Top 8 Web Development Frameworks in 2020–21

As the competition among web development is rising, businesses must stay updated with the latest advancements in web development frameworks. Frameworks are an essential part of web development, and due to high competition in the market, the standards keep getting updated.

It is very reasonable to use frameworks as it is endorsed by thousands of developers worldwide to compile rich and interactive web applications. We’re willing to discuss both front-end (client-side) and back-end (server-side) web development frameworks to help you build a web app in a more secure and scalable manner.

Below are the most Popular Web Development Frameworks in 2020–21

1. AngularJS

AngularJS is a front-end framework that specializes in building single-page applications. It is considered as one of the most useful frameworks. Angular Central is built and maintained by Google.

AngularJS is used to build high-performance, large-scale, and robust web applications. Applications made in Angular JS are easy to maintain, and there are thousands of applications out there that are built using this framework.

AngularJS uses Typescript (extension of javascript) and is capable of building complete client-side applications.

Pros

• Two-way data binding
• DOM manipulation
• Improved server performance
• Faster application prototyping
• Responsive web
• Highly testable products
• The MVVM architecture

2. Express.js

Express.js is a flexible, minimal, and fast framework that provides developers with various mobile and web app development features. It is a free and open-source web development framework based on Node.js.

Express is a free and open-source backend web development framework and is widely preferred by developers worldwide. Express leverages the robust performance of Node.js and provides some core functionalities of Node as well. It is a very flexible framework and supports the full application and REST API as well.

It is used by IBM and Uber, and many other companies and is compatible with other frameworks like Kraken, Loopback, and Sails.

Pros

• High performance
• Robust routing
• Open-source
• Middlewares
• Great community
• Hybrid web applications
• Sinatra inspired
• Well documented
• Rapid development

3. Rails

Rails is also an MVC backend web development framework that uses Ruby language. To extend your applications’ functionalities, Rails packs a lot of features like library-dependencies that help you develop apps even faster and more efficiently.

Rails communities are quite reliable, and there is plenty of material out there for you to get started. The main disadvantage of Rails is that it gets complicated as you dive even deeper, and that is where the real Rails magic begins. Web applications like Basecamp, HEY, GitHub, and Shopify use the Rails framework.

According to many developers, the Rails Framework is one of the most user-friendly programs. It provides developers with pre-defines solutions, which helps them in performing various repetitive tasks.

Pros

• Time-efficient
• Highly consistent
• Cost-effective
• Promotes bug-free development
• Scalable

4. Laravel

Laravel is similar to Spring in that it is also a Model-View-Controller framework, but it is a PHP programming language. It is a relatively young framework compared to others listed in this article.

laravel is a framework MVC architectural pattern. It packs a decent amount of packages to extend its reach; however, it can’t be compared with Django or Express in terms of performance, which is a massive drawback for enterprise-level applications.

Laravel frameworks help build fast backend applications. There is another called Lumen framework based on Laravel and is more efficient than Laravel.

Pros

• Authentication and Authorization Systems
• Integration with Mail Services
• Integration with Tools for Making Web Applications Faster
• Fixing the Most Common Technical Vulnerabilities
• Configuration Error and Exception Handling
• Test Automation

5. Django

Django is an open-source Python-based web development framework that supports the fast development of backend applications with Model-View-Template. It is used for the development of APIs and web applications. It is a fast, secure, and scalable framework, and because of this reason, it is a go-to application for more than 12,000 known projects.

Django is the top pick for many developers as it has a modern view on problem-solving and content improvement. Also, Django is based on a python programming language, which is one of the most used languages for older web development. Websites like Instagram, Disqus, and even Youtube hopped on to the Django wagon.

From small applications to large enterprise-level applications can be built using the Django framework. Django takes care of many things of web development, so attention to only writing your app is required without needing to reinvent the wheel.

Pros

• Written in Python
• Accelerates custom web application development
• Designed as a batteries-included web framework
• Supports MVC programming paradigm
• Compatible with major operating systems and databases
• Provides robust security features
• Easy to extend and scale

6. React

React is not a framework, but it is used as a front-end open-source JavaScript library, But many developers consider it a framework. It is usually compared in that context. It provides the programmer with the ability to create any program with its straightforward and quick interface.

React was the first framework to adopt the component-based architecture, which was later adopted by many other frameworks. React can be used in both the virtual side and client-side and has virtual dom, which makes domain manipulation much faster due to JSX syntax.

For Highlights, React is being used by Facebook and Instagram, and it is developed and maintained by Facebook.

Pros

• Virtual DOM
• Reusable components
• Downward data flow
• Huge community
• React Developer Tools

7. Spring

Spring java based model-view-controller application framework, as we all know, java is an all-time popular language. It allows programmers to write backend web applications in java.

Spring helps developers to create high-performance web apps. Using the Spring framework, you can create simple, fast, flexible, and portable java based applications. It is straightforward to find and add dependencies required for particular spring applications as it uses java language.

The key feature of the Spring framework is that it provides infrastructural support at an application level. Spring focuses on “plumbing,” which is enterprise-level support, while the teams can focus on application-level logic and stop worrying about the extreme deployment environment.

Pros

• Non-invasive
• Lightweight
• End to end development
• Supports All types of application development
• Versatile
• Supports dependency injection.

8. Vue

Vue.js is one of the latest frameworks for web development and is getting trendier by the day due to its great features. Vue.js is a progressive JavaScript framework that means you already can use Vue at a small portion of the project. Everything else will work without lag or problem.

Vue brings component architecture in light, and its ecosystem can help you complete your front-end application. Vue is a very straightforward architecture, and it is effortless to find and solve issues on Vue. Still, developers are not getting picked up as Vue doesn’t get any Support from companies like Facebook and Google, which means it is entirely open-source.

Websites like Alibaba, WizzAir, and Grammarly use the Vue framework.

Pros

• Tiny size
• Virtual DOM rendering and performance
• Reactive two-way data binding
• Single-file components and readability
• Integration capabilities and flexibility
• Solid tooling ecosystem

Conclusion

I hope you find our list of top web development frameworks useful. You can find similarities between many of them, even across different languages in the same category. Companies are always looking for the best, so they are continually migrating and trying other things.

Web development is an essential part of any business, and to make an impact on your customers, it is imperative to stay updated with the latest technologies. Raindrops help companies create great websites and web applications, and if you are confused about your choices, head over to our web development services page to learn more.