages and disadvantages of using the React Native framework for mobile app development.
| Pros | Cons |
| Cross-platform development | Limited access to native functionalities |
| Re-usable code components | Performance overhead for complex UX animations |
| Hot reloading | Large app size compared to native counterparts |
| Strong community support | Less control over native modules and libraries |
| Faster development time | Potential for platform-specific bugs and issues |
Vue.js is known for being lightweight and simple to set up. It uses JavaScript libraries and other tools to give developers more flexibility, making it relatively easy for anyone familiar with JavaScript and HTML. Vue.js provides a graphical user interface that enhances the user experience, making it well-suited for single-page applications. Its popularity is also due to additional features like interactive project scaffolding, presets, plugins, and instant prototyping.
Key Features:
Here’s a concise comparison of the pros and cons of Vue Native:
| Pros | Cons |
| Familiarity with Vue.js | Limited ecosystem compared to React Native |
| Simple and easy to learn | Smaller community and fewer resources |
| Seamless to integration with Vue.js | Less mature compared to React Native |
| Vue’s component-based architecture | Potential performance issues with complex apps |
| Ability to leverage Vue’s ecosystem and tools | Limited third-party library support |
Angular is a JavaScript framework that’s open-source and written in TypeScript. Google maintains it, and its main job is to help make single-page applications. Angular is great because it provides developers with a standard structure to work with and helps them build large applications that are easy to maintain.
Key features:
The following points give a clear overview of Angular’s strengths and weaknesses:
| Pros | Cons |
| Robust framework with a strong community and corporate support | Steeper learning curve compared to some other frameworks |
| Comprehensive features for building complex, large-scale applications | Requires adherence to Angular’s conventions and practices |
| Two-way data binding for automatic view updates | Can be overkill for smaller or less complex projects |
| Modular architecture for better code organization | Initial setup and configuration can be time-consuming |
| Built-in dependency injection for easier testing | Larger bundle size compared to some other frameworks |
| CLI for scaffolding and managing projects | Less flexibility compared to lighter frameworks like Vue.js |
Svelte is a fantastic modern JavaScript framework. It turns your code into pure JavaScript (also known as Vanilla JS), which includes all the necessary third-party code and libraries. Many developers see Svelte as a revolutionary tool because it changes how web apps are coded. It’s known for being fast and high-performing without relying on external libraries for complex tasks.
Key Features:
The following table provides a quick overview of the strengths and weaknesses of Svelte, focusing on its simplicity, performance, features, ecosystem, and adoption:
| Pros | Cons |
| Straightforward and easy to learn | Compared to other frameworks, Svelte’s ecosystem is smaller |
| Svelte’s compiler optimizes the code during build time | Steeper learning curve for existing developers |
| Eliminates the need for a virtual DOM | Smaller community and fewer resources |
| Provides built-in support for animations and transitions | Relatively new, Svelte may not have as extensive a track record or community |
| Svelte’s compiler generates highly optimized and minimalistic code | Less flexibility in tooling |
Ember is an open-source framework, meaning its code is freely available for anyone to use and modify. It’s designed to help developers build a wide variety of web applications. Ember has received strong support and is known for its flexibility and adaptability. Using Ember along with other necessary tools, developers can create a complete development stack. It uses components, layouts, and its backend structure, allowing programmers to create HTML tags tailored to their applications.
Key Features:
Here’s a concise table summarizing the pros and cons of using the Ember.js framework:
| Pros | Cons |
| Robust and opinionated framework | Steeper learning curve |
| Convention over configuration approach | The initial setup can be complex |
| Well-structured and organized codebase | Limited flexibility compared to more lightweight frameworks |
| Batteries-included philosophy | Larger file sizes due to built-in features |
| Excellent documentation and community support | Slower initial load times due to its comprehensive nature |
Preact is a small JavaScript library used for building user interfaces. It’s a fast 3kB alternative to React, offering similar ES6 compatibility. Preact provides a minimal Virtual DOM layer over the browser’s DOM, making it efficient. It’s designed with stable platform features, uses actual event handlers, and integrates well with other libraries. Additionally, Preact can be used in web browsers without being transpiled.
Key Features:
These points should give a clear overview of Preact’s strengths and weaknesses:
| Pros | Cons |
| Preact is lightweight | Preact has a smaller community compared to React |
| Preact has excellent performance | The ecosystem around Preact is not as extensive as React |
| It shares a similar API with React | Preact’s API is mostly compatible with React, but there might be slight differences in some advanced features |
Meteor.js is a popular JavaScript framework for building the back end of web applications. It aims to speed up back-end development and facilitate quick learning. With Meteor, front-end developers can work on the back end without switching between different languages like Python or PHP. Additionally, Meteor allows developers to use a single language across the entire application, providing flexibility.
Key Features:
Let’s outline the pros and cons of using the Meteor framework:
| Pros | Cons |
| Full-stack JavaScript | Limited flexibility for non-JavaScript tech |
| Real-time updates with minimal code | Complexity for large-scale applications |
| Built-in features like data sync | Limited support for non-Realtime apps |
| Easy to learn and get started with | Tightly integrated stack may limit choice |
| Strong community and ecosystem | Performance concerns with heavy computation |
It’s a small JavaScript library used to organize code. It’s often seen as an MVC/MV framework. If you’re not familiar with MVC, it’s a way of organizing user interface code into three parts:
The idea is to keep different parts of the code separate, making the application easier to understand and maintain. Backbone.js has models and views, but its views act more like controllers in MVC. So, it’s more of an MV framework.
Key Features:
Here’s a brief comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of Backbone.js:
| Pros | Cons |
| Lightweight and minimalistic framework | Lack of built-in two-way data binding |
| Flexible and allows freedom in coding | Steeper learning curve for beginners |
| Well-suited for small to medium-sized applications | Requires additional libraries for complex functionalities |
| Works well with RESTful APIs | Boilerplate code can be cumbersome |
Mithril.js stands out among JS frameworks as a great choice for creating single-page applications. It follows the MVC pattern, which makes it simpler for developers to manage and structure their code. Mithril.js is well-documented and beginner-friendly.
Notably, companies like Vimeo and Nike have adopted Mithril.js for their projects.
Key Features:
Advantages and drawbacks of using Mithril:
| Pros | Cons |
| Lightweight and fast | Smaller community compared to competitors |
| Simple and intuitive API | Limited ecosystem and fewer plugins |
| Virtual DOM for efficient updates | Steeper learning curve for beginners |
| Focus on developer productivity | May require more manual configuration |
| Excellent performance on low-powered devices | Limited built-in tooling and libraries |
Aurelia is a JavaScript framework for building single-page applications (SPAs) that aims to be user-friendly and flexible. It is open-source and developed using modern tools and ECMAScript 2016, with strong support for TypeScript. Aurelia’s architecture comprises cooperating libraries and WebComponents connected using standard modern JavaScript. It’s designed to assist in creating applications for various platforms like web browsers, mobile devices, and desktops.
Key Features:
The key attributes of Auriela’s strengths and weaknesses:
| Pros | Cons |
| Clean and intuitive syntax | Smaller community compared to some competitors |
| Two-way data binding | Limited number of third-party plugins |
| Modular architecture for flexibility | Fewer learning resources compared to larger frameworks |
| Focus on standards compliance | Slower initial load times due to its size |
| Strong support for TypeScript | Relatively slower adoption rate in the industry |
Next.js is a powerful JavaScript framework built on React, designed to simplify the process of building server-rendered React applications. It offers features that enhance the development experience and enable developers to create fast, scalable, and SEO-friendly web applications.
Key Features:
Here’s a summary of the pros and cons of Next.js:
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent for server-side rendering (SSR) | Learning curve for beginners |
| Built-in support for TypeScript | Can be overkill for simple projects |
| Automatic code splitting | Limited flexibility compared to custom setups |
| SEO-friendly | Slightly larger bundle size compared to pure React |
| Automatic routing with file-based routing |
Gatsby is a popular open-source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing-fast websites and web apps. It’s designed to make creating performant and optimized web experiences easier by leveraging modern web technologies like React, GraphQL, and Webpack.
Key Features:
The table below presents an easy-to-compare overview of the strengths and weaknesses of Gatsby:
| Pros | Cons |
| Blazing Fast Performance | Steeper Learning Curve |
| Excellent SEO Capabilities | Limited Flexibility in Complex Apps |
| Rich Ecosystem of Plugins | GraphQL Dependency for Data Fetching |
| Automatic Code Splitting | Limited Native Support for Dynamic Data |
| Progressive Web App (PWA) Generation | Larger Build Size for Complex Projects |
MooTools is a compact, modular, and object-oriented JavaScript framework designed to make web development faster and more efficient. It provides a set of features for building interactive and dynamic web applications.
Key Features:
The pros and cons of MooTools:
| Pros | Cons |
| Elegant syntax for DOM manipulation | Smaller community compared to other libraries |
| Modular architecture for flexibility | Steeper learning curve for beginners |
| Extensive documentation for guidance | Limited plugins and extensions |
| Cross-browser compatibility for consistent UI | Less popular compared to other libraries |
| Comprehensive animation and effects library | Heavier footprint compared to some alternatives |
These were the top JavaScript frameworks for mobile app development in 2024. Each one has its special features that can make your project great.
Picking the right framework depends on what you need for your project. Each framework has pros and cons, so you need to find the one that best fits your needs.
We hope these frameworks help you choose the right one for your next project. But if you can’t decide which framework best suits your next project, our team at ScaleupAlly can walk you through each framework to help you decide. Schedule a call with us , and let’s hit the ground running.
Q: Why use JavaScript frameworks for mobile app development?
JavaScript frameworks offer several benefits, including code reusability, faster development cycles, and the ability to build cross-platform applications. They provide a structured approach to development, reducing the complexity of building mobile apps from scratch.
Q: What is the difference between hybrid and native mobile app development?
Native app development involves creating apps specifically for a particular platform (iOS or Android), optimizing for performance and user experience. On the other hand, hybrid app development involves using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create apps that can run on multiple platforms with a single codebase.
Q: Which JavaScript framework is best for a small development team?
The best framework often depends on the team’s familiarity with certain technologies. React Native is a popular choice due to its large community and ease of learning. However, factors like project requirements and the team’s existing skill set should also be considered.
