State of JS 2025: Next.js Satisfaction Plummets as Astro and Vitest Emerge Strong

midudev
#javascript #frontend #frameworks #nextjs #vitest

The annual State of JS survey reveals dynamic shifts across the JavaScript ecosystem, highlighting changing developer preferences and emerging technologies. While React maintains its lead in usage, followed by Vue and Angular, overall interest in most traditional frameworks appears to be declining. Solid.js shows a slight uptick in interest and boasts the highest developer satisfaction, whereas Qwik has experienced a significant drop. Notably, React continues to be a primary source of pain points for many frontend developers.

Among meta-frameworks, Next.js remains the most used, distantly followed by Nuxt.js, with Astro showing considerable growth to claim the second or third spot in usage and first in interest, despite a slight dip. However, Next.js faces a critical challenge: its developer satisfaction has plummeted for the past three years, falling from 89% in 2022 to nearly half, making it the least satisfying meta-framework. This decline is largely attributed to the App Router transition, which has alienated a significant portion of its user base. Conversely, SvelteKit enjoys very high developer satisfaction, while Gatsby registered the lowest. In appreciation metrics, Qwik, Nuxt.js, and SvelteKit scored high, with Astro leading in positive sentiment, starkly contrasting Next.js’s low ranking despite its widespread use. The testing landscape sees Vitest as the most adopted and loved technology, praised for its speed, simple API, Jest compatibility, and highest satisfaction. FNM (Node Version Manager) also registered surprisingly high interest. Next.js was also the most commented library, with 69 comments, largely reflecting negative sentiment, though Vercel’s recent efforts with speed improvements, TurboPack, and file system caching in Next.js 16.1 suggest an attempt at reconciliation. Additionally, Vercel has released a new, aesthetically pleasing pixel font called Geist Pixel, offering various styles, alongside discussions of both paid and free pixel icon libraries. A nascent Warcraft-themed UI component library (Warcraft CN) also garnered a mention for its potential.