How did Svelte do in the State of JavaScript 2025?!
Kev and Jeppe, discuss the cold weather in Denmark and Sweden compared to Hawaii. They highlight that "Svelte Radio" has ranked number 13 (effectively number 12) in the podcast section of the State of JS 2025 survey, placing them among the "mainstream" podcasts and slightly increasing the pressure to produce relevant content.
State of JS: Frameworks
The hosts analyze the survey results for JavaScript frameworks:
State of JS: Frameworks
The hosts analyze the survey results for JavaScript frameworks:
- Svelte: Usage increased slightly to 27% (up from 26%). It maintains the highest interest rating for the sixth consecutive year, though interest is slightly decliningโa trend seen across most frameworks. Satisfaction remains high at number two (86%), just behind Solid.
- React: Continues to dominate with 70 million weekly downloads, but interest and satisfaction are declining. The hosts discuss the complexity of React Server Components (RSC) and the risks of framework developers losing touch with practical usage ("dogfooding").
- Solid: Rising in interest and taking the number one spot for satisfaction.
- HTMX: Saw a significant drop in interest, described as a "meme" that has cooled down.
- Web Components: Chatter is growing (e.g., Lit), but usage remains relatively low compared to the push from DevRel teams.
State of JS: Meta-Frameworks
- Next.js: Leads usage significantly at 59% but has low satisfaction, barely beating out Gatsby.
- Astro: Growing rapidly (27% usage) and ranked number one in satisfaction. Its strength lies in supporting multiple frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte).
- SvelteKit: Ranked number two in satisfaction. Interest is declining, likely due to the framework maturing.
- TanStack Start: Noted as a popular write-in option and a strong new alternative to Next.js.
- Analog: Mentioned as an Angular meta-framework powered by Vite.
Libraries & Developer Tools
- The hosts discuss various libraries and tools featured in the survey:
- Validation: Zod is the most used, but Valibot is recommended as a smaller, tree-shakable alternative. Both libraries support the new "Standard Schema" initiative.
- Linting: Oxlint is highlighted as a much faster, Rust-based alternative to ESLint.
- Package Management: The tool ni is recommended for running package manager commands (install, run scripts) agnostically without needing to remember if a project uses npm, yarn, or pnpm.
- Date Libraries: Day.js, date-fns, and Luxon remain popular. The hosts anticipate the upcoming JavaScript Temporal API may eventually replace these.
- jQuery: A new version was released that drops Internet Explorer 11 support and migrates to ES modules.
Picks & Actionable Items
The hosts conclude with their picks for the week:
- Kev's Pick: The TV show "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" (Game of Thrones universe).
- Jeppes's Pick: npmx.dev, a modern, interactive interface for the NPM registry that includes vulnerability alerts and dependency graphs.
Actionable Items:
- Try ni: Use the ni CLI tool to handle package manager commands automatically across different projects.
- Contribute to npmx.dev: The project is looking for contributors. It is described as a friendly community for those wanting to get into open source.
- Avoid AI Spam PRs: If contributing to npmx.dev or other projects, ensure contributions are genuine and not low-effort, AI-generated pull requests.
Creators and Guests
Host
Jeppe Reinhold ๐ฉ๐ฐ
Open Sourcerer at @chromatic.com working on @storybook.js.org ๐Write stories. Not too many. Mostly Svelte ones.๐โโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๐ฑ๐โโ๏ธAchievements:๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ
Host
Kevin A. K.
Co-founder of Svelte Society ๐ Organizer of Svelte Summit ๐ Host of Svelte Radio ๐ป
