Top Progressive Web App Frameworks to Create Great PWAs

Initially, the websites that were made were only capable of showing a limited amount of data. They had static data and zero functionality. Although, as time passed, the website creation becomes more and more complex yet functional and dynamic. Then came the time of applications which could be installed on your smartphones and desktops(if not considering the desktop software). Although, Progressive Web Apps has the capability to transform it all. They are light-weighted and quite functional. Therefore, in order to know about PWAs and the Top Progressive Web App Frameworks then read down the article below.

Note: Not all top progressive web app frameworks mentioned are capable of full-fledged development. Although, all of them serve their own unique functionality.

 

What are Progressive Web Apps?

Progressive Web Apps are basically a website that behaves like an app but doesn’t need to be installed on your system. These applications have all the advantages of a website, for instance, light-weightedness, basic framework, material design, and most importantly ease of access. These applications can even be installed on your home screen after their latest update and are capable to access even offline unlike a website. They have advantages:

  • Reliability: These gets easily accessed even in bad network situations and have no problem in loading.
  • Responsive: They are quite responsive and reacts really fast,  unlike an application. Also, you get great smooth animations and loads of janky scrollings.
  • Engagement: The ease of engagement is a lot as they react and behave just like an app. Also, the user experience is quite immersive.

 

Progressive Web Apps Example

Progressive web app is a current trend that is being followed by many tech giants. According to them, applications don’t offer that much of longevity. Also, it can be quite difficult for people with smaller local businesses to get an app considering the budget they are made at. Getting a progressive web app or PWA would be relatively quite cheap. Therefore below are some examples of progressive web apps:

Twitter Live: Twitter is one of the biggest three social media giants. Using the website people can upload news in a word limit. These are basically headlines and are searched by ‘#” hashtags on the website. It has played a vital role in turning the current political system and has been a great platform for people who have whistleblowed or raise their voice against any issue.

Instagram: This one is another biggie in the list of three tech social giants. Instagram gives you the capability of sharing pictures and videos in 1:1 aspect ratio. Here also the feed from the people are searched using hashtags. It is being used by all celebrities and has become of marketing products. Instagram is also quite popular among the youth.

Facebook: This is the biggest one of all. Despite being a college project of the founder Mark Zuckenberg this became the oldest and the most used social media platform. Facebook is basically the epitome of all social media. This now also works as a great marketing platform for the business entrepreneurs considering its number of members. It gets you the capability of uploading any sort of media. All the type of media that is updated can be text, audio, video, and images. All of these media are called statuses.

Top Progressive Web App Frameworks

1.Ionic

About: This framework is a complete package. It is a Hybrid framework that can be used to create apps, websites, and PWAs. The mobile app development framework was developed by Max Lynch, Ben Sperry, and Adam Bradley. The framework was released in the year 2013. It’s the latest update gave the framework the capability to set aside its UI capabilities and integrate another frameworks like Angular, Vue.Js, and React. The framework can be used to create hybrid mobile, desktop, and progressive web apps. It is one of the Top Progressive Web App Frameworks that can be used to create PWAs.

Features:

  • Great CSS Components: It has got all the CSS components that are needed to create a decent looking website. Although, it comes with the capabilities of getting overridden by a different UI component system. 
  • AngularJS: It offers the same MVC architecture as that of AngularJS. It gives the framework to create great looking single page apps which are optimised for a mobile experience.
  • Javascript Components: They offer the full capability of Javascript components since we all know CSS and HTML has limitations.
  • Cordova Plugins: Capability of using Cordova plugins for native device functionality used with Javascript capabilities.
  • Ionic View: This one lets the user to upload, share, and test the applications along with your companions.
  • Ionic CLI: This is a utility that can be used by Node.Js. This one has the capability of starting, building, running, and emulate applications made using Ionic.
  • License: Its license has been provided by MIT Institutes.

 

Pros

  • It can be used to create applications for multiple platforms like Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Firefox OS.
  • Creating an app is easy since it offers pre-setup for app development.
  • The apps are easy to maintain and update.
  • The updates for the framework are quite frequent because of collaboration between the Google Team and Ionic Team.

 

Cons

  • Testing an app can become difficult since browsers does not always show the best mobile interface.
  • It has loads of incompatibility plugin situation because of the capability to support so many different frameworks.
  • Hybrid apps are generally slower in comparison to Native Apps.

 

2.AngularJS

About: AngularJS is a popular framework that is being maintained by Google along with other individuals and institutions. This one is an open-source Javascript based frontend mobile development framework. This one was developed to create single-page applications with ease. The reason why AngularJS was created was to make testing and maintenance of applications easy. It is one of the best top progressive web app frameworks that are out there.

Features:

  • The framework can be used to create Rich Internet Applications.
  • The applications made using the framework are compatible with most of the browsers out there.
  • It is completely open-source which means it can be used for free and has a wide community.
  • This can be used to write clean code using Model View Control.

 

Pros

  • The single page application created using the framework are quite clean and maintainable.
  • The AngularJS code that is provided is unit testable.
  • You can bind the data with HTML and provide your app more rich and responsive experience.
  • It has many reusable components.
  • Using this framework, developers can create more functionality with less code.
  • The views made using AngularJS are pure in nature and also the controllers are written in Javascript using business processing.
  • It comes with dependency injection and separation concerns as well.

 

Cons

  • It is not that safe and secure if we talk about the server-side authorization.
  • If you turn off the javascript then nothing would be visible.

 

3.React

About: The framework was developed by Facebook to improve the UI of a Facebook app. It is a great web framework that can be used to create great-looking user interfaces. It can be used to create single-page applications as well as a mobile application. Despite having great features, the framework requires additional libraries to maintain state management, routing, and interactions using an API. The APIs that are used for this are Next.Js and Gatsby.Js.

Features:

  • The application can be used to create web as well as mobile applications using Javascript.
  • The native components are controlled using Javascript.
  • It supports two of the most important frameworks which are iOS and Android.

 

Pros

  • The existing library can be used to create native apps.
  • The code is shareable for most frameworks.
  • It has a well-sized community.

 

Cons

  • In order to get a native app, you need platform-specific code.

 

4.Polymer

About: Polymer is generally used to create web components and web applications. It is an open-source javascript library which was created by developers from Google and Github. The framework is being used for the development of different Google Services like the new redesigned YouTube, YouTube Gaming, Google Earth, Google Play Music etc. Other Big Companies that use the same framework are Netflix, Nuxeo, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, IBM, General Electric etc.

Features:

  • The framework allows you to create custom HTML elements.
  • The web components used for the creation of Widgets is standard.
  • It also comes with polyfills.
  • The material design used in the framework are from Google.
  • All the custom elements can be used using HTML imports.

 

Pros

  • It is easy to create your own components using the framework.
  • It makes the developer capable of creating anything that the user wants.
  • There is no extra CSS used as the properties of a UI component is written inside the element.

 

Cons

  • Hard to create apps for each browser.
  • The performance of the app on mobile is slow.

 

5.Vue.Js

About: Vue.Js is another really popular framework that can be used for creating PWAs. It is an open-source javascript framework that follows the Model-View-ViewModel. The framework can be used to create great single-page applications and user interfaces. The Framework was initially developed by Evan You and now it is being maintained by the core members and companies like Netlify and Netguru. It is a light-weighted framework and has a decent community of developers online. It is a decent framework, therefore, we have mentioned it in our list of top progressive web apps framework.

Features:

  • This one uses HTML components to create reusable code.
  • The template structure of the framework follows DOM.
  • It uses plain javascript components and optimised re-rendering.
  • Offers a variety of transition effects.

 

Pros

  • The size of the framework is only 18Kb.
  • It is easy to read for people who know Javascript.
  • The documentation provided is clean and concise.
  • Really easy to bind HTML and JS code.
  • It supports typescript and Javascript codes.

 

Cons

  • The community is relatively small.
  • It can be a little complicated to create bigger projects using the framework.

 

6.AMP

About: AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages is a framework that allows developers to publish websites. The web component framework has been developed by Google and is used by many developers for the ease of work. Using this framework, a lot of PWAs are published and is actively used by the Developer’s community. Initially, the project has been announced on October 7, 2015, and it was reported that in 2017 it published over 900K website domains. It is a great framework and deserves a space in our top progressive web app frameworks.

Features:

  • It gets you three HTML components: AMP HTML, AMP Javascript, and AMP Caches.
  • It offers AMP Stories that is a visually rich tappable experience.
  • Provides modern app functionalities for Email.
  • Support almost all modern-day browsers.

 

Pros

  • It offers standardized optimisation.
  • The websites are ranked better in the SERP because of the mobile-savvy design.
  • Websites are faster and efficient in comparison.
  • It also offers AMP Carousel features.

 

Cons

  • Minimalism affects the branding and styling of the website.
  • Tracking is an issue with the service.
  • It serves a cached version of your website.
  • Implementation can be a little difficult during information conflict and updates.

 

7.Lighthouse

About: Lighthouse is a great tool or framework that can be used to improve the quality of web pages. The framework is entirely open-source. It offers a variety of audits for performance, accessibility, progressive web apps, and much more. The tool is generally used by Web Developers for testing load times, accessibility, and search engine optimisation of web pages. It is also capable of testing PWAs for standard checking and best practice. It is a great tool and that is it is mentioned in the list of Top Progressive Web App.

Features:

  • It offers paint contentful which can be used to indicate the time of  first image or text which becomes visible to the user.
  • It also offers meaningful paint which denotes the time of main content appearance to a user first.
  • Speed Index to analyse the time of page load.
  • Time indication to calculate the full session of a user.
  • It tells the idle time of CPU whenever there the main page thread activity is low and enables the input to be processed.
  • It can also estimate the User Input Latency.

 

Pros

  • See performance changes before any code release.
  • Blocks large unoptimised code that slows down the speed.
  • Can be used in different stages like dev or staging.
  • The value generated using the system via analytics is quite accurate.

 

Cons

  • It is hard to involve the full team for tracking performance.
  • Requires the backend service to run properly.

 

8.Workbox

About: It is a great framework for anyone who is thinking of developing a Progressive Web App. Workbox is basically a collection of Javascript libraries and node modules. This makes it easy for the app developed to cache assets and use all the features that are used to create an app. This application is basically a set of best practices and it removes each and every boilerplate that any developer writes while you are working with service workers. As we have established that this is a decent framework, therefore, we have kept it in our list of the top progressive app framework.

Features:

  • It comes with Service Worker that helps you cache a server application in times of network issue.
  • Framework made with the best strategies can even run in inconsistent network environments.
  • With this Framework, one can easily create an offline experience.
  • It offers precaching and runtime caching.
  • Allows you to make routing request.
  •  It comes with background sync.

 

Pros

  • The Framework is really easy to use.
  • The PWAs created are faster and efficient.
  • Works really great with Dynamic Data.
  • It is also great for creating offline apps.
  • Really easy to reroute your PWA.

 

Cons

  • There are certain features that don’t work well with iOS.
  • Sometimes compatibility could be an issue.

 

9.PWA Builder

About: Microsoft came up with the idea of this PWA builder. It has been an important step that is taken in the direction of Web Development. Currently, the framework is running its 2.0 version. Microsoft takes a lot of pride in this framework and is publicizing it a lot but not to the extent of native development. It is a great tool and comes with backing from one of the best software companies in the world. Therefore, we have kept it in our list of top progressive web app.

Features:

  • Comes with a simple script of Geolocation to determine the current location of the User.
  • Really easy to install the PWA from the browser.
  • The script gives you the ability to connect midi devices.
  • It allows you to share content very easily.
  • It offers you features like Microsoft Graph Authentication, Contact API, Calendar, Activity API.

 

Pros

  • It has the capability to cache the responses of the service worker.
  • It provides you with the comfort of an application shell.
  • Easy to fetch information using the JSON Text File.
  • Offers you the benefits of a native application.

 

Cons

  • The applications made using a lot of battery.
  • The applications made misses out on website traffic.

 

10.WebPack

About: WebPack is among one of the best PWA frameworks that are present out there. It is an open-source framework that is great for managing dependencies. In fact, it can be used to transform to manage assets like CSS, HTML, and images. It is also capable of generating all the static assets after taking the dependencies from the modules. This one can be used via the command-line interface. The initial release of the framework and is being actively used in the developers’ community. It is a great framework and that is why we have mentioned it in the list of top progressive web apps.

Features:

  • It offers a static Module bundle.
  • It has the capability to build a dependency graph.
  • It doesn’t require a configuration file.
  • The output property that tells the people how to create and name bundles.
  • Facility of loaders that convert other file types into a more consumable application.
  • Plugins provided can be used for bundle optimization, asset management, and environment variables.
  • It is ES5-compliant which means it can run any modern browser.

 

Pros:

  • It is one of the most powerful bundles out there.
  • Very easy to configure.
  • It can be mixed with Laravel.
  • It is capable of mixing all kinds of assets.
  • It comes with a built-in server using Liveroad.

 

Cons:

  • Limited amount of data is available online.
  • The community of the framework is not that huge.

 

So this was our little insight on the top of Progressive Web App and the top progressive web app framework. These are undoubtedly the future of all web development and has actually started to pick up the pace. If you need a company to help you create a Progressive Web App then maybe we can help. To send us an enquiry mail us at [email protected]. We hope this article may have been of some help to you. Also, thank you for reading it until the end.



Sudeep Bhatnagar
Co-founder & Director of Business
Sudeep Bhatnagar

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