Which JavaScript Frameworks Ruled 2017? npm’s State‑of‑JS Report Revealed

npm co‑founder and COO Laurie Voss announced the first 2017 State of JavaScript report, a three‑part series reviewing JavaScript trends and practices. The first part covers front‑end frameworks, the second will explore the React ecosystem, and the third will examine back‑end frameworks (still pending).

The report highlights rapid growth in the npm ecosystem, with developers increasingly publishing and consuming packages.

React and Preact

React’s usage grew by 500% of total npm package downloads, dominating mobile, desktop, and web development. Its lightweight alternative, Preact, saw a 145% increase.

Preact, while still a niche replacement for React, has attracted significant attention due to its impressive growth rate, suggesting it may become a major player in coming years.

Angular

Angular remains popular but shows no clear growth and is expected to plateau. It accounts for roughly 0.008% of npm package downloads, yet its backing by Google ensures continued support.

Ember

Ember has made a comeback, used by companies like Microsoft, Netflix, and Salesforce. After a decline in 2016, its downloads rose 45% last year.

Vue

Vue’s popularity matches Ember and Angular, but its growth rate is much faster; it is projected to surpass both by 2018.

Backbone

Backbone, once dominant five years ago, has sharply declined but still sees about 750,000 monthly downloads due to legacy projects.

Growth Overview (Oct 2016 – Oct 2017)

Preact has the smallest audience but the fastest growth.

Vue’s growth is rapid, rivaling Ember, Angular, and Backbone in popularity.

Ember’s popularity increased over the 12‑month period.

Both Angular and Backbone showed declining growth.

jQuery remains highly popular, though its growth is slowing.

React is both highly popular and rapidly growing.

npm advises developers not to chase the most popular framework blindly; instead, choose a framework that aligns closely with the specific needs of the application, even if it isn’t highlighted in the report.

The report also notes that Webpack has become the primary tool for building web applications, and npm will release further findings on the React ecosystem and back‑end frameworks later this month.