npm Download Trends: Which Framework Is Actually Growing?

TL;DR

React still dominates by raw numbers (50M+ weekly downloads) but its growth rate is the lowest of the major frameworks. Svelte is growing fastest in percentage terms. Solid and Qwik are growing from smaller bases. The interesting trend is meta-framework growth: Next.js, SvelteKit, Nuxt, and Astro are all growing faster than their underlying frameworks — which means the real adoption signal is framework + meta-framework combined, not the framework alone.

Key Takeaways

React: 50M/week — dominant but growth slowing (~8% YoY)
Vue: 7M/week — stable, +12% YoY, strong in Asia
Angular: 4.5M/week — enterprise stable, +5% YoY
Svelte: 1.8M/week — fastest growing major framework, +45% YoY
Meta-frameworks growing faster than their base frameworks in every case

The Raw Numbers (2026)

Weekly downloads (npm, 7-day average):

React ecosystem:
├── react:          50.3M    (+8% YoY)
├── react-dom:      49.8M    (+8%)
├── next:           11.2M    (+28% YoY)  ← grows faster than react
└── create-react-app: 1.4M  (-35% YoY) ← dying

Vue ecosystem:
├── vue:             7.1M    (+12% YoY)
├── nuxt:            3.1M    (+35% YoY)  ← meta-framework growing faster
└── @vitejs/plugin-vue: 4.8M (+18%)

Angular ecosystem:
├── @angular/core:   4.5M    (+5% YoY)
├── @angular/cli:    3.8M    (+4%)
└── @nguniversal/express-engine: stable

Svelte:
├── svelte:          1.8M    (+45% YoY)
├── @sveltejs/kit:   1.6M    (+55% YoY)
└── @sveltejs/adapter-*: growing proportionally

Solid.js:
├── solid-js:        420K    (+65% YoY from smaller base)
└── @solidjs/start:  180K    (+120% YoY — new meta-framework)

Qwik:
├── @builder.io/qwik: 95K    (+38% YoY)
└── @builder.io/qwik-city: 85K

Astro:
├── astro:           1.9M    (+85% YoY) ← fastest growing major framework tool

What Download Numbers Actually Mean

Raw download count: misleading in isolation
Why:

1. CI inflation: npm packages are installed in CI on every push
   → A project with 1000 contributors = 1000+ installs per day from CI alone

2. Transitive installs: create-react-app downloads react, react-dom
   → CRA downloads create inflated react counts even if nobody uses CRA

3. Legacy projects: enterprise apps that haven't migrated
   → Angular 12 apps still download @angular/core daily

Better signals:
- Download VELOCITY (week-over-week change)
- Meta-framework downloads (more real: you only install Next.js if building)
- Proportion of new projects (survey data: State of JS)

The State of JS 2025 survey (35K respondents):
- React: 83% usage (but satisfaction declining to 62%)
- Vue: 46% usage (+3% from 2024)
- Svelte: 23% usage (+8% — highest satisfaction growth)
- Angular: 41% usage (0% change — stable enterprise base)
- Solid: 9% usage (+4% — growing fast from small base)
- Astro: 29% usage (+11% — massive growth in 2025)

Meta-Framework Growth (More Meaningful)

Meta-frameworks grow when developers CHOOSE to start new projects:

Next.js:    11.2M downloads/week (+28% YoY)
SvelteKit:   1.6M downloads/week (+55% YoY) ← fastest growing
Nuxt:        3.1M downloads/week (+35% YoY)
Astro:       1.9M downloads/week (+85% YoY) ← from smaller base
Remix:       1.1M downloads/week (+22% YoY)
Gatsby:      180K downloads/week (-65% YoY) ← dying

Why meta-frameworks > base frameworks as signal:
→ You install Next.js because you're BUILDING something with React
→ You install react because your CI is running, legacy app exists,
  OR you're building something — can't tell from installs alone

Next.js vs React growth gap:
→ Next.js: +28% YoY
→ React: +8% YoY
→ Delta: Next.js is where the new React development is happening
→ The ~20% delta: React usage outside Next.js is relatively flat

The Svelte Story: Fastest Growth

Svelte trajectory:
2020: 150K weekly downloads
2022: 600K weekly downloads
2024: 1.25M weekly downloads
2026: 1.8M weekly downloads (+45% YoY)

What's driving Svelte growth:
1. SvelteKit 2.0: stable, production-ready
2. Svelte 5 "Runes": new reactivity system — devs excited, upgrading
3. Vercel adoption: SvelteKit officially supported on Vercel
4. DX reputation: consistently highest satisfaction in surveys

Svelte satisfaction (State of JS 2025): 74% positive
React satisfaction: 62% positive

The gap: Svelte developers are more satisfied with their choice.
Satisfaction scores predict future adoption better than current usage.

The Astro Surge: Content-Driven Development

Astro trajectory:
2022: 100K weekly downloads
2023: 600K weekly downloads
2024: 1.1M weekly downloads
2026: 1.9M weekly downloads (+85% YoY)

Why Astro is growing fastest:
1. Islands architecture: interactive components without full SPA overhead
2. Framework agnostic: use React, Vue, Svelte components in the same project
3. Content collections: first-class Markdown/MDX support
4. Performance by default: ships zero JavaScript unless you opt-in
5. View Transitions: native page transitions without React-Router

Use cases Astro dominates:
- Marketing sites
- Blogs and documentation
- E-commerce (with Shopify integration)
- Any content-heavy site where performance matters

Signal: Astro is taking share from:
- Gatsby (dying)
- Jekyll/Hugo (non-JS static generators)
- Plain Next.js for content sites (Astro is faster for pure content)

React's Position: Dominant But Mature

React download data tells a nuanced story:

Absolute downloads: 50.3M/week ← enormous
YoY growth: +8% ← slower than market growth

What this means:
- React is becoming infrastructure, like Node.js
- It's used in 83% of new JS projects (State of JS)
- Growth is slowing because it's already everywhere
- Satisfaction decline (62%) suggests developers want alternatives
  but migration cost is too high

The Next.js effect:
- Next.js App Router is essentially a new framework
- RSC, server actions, streaming — these are "React" by name
  but feel very different from class components
- The React of 2026 ≠ React of 2022

React's moat:
- Ecosystem depth: more libraries, more StackOverflow answers
- Hiring: "React developer" is the most common job requirement
- Large team capacity: React Meta engineers full-time on React
- This moat is real and not going anywhere soon

The Angular Flatline: Enterprise Stability

Angular data:
- Downloads: stable at ~4.5M/week
- Growth: +5% YoY (tracking inflation, not growth)
- Satisfaction: 42% (lowest of major frameworks)
- Usage retention: 92% — once you start, you stay

What this means:
- Angular is enterprise infrastructure
- Huge companies (Google, enterprise SaaS) run on Angular
- Developers don't necessarily LOVE it but the ecosystem is mature
- Angular 17+ (Signals) is genuinely improving DX but hasn't moved the needle yet

The Angular trap:
- Excellent for large teams with strict conventions
- Overkill for small teams or apps that don't need full MVVM
- If you're in Angular, migration to React/Vue is expensive
- If you're starting fresh and need "enterprise patterns": consider NestJS + Vite+React instead

Prediction: 2026 → 2028

Based on current trajectories:

React: Will remain dominant. Network effects too strong to displace.
  → Growth slowing but never going below 50% market share

Next.js: Will continue growing faster than React.
  → RSC adoption accelerating; Next.js is the default React

Svelte/SvelteKit: Continued double-digit growth.
  → Will cross 5M weekly downloads by 2028 if trajectory holds

Astro: Will level off but remain dominant for content sites.
  → The Gatsby replacement is complete; share gains slowing

Vue: Stable, global growth.
  → Strong in China/Southeast Asia; under-represented in English surveys

Solid.js: Growing but stays niche.
  → Best performance per kb but ecosystem maturity gap limits adoption

Qwik: Uncertain.
  → Resumability concept is good; adoption depends on Builder.io ecosystem

New entrant to watch: Angular with Signals.
  → If DX dramatically improves, enterprise might recommit to Angular 17+

Compare framework package health and download trends at PkgPulse.