I Built an App in Every Frontend Framework So You Don’t Have To

The Digital Meat Grinder: Why I Decided to Break My Brain

Listen up, you syntax-sugar addicts and state-management masochists! Your favorite Wong Edan is back from the digital abyss. I’ve spent the last several months doing something so profoundly unnecessary that my CPU started weeping thermal paste. I decided to build an app in every frontend framework known to the DEV Community and the broader internet. Why? Because I’m a glutton for punishment, and apparently, I have a “collect ’em all” complex when it comes to JavaScript fatigue.

According to the DEV Community updates as recently as January 5, 2026, the landscape of frontend app development has shifted from a simple “which library is faster” debate into a full-blown existential crisis involving SSR Frameworks, SPA architecture, and the terrifying realization that some of us might not even need a framework at all. I have traversed the realms of React, Vue, Angular, and even the “no-framework” cult to bring you the truth. Strap in, because this is going to be a long, sarcastic, and technically accurate ride through the modern web stack.

When You Don’t Need a Frontend Framework: The Vanilla Chaos

Let’s start with the purists. On July 20, 2024, a brave soul on the DEV Community argued that “You don’t need a frontend framework.” I took that challenge to heart. I built a frontend app using nothing but the raw, unadulterated power of HTML, CSS, and Vanilla JavaScript. No npm install, no node_modules the size of a small planet, just vibes and event listeners.

The logic here, supported by discussions dating back to August 15, 2019, is that as an app grows, so does its complexity. It gets frustrating to handle all the interactions and manual event handling. When you go framework-less, you are the king of your domain, but you are also the janitor. You have to manually wire every button click to a DOM update. Here is a taste of the “simple” life:


// Manual Event Handling - The Old School Way
const button = document.querySelector('#update-btn');
const display = document.querySelector('#content');

button.addEventListener('click', () => {
display.textContent = 'Updated with manual sweat and tears!';
console.log('No framework, just pure Wong Edan energy.');
});


While this approach avoids the overhead of a massive library, the DEV Community consensus is clear: handling complexity manually is a one-way ticket to Spaghetti Town. However, for those following Google AI Studio’s new “Build” track, the focus on minimalist, AI-driven development suggests that “no-framework” might actually be making a comeback for micro-tools and simple interfaces.

The Titan Clash: React vs Vue in the Year 2025

If you aren’t a vanilla masochist, you’re likely choosing between the big two. By August 23, 2025, the React vs Vue debate reached a fever pitch. React, backed by the behemoth Meta, remains the undisputed heavyweight champion in terms of the largest dev community in the frontend world. Every small app you build in React is touted as “one step closer to mastery.”

In my React version of the app, I leveraged the flexibility that the DEV Community raves about. Because it’s backed by Meta, the ecosystem is massive. But flexibility is a double-edged sword. You have to choose your own routing, your own state management, and your own existential dread. Meanwhile, Vue offers a more “opinionated” path that many find refreshing. When people ask which framework is my favorite, I echo the June 8, 2023 sentiment: “all of them” (mostly because I can’t remember which one I’m currently using without checking my package.json).

The SPA architecture in React relies heavily on a component-based model. Here’s what my standard “I-built-this-in-every-framework” component looked like in the React iteration:


import React, { useState } from 'react';

return (
<div>
<h1>React Mastery Edition</h1>
<p>Community support: Infinite</p>
<button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
Boost Ego: {count}
</button>
</div>
);
}


Enterprise Goliaths: Angular and the Unified Framework

In July 12, 2021, the DEV Community highlighted the specific strengths of Angular for enterprise applications. While React offers flexibility, Angular provides a “built-in functionality into a unified application framework.” When I built the app in Angular, I felt like I was being hugged by a giant, very bureaucratic robot. Everything has a place, and there is a place for everything.

Angular is often compared to React in terms of enterprise readiness. It’s not just a library; it’s a platform. It handles everything from dependency injection to form validation out of the box. If you are working in a massive team, the strictness of Angular is your best friend. It prevents “that one guy” (you know the one, probably a Wong Edan fan) from writing unreadable hacks. The SPA architecture here is robust, ensuring that large-scale collaboration doesn’t devolve into a civil war.

The Rise of SSR Frameworks: Django, Laravel, and Rails

By January 5, 2026, the DEV Community started seeing a massive resurgence in SSR Frameworks (Server-Side Rendering). We’re talking about the old guards: Django, Ruby on Rails, and Laravel. These backend frameworks have evolved to let you build simple frontends with incredibly simple deployment workflows.

I built an iteration of my app using Laravel. The beauty? No separate frontend build step that takes five minutes and makes your laptop sound like a jet engine. You define your routes, your controllers, and your views in one place. It’s a holistic approach that reminds us that the “front-end development community” isn’t just about JavaScript; it’s about delivering data to the user. These frameworks are perfect for when you need a functional app without the overhead of a complex SPA architecture.

“Popular frameworks are backed by supportive communities, a wealth of tools, and a collaborative spirit that vanilla JS just can’t match for enterprise scale.” – Stack Overflow, Feb 3, 2020.

The Mobile Fever Dream: Is Flutter Really That Good?

On June 30, 2023, a Reddit thread in r/FlutterDev posed the question: “Is Flutter really that good?” As someone who has worked with almost every frontend framework as a scope, I can tell you: it’s different. I built two apps with Flutter to test the “out of the box” claims.

The experience was surprisingly smooth. Usually, a plug-in works out of the box in Flutter. Unlike the chaotic world of npm, where installing a package might break your entire CSS layout, Flutter’s widget-based system is remarkably stable. It allows you to target mobile and web from a single codebase, making it a strong contender for anyone looking to escape the traditional frontend technology silos. It pairs well with the idea that every small app built is a step toward mastery, especially when you can deploy it to the App Store and the web simultaneously.

Niche Pairings and the Full Spectrum

I didn’t stop at the popular stuff. I went deep. I looked into frontend technologies that pair well with a Haskell backend, as discussed on April 23, 2024. While I’ve mostly used JQuery in the past (yes, I’m that old), exploring the full spectrum of front-end tools led me to realize how active the community is. Every single day, people come up with new libraries and tools to solve common problems in SPA architecture.

The integration of a Haskell backend with modern frontend tools is for the truly enlightened (or the truly insane). It requires a level of type safety that makes TypeScript look like a playground. But the results? Rock-solid frontend app development that simply does not break. It’s the antithesis of the “move fast and break things” Meta philosophy, focusing instead on “move carefully and prove things.”

The Technical Burden of Choice

The front-end JavaScript single page application architecture is a very active one. We see new tools daily because we are constantly trying to solve the same problem: how do we manage state and UI without losing our minds? From my experiment building an app in every framework, I’ve realized that the “best” framework is often the one that has the most supportive community at that specific moment.

Whether it’s the Meta-backed React ecosystem or the unified framework of Angular, your choice should be dictated by your team’s needs and the app’s complexity. As mentioned on Stack Overflow, popular frameworks provide a wealth of resources that can save you weeks of debugging. If you are building an enterprise application, you want the safety of Angular or the massive talent pool of React. If you are building a quick prototype, maybe SSR Frameworks like Laravel or Django are your best bet.

Wong Edan’s Verdict: Which One Should You Actually Use?

After building the same app more times than I care to admit, I’ve come to a conclusion that will probably annoy you: they are all great, and they are all terrible. If you want to be a master of frontend app development, you shouldn’t tie your identity to a single library. In the DEV Community, the “I love all of them” approach from June 2023 is the only way to stay sane.

The Breakdown:

• React: Use it if you want a job, a massive community, and if you enjoy picking your own adventure for every single feature.
• Vue: Use it if you want a cleaner developer experience and a more balanced, opinionated framework.
• Angular: Use it for enterprise-level monsters where you need everyone to follow the same rules.
• Vanilla JS: Use it if you want to prove a point, or if you are building something small enough that a framework is just dead weight (July 2024 style).
• SSR (Laravel/Django): Use it if you want to actually ship a product without getting bogged down in the JavaScript ecosystem wars.
• Flutter: Use it if you want your app to live on phones and the web without writing code twice.

So, there you have it. I’ve been through the SPA architecture ringer so you don’t have to. The next time someone asks you which frontend framework is the best, just tell them you’re a “Wong Edan” and that you use all of them—or none of them, depending on how much coffee you’ve had. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go delete about 400 node_modules folders before my hard drive actually catches fire.