Well, it’s been a good run, but AngularJS end of life begins December 31, 2021. This also marks the end of a three-and-a-half-year-long term support phase. Hence, the AngularJS development community is no longer accepting change requests or making attempts to update the application beyond bugs/issues within a strict set of parameters – and that’s only until the end of 2021.
AngularJS Alternatives
The discontinuation of AngularJS came as a result of the growing popularity of Angular (the Typescript-based successor of AngularJS) which had grown five times faster than AngularJS did since its original release. For people and organizations who aren’t keen on migrating their AngularJS applications over to Angular, it might be time to consider some worthy replacement JavaScript Web Frameworks. In this article, we’ll take a look at the top 10 contenders.
Before diving into the top AngularJS alternatives, it is important to note that not every organization will want to spend the resources or time to migrate to a different framework or JavaScript library. Other options include rewriting to Angular or finding extended long-term support for AngularJS by a provider such as OpenLogic.
1. React
The popular JavaScript library React was released in 2013 and maintained by Facebook. It was originally created to build user interfaces but has since grown to play an integral part of the entire front-end. Many React developers have reported that they can build functional, user-friendly, and attractive websites much faster than with any other framework. Its declarative views and component-based architecture are two of React’s most prized features among its proponents.
Read: Getting Start with React.js
2. Vue.js
Vue is another popular JavaScript library that was launched in 2013. Unlike React, Vue is not so much a framework as a library that focuses on the view layer (hence the name!). Vue’s strengths lie in its ability to be easily incorporated into existing projects as well as its efficiency to create UIs and single-page applications. Some of Vue’s other key features include its tiny 20KB min+gzip Runtime and Blazing Fast Virtual DOM. With millions of users swearing by it, Vue is unquestionably a major player in the field of JavaScript Web Development libraries.
Read: How Can You Use Vue.js
3. Ember.js
Released in December 2011, Ember.js is a fully open-source JS web framework espoused by Fortune 500 companies like LinkedIn, Vine, Twitch, Chipotle, and Apple Music. Ember.js employs the Model-view-view-model (MVVM) pattern, which is well known by most front-end developers. Other selling points are that jQuery can be easily integrated into projects and templates that update automatically via Handlebars.js. Before jumping on the Ember.js bandwagon, bear in mind that it’s aimed at “ambitious web developers”, making Ember.js too large for simple projects (which is probably why it’s used by such large companies).
Read: Developing Web Apps with Ember.js
4. Aurelia
Aurelia consists of a collection of open-source JavaScript modules, which can be combined to function as a powerful JavaScript framework. As such, one of Aurelia’s main attributes is that its architecture is distinctly not monolithic, which lends itself to the microservices approach of modern applications. Aurelia’s standards-based, unobtrusive style enables developers to build a browser, desktop, and mobile applications. Due to its great versatility and flexibility, Aurelia’s easy-to-use framework is considered to be a perfect alternative to Angular and AngularJS.
5. Backbone.js
You might think that “Backbone” is an odd name for a front-end framework, but this lightweight JS library gives structure to web applications by providing models with key-value binding and custom events, a rich API of functions, and views with declarative event handling. Backbone.js connects all of these to your existing API using a RESTful JSON interface.
Developers like that its delivery model is based on the well-known MVC (Model-View-Controller) designer pattern. Another thing that this library has going for it is that it’s easy to use and simple to learn.
6. Lit
Lit comes highly recommended by Google, who developed the Polymer open-source JavaScript library in 2015. Unfortunately, that project is in maintenance mode now, so they recommend that developers use Lit for all new projects. Like Polymer before it, Lit centers around web components, which are like native web components, but with greater interoperability. Lit’s Web components work anywhere you use HTML, whether within a framework or not. This makes Lit ideal for building shareable components, design systems, or maintainable, future-ready sites and apps.
It’s also very lightweight. Coming in at around 5 KB (minified and compressed), Lit helps keep your bundle size small and your loading time short. And rendering is blazing fast because Lit touches only the dynamic parts of your UI when updating, so there’s no need to rebuild a virtual tree and diff it with the DOM.
7. Sencha Ext JS
Ext JS is a JavaScript application framework by Idera for building interactive cross-platform web applications. It uses technologies such as Ajax, DHTML, and DOM scripting. It can be used as a component framework but also as a full framework to build single-page applications. Some of Ext JS’s main highlights are that it includes built-in themes and UI features out of the box that helps developers increase their productivity.
Of all the choices provided here, Sencha Ext JS is the only one that is not free. Although a free trial is offered for 30 days, after that, a license for up to 5 developers costs $6,280 for the Pro version and $9,190 for Enterprise.
8. Meteor
Getting back to open-source frameworks, Meteor helps you seamlessly build and deploy Web, Mobile, and Desktop applications in JavaScript. Meteor is highly unopinionated, letting you integrate it with other popular frameworks and tools right out of the box. It provides an extensive collection of libraries that let developers focus on building features instead of configuring disparate components themselves. With over a decade of history now, Meteor has grown into a mature open-source framework that is considered to be one of the best AngularJS alternatives. As such, it is trusted by many industry giants for building JS-based apps that scale efficiently for serving millions of users.
Read: Best JavaScript Frameworks for Web Developers
9. Knockout
More than a catchy name, Knockout has features that propelled it to one of the best AngularJS alternatives around. Created in 2010, Knockout is an open-source project that caters to all mainstream browsers. Knockout’s JavaScript is based on the MVVM pattern and promotes both the building and maintaining of responsive websites. A cornucopia of features like declarative binding, automatic UI refreshing, dependency tracking, and templating all contribute to making Knockout a winner.
10. Riot.js
Although the frontend space is getting crowded, the worldwide community of companies, academics, and hobbyists who contribute to the open-source framework feel that the solution is still “out there” and firmly believe that Riot.js offers the right balance for solving the “great puzzle”. Riot prides itself on the qualities of connectivity, security, privacy, and durability. Riot.js brings custom elements to all modern browsers without the use of any polyfills. Its reusable components employ custom tags that are perfectly human-readable and are fully reusable, allowing you to build complex views. According to developers, Riot.js is easy to learn and work with – two key ingredients to any successful framework.
Conclusion To Top AngularJS Alternatives
These AngularJS alternatives will give you a roaring start to 2022! Don’t be too hasty in deciding on one. Though there are common themes running throughout all of the choices presented here, each framework brings some unique features and perspectives to the table. Most of all, take a look at their roadmaps to see how rosy their futures look. The last thing you want is for your new framework to fall by the wayside! Also, be sure to consider all alternatives – such as EOL AngularJS support, as mentioned at the beginning of this article.
