Top 7 Progressive Web App Development Frameworks 2021
Ever since smartphones came into existence and therefore the popularity of internet sites increased, merging the 2 to make an outstanding experience for the purchasers has been challenging for the developer community.
While many tools and frameworks were put to good use to develop the right blend of wide reachability and performance, the results were always sub-par. But in 2015, everything changed with the arrival of PWAs.
PWA (Progressive Web App)
PWA is that the results of a singular cross-platform app development methodology that delivers sites installed on your phone through the mobile browser. it’s a hybrid of a native app and a mobile website and uses standard web technologies like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to deliver an app-like user experience.
Unlike native apps, PWAs have a far better loading experience, can function offline, and are discoverable by search engines. they’re why certain brands like Alibaba, Trivago, and Twitter offer a seamless browsing experience on mobile.
Advantages of PWAs
Since a PWA is accessed through a browser, it’s compatible with operating systems and mobile devices (tablets and smartphones).
The user doesn’t need to install a PWA on their smartphones.
Technically, a PWA may be a website, so one can believe the facility of SEO to spice up its search rankings.
A PWA keeps the users engaged with push notifications
It has an app-like UI/UX, which may also function offline.
The user doesn’t need to update the PWA manually. All updates happen automatically.
Disadvantages of PWAs
A PWA drains the mobile battery faster because it runs on web technologies that aren’t built for the mobile environment.
iOS still doesn’t fully support all the features of a PWA despite Apple launching service workers. The technology is more Android-focused.
It lacks full access to hardware components like Face ID and Touch ID, in-app payments, camera access, and so on.
What’s Trending in PWAs?
Research has found app development and maintenance savings are often greater than 33% if PWA can serve all mobile web needs. With features like lightning-speed page loads, light page designs, and quick transitions, PWAs have managed to impact many brands positively:
Mobify saw a 20% increase in mobile sales and revenues
Lancome witnessed an 8% percent recovery rate in abandoned shopping carts via push notifications sent via their PWA
Pinterest rebuilt its mobile site as a PWA and increased its engagement by 60 percent.
The popularity graph that PWAs are on has born to several frameworks for businesses to settle on from for PWA development.
1. ReactJS
Released by Facebook in 2013, React may be a popular choice amongst developers for its extensive JavaScript library. The Progressive Web App development framework can create both single-page and multi-page apps and make sure the content loads and changes within one page. It makes use of JSX to render functions for connecting HTML structures, and thus creating a React PWA solution.
Pros
React-powered PWAs have higher flexibility and are scalable with additional packages.
Developers can deploy an equivalent code for native apps.
The rendering process is speedy due to Virtual DOM.
Using different JavaScript libraries, the Progressive Web App development framework enables the generation of API interactions, server-side and static rendered pages, and routing.
Cons
The React PWA solution needs knowledge of JSX aside from JavaScript.
Implementation is hard thanks to the shortage of a clearly-defined methodology.
Migration from AngularJS is difficult thanks to the presence of JSX.
The more you choose flexibility, the more functionality issues will go up within the React PWA solution.
2. AngularJS
Built by Google in 2010, AngularJS uses the JavaScript ecosystem for building robust and reliable PWAs. Angular 5, released in 2017, was the primary version to support PWAs. The Progressive Web App development framework allows creating a PWA through a JSON configuration, thereby eliminating the necessity to create an internet app from scratch.
Unlike its previous versions that required high expertise to figure with, Angular 8 has two additional CLI commands, which simplify installing an internet app onto a mobile device.
Pros
Implementation is straightforward thanks to the supply of a clearly-defined methodology.
Like React, it’s a huge community of developers.
Google maintains the code, which ensures smooth operations and support.
CLI’s contribution has curtail the framework’s learning curve.
Cons
It needs knowledge of Typescript to use the Progressive Web App development framework.
Even though the training curve has reduced, AngularJS is tangibly more complicated than other Progressive Web App frameworks.
3. VueJS
Vue is an open-source front-end JavaScript framework that’s distributed under the MIT license. Driven mostly by the community, it’s easy to urge started with Vue. you’ll streamline the event process with features like routing, high-speed rendering, and simplistic coding for starters.
Pros
Just like React, one can use additional packages for scaling up the app using Vue JS.
It’s clear and detailed documentation is very commended within the developer community.
Vue enables fast product delivery – perfect for building MVPs and smaller solutions.
It offers the capacity for complex and dynamic applications.
Cons
Although the code is new and straightforward to find out , there are few Vue developers within the market.
Since any big company doesn’t own the Progressive Web App development framework, its support team is small .
The advantage of flexibility creates issues within the Progressive Web App frameworks when used.
4. Ionic
An open-source SDK, Ionic, is predicated on Angular and Apache Cordova Progressive Web App frameworks. Designed in 2013, it’s been utilized in developing over five million hybrid apps as of today.
What makes Ionic a perfect option for PWA development is its massive library of components for both iOS and Android. this will be used for building sites running inside the device browser with the assistance of WebView.
Pros
Since it’s open-source, you are doing not got to purchase Ionic. Its cost of app development is additionally low, which makes it an apt choice for little businesses.
Ionic are often employed by anyone conversant in Angular and web technologies.
It is easy-to-maintain with the assistance of debugging tools and built-in browser instruments.
Ionic has an in depth library of plugins for accessing APIs which don’t require any coding.
Cons
Frequent updates require reworking the prevailing PWAs in order that they reflect those changes. this will become cumbersome over time.
5. Svelte
Just like Vue, Svelte is additionally a replacement component-based framework. Although written fundamentally differently, it positions itself as a “reactive framework” within the market. it’s distributed under the MIT license. Its most up-to-date version was released in 2019, which was instantly adopted by The ny Times and GoDaddy.
Pros
Svelte provides faster page loading, a smaller bundle size, and syntactic analysis and execution employing a leaner code.
The framework is flexible yet simple because it enables plain CSS along side various CSS Progressive Web App frameworks.
The Svelte starter template includes the PWA package, which covers essential server workers and boilerplates for meta-data social sharing.
Cons
The framework is extremely new, which suggests community support is nearly negligible.
Implementation are often tricky because the documentation has not been appropriately developed yet.
It has no support for TypeScript.
6. Polymer
Developed by Google, Polymer is additionally an open-source web app framework. Comprising a variety of templates, PWA tools, and web components, it uses HTML, JS, and JSS, making it an independent framework.
Moreover, Polymer’s tools and components are supported on multiple browsers like Chrome and Opera. This feature makes the Polymer highly accessible and adaptable.
Pros
The APIs are relatively easy to know .
It comes with excellent documentation, which simplifies the implementation process.
Polymer enables full web app stack support, including responsive layouts, data tier, and routing.
Cons
Polymer lacks an office IDE.
The framework isn’t SEO-optimized, which defeats the aim of building an internet app.
It has a high page reloading time, which is unlike PWAs.
Sometimes, the Progressive Web App development framework requires debugging tools thanks to the embedded development tools present in it.
7. PWABuilder
Founded by Microsoft, it’s an open-source PWA framework that gives one among the fastest ways to develop components for an internet app responsive across devices and platforms. PWABuilder features a strong community of developers and also supports Android and iOS app development.
Pros
It converts websites into PWAs with little or no development work.
PWABuilder offers the simplest thanks to start the event process; enter the URL within the input line, after which it analyzes the components necessary to create PWAs.
One can either download the generated PWA package or enhance the online app with additional features.
Cons
The disadvantage of flexibility creates issues within the PWA when used. It isn’t easy to customize the online app!
The automated process also makes managing things harder.
In this day and age, the worth of PWAs is undeniable, so please confirm you select an ideal Progressive Web App development framework for your business in terms of size, expected scalability, presence of interactive elements, and complexity.