The Real Market Share of JavaScript Frameworks (npm Data)

TL;DR

React controls ~60% of new JavaScript project starts in 2026; Vue and Angular each hold ~12-15%; everyone else fights for the rest. But these numbers obscure a more interesting story: React's dominance is concentrated in new projects and startups, while Angular dominates enterprise; Vue is disproportionately popular in Asia; and Svelte/Astro are capturing the developer satisfaction demographic. Framework "market share" is less useful than framework-for-your-context share.

Key Takeaways

React: ~60% of new projects — down from 75% peak, but still dominant
Angular: ~15% — enterprise-heavy; looks smaller in surveys, larger in enterprise
Vue: ~12% — global reach; Asia representation makes surveys undercount it
Svelte: ~8% — growing fastest in satisfaction scores; punching above its download weight
Meta-frameworks: Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit tell a cleaner adoption story

The measurement problem:

npm downloads:
→ Counts CI installs, monorepo deps, legacy apps
→ React "installs" include every project that installs create-react-app
→ Angular "installs" include enterprise apps installed in CI 100x/day
→ Not representative of NEW project selection

Developer surveys (State of JS, Stack Overflow):
→ Biased toward English-speaking respondents
→ Vue significantly underrepresented (strong Asia userbase)
→ Surveys favor indie developers, not enterprise devs
→ Sample: 35K devs ≠ all 18M JS developers

Job postings:
→ Lags adoption by 12-18 months (enterprise hiring, old tech stacks)
→ React jobs: still 80%+ of "framework required" postings
→ Angular: 15% of enterprise-specific postings
→ Vue: 10%, growing in startup postings

GitHub dependency graph:
→ Best signal: counts repos that actually DEPEND on each framework
→ Not publicly aggregated, but approximated by Sourcegraph/GitHub

The most honest answer: React is dominant by all measures,
the gap with Vue/Angular is smaller than npm downloads suggest,
and satisfaction metrics predict a future where Svelte/Astro are larger.

New project selection (estimated, based on combined signals):

React ecosystem: 58%
├── Next.js:         35% of all new projects
├── Vite + React:    18%
└── Other React:     5%

Vue ecosystem: 13%
├── Nuxt:            7%
└── Vite + Vue:      6%

Angular ecosystem: 12%
├── @angular/cli:    12% (monolithic, hard to split)

Svelte ecosystem: 7%
├── SvelteKit:       5%
└── Svelte standalone: 2%

Astro: 5%
(framework-agnostic, but counts as separate framework choice)

Solid.js: 2%
Qwik: 1%
Other: 2%

---

By company size:
Startups (1-10 engineers): React 70%, Svelte/Astro 15%, Vue 10%, Other 5%
Mid-size (11-100): React 55%, Vue 15%, Angular 20%, Others 10%
Enterprise (100+): Angular 35%, React 45%, Vue 10%, Others 10%

By geography (estimated):
North America: React 65%, Angular 15%, Vue 10%, Others 10%
Europe: React 55%, Angular 20%, Vue 15%, Others 10%
Asia: Vue 30%, React 40%, Angular 20%, Others 10%

Why React Still Dominates

React's structural advantages (2026):

1. Ecosystem depth
   → 3M+ npm packages mention react in package.json
   → More shadcn/ui components than any other framework
   → More tutorials, Stack Overflow answers, YouTube videos

2. Job market gravity
   → "React developer" is the most common frontend job title
   → Teams hire for what they know → creates supply of React devs
   → React devs beget more React projects

3. Meta-framework quality
   → Next.js is best-in-class full-stack React
   → Vercel investing heavily in Next.js (direct financial incentive)
   → RSC + Server Actions are real competitive advantages

4. The Facebook brand (mixed blessing)
   → Trust from "built by a large company" crowd
   → But also: React decisions sometimes felt corporate-first
   → Community ambivalence: React is used, not always loved

5. Migration cost
   → Existing React codebases are enormous
   → Migrating to Vue/Svelte: 3-12 months for large apps
   → Most teams choose to continue: "devil you know"

Where Each Framework Actually Wins

React wins for:
→ Hiring from a large candidate pool
→ Complex SPAs with lots of dynamic state
→ Teams that need a broad ecosystem of compatible libraries
→ Projects where Meta/Vercel's ongoing investment matters

Vue wins for:
→ PHP-heavy backends (template style is familiar to PHP devs)
→ Asia-based companies (Laravel+Vue is the standard stack there)
→ Teams that prefer progressive enhancement (you can sprinkle Vue)
→ Projects where gentle learning curve matters

Angular wins for:
→ Large enterprise teams with strict conventions
→ Projects where dependency injection and strong typing matter from day 1
→ Teams with Java/C# background (class-based, OOP patterns)
→ Long-lived applications where refactoring safety matters

Svelte wins for:
→ Performance-critical applications (least framework overhead)
→ Teams tired of React's complexity (simpler mental model)
→ Small-to-medium apps where DX matters most
→ Developers who've used React/Vue and want something fresher

Astro wins for:
→ Content-heavy sites (blogs, docs, marketing)
→ Teams that want to use React/Vue/Svelte in the same project
→ Projects where Core Web Vitals are a hard requirement
→ Static site generation with optional interactivity

Solid.js wins for:
→ Maximum performance applications
→ Teams that like React's model but want real reactivity
→ When you need the best possible performance per KB of JavaScript

The Satisfaction Gap (Why Survey Data Predicts the Future)

Framework satisfaction scores (% of users who would use again):
(State of JS 2025 approximation)

Svelte:          74% would use again  ← highest
Astro:           73% would use again
Solid.js:        71% would use again
Vue:             66% would use again
React:           62% would use again
Qwik:            58% would use again
Angular:         42% would use again  ← lowest

Pattern: satisfaction scores predict adoption 2-3 years out.
The developers who are most satisfied share their enthusiasm.
The developers who are least satisfied look for alternatives.

This data suggests:
→ Svelte and Astro will continue growing
→ React's growth rate will continue slowing (62% satisfaction is low for dominant tool)
→ Angular faces demographic challenge: new developers choose React/Vue/Svelte
→ Solid might break mainstream threshold in next 2-3 years

Counterpoint: Satisfaction ≠ adoption
→ React's 62% satisfaction on 60% market share = massive absolute number
→ Even declining satisfaction won't shrink React fast (migration cost)

What to Pick for a New Project in 2026

The honest framework recommendation:

Building a startup/SaaS: Next.js (React)
→ Best ecosystem, best hiring, best meta-framework
→ RSC + Server Actions = full-stack in one framework
→ Vercel deployment = zero-config production

Building a content site: Astro
→ Best performance defaults
→ Use any component framework you want inside it
→ Markdown/MDX built-in

Building for an enterprise with 50+ developers: Angular
→ Strict conventions at scale
→ Angular 17+ with Signals improved DX significantly
→ Large team coordination > individual DX

Care deeply about DX and less about hiring: SvelteKit
→ Highest satisfaction scores
→ Simplest mental model
→ You'll be happier, but hiring is harder

Want the best possible performance: Solid.js
→ JSX syntax (React-like) with real reactivity
→ Smallest runtime in category
→ Ecosystem still maturing

Compare framework package health and download trends at PkgPulse.