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Popularity of Web Application Frameworks September 27, 2009

September 27th, 2009

The following is a rundown of the adoption rates of various web application frameworks by programming language, according to Indeed. Keep in mind that there are many other considerations, besides popularity, when choosing a framework. Framework feature sets vary dramatically and this is just as important as popularity. This article simply displays the adoption rates (according to indeed) of the various frameworks listed in the Wikipedia Comparison of web frameworks article and gives some brief summary information. In some cases there are so many competitors that it takes some effort to narrow them down. The intermediate graphs (prior to narrowing down the number of items on each graph) are not shown. To further narrow down the criteria, I will only look at frameworks that produce web based output that can be viewed without a plugin (thus Flash and Silverlight frameworks will be ignored for this article). Lastly, there are some framework names, such as “PHP Work” (I mean really, you’re going to name your framework THAT?!?! Ambiguous names are a Microsoft FUD trick to hide a technology’s unpopularity until it’s marketing department convinces the world that it is taking-off), are too generic to be search on and so thus are ignored. Lastly, this article then pits the winner from each category to determine an overall winner.

PHP Web Frameworks:

PHP Web Frameworks

PHP Frameworks: Agavi, Akelos, CakePHP, DooPHP, CodeIgniter, Drupal, Elixon, jFramework, Helix, Horde, eZ Components, FUSE, Kohana, KumbiaPHP, LISA, Orinoco, PEAR, PHP For Applications, PHP Work, Qcodo, Rapyd Framework, Samstyle, Satya Portal Pack, Seagull, SilverStripe, Simplicity, Solar, SPIP, Symphony and CMS, Tekuna, Tigermouse, Vork, Wigbi,Yii, Zend, and Zoop.
PHP Observations: Joomla is not listed. Is this not considered a general-purpose web framework? PHP Work and PHP For Applications are ignored.
PHP Winners: Drupal, cakephp, and CodeIgniter. Nothing else is shown on the graph because there are no close fourth-place PHP frameworks.

Java Web Frameworks:

Java Web Frameworks

Java Frameworks: Apache Cocoon, Apache Struts, Apache Wicket, AppFuse, Aranea, Eclipse RAP, Google Web Toolkit, Hamlets, ItsNat, IT Mill Toolkit, JavaServer Faces, JBoss Seam, ManyDesigns Portofino, OpenLaszlo, OpenXava, pirka, RIFE, Shale, Sling, SmartClient, Sofia, Spring, Stripes, Tapestry, ThinWire, Vaadin, WebObjects, WebWork, ZK, and ztemplates.
Java Winners: GWT, Tapestry, JBoss Seam, Wicket.

Python Web Frameworks:

Python Web Frameworks

Python Frameworks: CherryPy, CubicWeb, Django, Grok, Pyjamas, Pylons, TurboGears, web2py, and Zope.
Python Winner(s): Django

Other Web Frameworks:

The other category includes languages other than PHP, Java, and Python. Flex framework was excluded because we are only interested in frameworks that deal with HTML/Javascript.

Other Web Frameworks

Other Frameworks: AIDA/Web, Apache Click, ASP.NET MVC, Axiom Stack, BFC, Camping, Catalyst, ColdSpring, Csla, CppCMS,DotNetNuke, Flex, Fusebox, Grails, Helma, Interchange, Kepler, Lift, Mason, Maypole, Mach-II, Merb, Midgard, Model-Glue, MonoRail, Morfik, Nitro, onTap, OpenACS, Orbit, Ruby on Rails, Seaside, Sinatra, Sproutcore, Wavemaker, and Wt.
Other Winners: Ruby On Rails, Grails, ASP.NET MVC, and Mason (Perl).

Overall:

Overall Web Frameworks

Overall Winners: Ruby on Rails (by a wide margin), Drupal (PHP), GWT (Java)

If we remove our top three performers (Ruby on Rails, Drupal, and GWT) then we can see the remaining winners more clearly in our graph:

Overall Web Frameworks without Top Three Performers

The remaining popular web frameworks are, in order of popularity: Django (Python), Grails, CakePHP, Tapestry, JBoss Seam, Wicket, and CodeIgniter.

Of the most popular, the following appear to be growing quickly in popularity: Drupal, GWT, Grails, Django, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, and Ruby on Rails.

Popularity of Web Application Frameworks September 27, 2009

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