Top PWA Frameworks For Developing Successful Web Apps

Without a doubt — the number of mobile phone shoppers has increased at an exponential rate in recent years, especially during the pandemic when the lockdown pushed everyone to stay put and shop from the convenience of their homes.

Not so surprisingly, new research shows that mobile commerce sales are predicted to account for 72.9% of total commerce sales. Moreover, 1/3rd of the decision to purchase is influenced by searching for additional information on a product via mobile.

And, because of that, optimizing the user experience on mobile apps has become increasingly important for eCommerce businesses. That is where PWAs come in.

What are Progressive Web Apps?

They are a type of application software, with the look and feel of a native app built using robust web technologies including CSS, HTML, and JavaScript delivered through the interweb. Nowadays, it is possible to turn any website into a PWA with a few ingenious tweaks.

In other words, you can create a version of your website or eCommerce store that is faster, fully responsive, easily discoverable, and more engaging than your native app. Yes, that is right!

PWAs can do almost everything native apps do, including work offline, access camera and microphone if needed, and use GPS. And if you want to build faster & scalable real-time applications one for your business, keep reading:

Top 7 PWA frameworks in the market

When talking about development, PWAs cost 3-4 times less than native mobile apps and are 33% less expensive to maintain. Given they have a 50% higher user engagement, building a PWA is a wise choice for eCommerce businesses.

Adding to that, let us have a look at the best seven frameworks for developing these applications:

1. React

This is an open-source JavaScript library for building user interface design. A brainchild of Facebook, React is the most popular frontend web development library extensively used for developing multi-page apps and single-page applications (SPAs).

Backed with solid community support and detailed documentation, React has been used on many high-profile projects related to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter Light.

It offers users a cross-platform and multi-device experience, whether through online, progressive, or near-native apps.

Pros

• Uses virtual DOM along with multiple rendering improvements
• Has simplified syntaxes, and hence only requires expertise in HTML.
• HSTS enabled by default for secure sites thanks to very simple configuration
• Offers terrific server-side rendering support for developing interactive and engaging PWAs
• Provides excellent flexibility and ranks among the top when it comes to high PWA performance

Cons

• Necessitates the knowledge of JSX for making it easier to write in HTML

2. Angular

This is a TypeScript-based web app framework designed to be modular, with each part of Angular being fully interoperable with applications created using other frameworks.

Angular allows creating a PWA using JSON setup instead of starting from scratch. The Angular Team leads it at Google and a pretty significant community of individual developers worldwide. This is a great framework to work with but has a steep learning curve initially.

Pros

• Ideal for large-scale development of projects due to its dynamic infrastructure
• Provides a fantastic range of third-party extensions to work with
• Comes with wholesome modular elements
• Like React, it is SEO-friendly.

Cons

• Requires thorough knowledge of TypeScript
• Not for small-scale projects; steep learning curve

3. Vue

It is an open-source model-view-ViewModel frontend JS framework useful for developing UIs and single-page apps. Vue offers many library packages, including server-side rendering, routing, and state management, which help speed up the development process.

Vueis frequently used to construct smaller solutions and MVPs since it allows rapid product delivery. But it is also a brilliant choice for dynamic and complicated apps.

Pros

• Easier to learn thanks to its detailed documentation
• Can be integrated with JSX and Typescript for developing better PWAs
• Allows the user to write the templates in HTML and JS, thus enabling flexibility in understanding any JS framework

Cons

• Has various unresolved integration issues, a problem especially with larger projects
• The developer team and online community are small.

4. Ionic

Google launched it in 2017 to simplify frontend development. Ionic uses Cordova to implement native elements and employs HTML5 to create hybrid mobile apps. It is a frontend framework responsible for the app’s look n’ feel. The framework is relatively simple for those experienced with web development.

Pros

• Its codebase can be utilized on various platforms and devices.
• The component API of Angular is the foundation of the Ionic framework.
• It is simple to learn, and frontend developers may pick up the essentials quickly.

Cons

• Its PWA performance is inferior compared to a native app.
• There are growing security concerns around using Ionic for PWA development.

5. Svelte

This is a new open-source PWA framework in the market. Inspired by React and Vue, Svelte attempts to address React’s flaws by moving a lot of development work from runtime to compile-time, in which the virtual DOM is modified.

Meaning, it updates the variables accurately when the code changes, rather than using virtual DOM. This compile-time optimization enables the creation of complicated applications and significantly increases the application’s speed.

Pros

• Programmers have to write less code compared to other popular PWA frameworks.
• Does not include virtual DOM that increases the speed of a PWA
• Maintained by Svelte core team members, hence faster support

Cons

• Has lesser flexibility compared to React
• Svelte elements have lesser visual feedback
• Does not include any framework references

6. PWABuilder

Microsoft created this in a bid to encourage PWA adoption amongst businesses. PWABuilderis designed to be the finest at what it does: transforming websites into fast, efficient, and interactive PWAs across various platforms.

Pros

• Based on Vue.js and Node.js frameworks
• Is intuitive and boasts of a comprehensive building/converting process
• Comes with detailed documentation and is backed by a dedicated team of Microsoft experts

Cons

• Has limited flexibility
• Its automated process makes management a little bit complex.

7. Polymer

Unlike other web libraries such as jQuery and frameworks like Angular and React, Polymer encourages using the web’s fundamental framework/platform: the browser. Developers looking to put in as little effort as possible should opt for this framework. Polymer makes it easier to create reusable web components by removing unnecessary functions.

Pros

• Offers various packages depending on the project requirements
• Simplifies creating applications with the use of web components
• Gets updated from time to time with new features and competencies
• Its codes are universal and run with nearly every popular web browser

Cons

• Its libraries have certain code pieces not supported by some browsers
• The codebase is rather complex, which has a negative impact on PWA performance

React tops the list, as per our in-house survey

Yes, that is true. Due to the benefits offered by the PWA framework, there is no doubt that it paves its way as the most reliable and popular web technology in the market. Here is what our in-house survey shows:

Why is choosing the right PWA framework critical?

PWA technology’s value (and requirement) is indisputable as we see an increasing number of PWA frameworks enter the market.

But as each framework has its capacity in terms of size, scalability, complexity, and the use of interactive elements, that affects the PWA’s speed, flexibility, and performance. Another factor to consider is the level of community support and documentation available.

If the site experience relies only on the standard web navigation, dynamic network-dependent content, and back/forward functions, then a PWA will not deliver a smooth user experience.

Therefore, it is best to spend some time listing down the features you want in the PWA and research the various options available to you. The last thing you want is to wind up with the wrong framework for your PWAdevelopment.

Rakesh Jain

Rakesh Jain is the co-founder and CEO of MobiCommerce. When he is not busy taking the company to newer heights, he authors detailed blog posts for leading publications, teaching eCommerce store owners different ways to manage, grow and scale their business. As a seasoned entrepreneur, he is passionate about proactively finding the “next big thing.”