The Role of JavaScript Frameworks in Performance Optimization: A Comparative Study

Abstract

JavaScript frameworks have revolutionized web development by providing developers powerful tools for building dynamic and responsive applications. This study explores the role of popular JavaScript frameworks React, Angular, Vue.js, and Svelte in optimizing web application performance. The purpose of this research is to evaluate their efficiency in key performance metrics, including First Contentful Paint (FCP), Time to Interactive (TTI), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), bundle size, and memory usage.

The methodology involves developing identical applications with similar functionalities using each framework and measuring their performance under consistent conditions. Tools like Lighthouse assessed performance metrics, while real-time API data integration was used to simulate real-world scenarios. Results reveal that Svelte outperforms others in FCP and bundle size due to its compile-time optimization, while Vue.js demonstrates a balanced performance across metrics. React and angular provide robust scalability but exhibit higher memory usage and slower initial load times in comparison.

This comparative analysis provides actionable insights for developers and organizations to choose the most suitable JavaScript framework based on specific project requirements. The study underscores the trade-offs between performance optimization, ease of development, and scalability across frameworks.