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Svelte VS KnockoutJS

Compare Svelte VS KnockoutJS and see what are their differences

Svelte logo Svelte

Cybernetically enhanced web apps

KnockoutJS logo KnockoutJS

Knockout makes it easier to create rich, responsive UIs with JavaScript
  • Svelte Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-27

We recommend LibHunt Svelte for discovery and comparisons of trending Svelte projects.

  • KnockoutJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

Svelte features and specs

  • Performance
    Svelte shifts much of the work from runtime to compile time, resulting in faster and more efficient web applications. By compiling components to highly optimized vanilla JavaScript, it reduces the overhead and boosts performance.
  • File Size
    Due to its compile-time nature, Svelte produces smaller bundle sizes compared to other frontend frameworks like React or Angular, which can significantly improve load times and performance.
  • Simplicity
    The framework is designed to be more accessible and easier to understand. Svelte’s syntax is clean and straightforward, allowing developers to get up and running quickly with minimal boilerplate.
  • Reactivity
    Svelte provides a simple and intuitive way to handle reactivity by using built-in language constructs like assignments. This means no complicated state management libraries are necessary for many use cases.
  • Less Boilerplate
    Svelte reduces the boilerplate code typically required in other frameworks, resulting in a cleaner and more maintainable codebase. This can help accelerate development and reduce bugs.
  • Reactive Programming
    SvelteKit leverages Svelte's reactive programming model, allowing developers to write less code while achieving better functionality through automatic reactivity.
  • Integrated Router
    SvelteKit includes a built-in router, which simplifies the creation of multi-page applications and enables easy setup of dynamic routes.
  • SSR and SSG
    SvelteKit supports Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG) out of the box, giving developers flexibility in how they build and deploy their applications.
  • Opinionated but Flexible
    While SvelteKit provides an opinionated setup to streamline the development process, it also allows for customization to fit a developer’s specific needs.

Possible disadvantages of Svelte

  • Ecosystem Maturity
    Svelte’s ecosystem is not as mature or extensive as React’s or Angular’s. There are fewer third-party libraries, tools, and resources available, which might make it more challenging to find solutions for less common problems.
  • Learning Curve
    While Svelte itself is simpler, its approach is quite different from traditional frameworks like React and Angular. This can require a mental shift and time to learn new paradigms, especially for developers coming from those backgrounds.
  • Community Support
    Given that Svelte has a smaller user base and community compared to more established frameworks, finding community support, tutorials, and best practices can sometimes be more difficult.
  • Tooling
    While Svelte has good official tooling and support, it may lack some of the advanced tools and integrations available for other frameworks, which can slow down development for more complex applications.
  • SEO and SSR
    Although Svelte has options for server-side rendering (SSR) and improving SEO, handling these aspects is not as out-of-the-box or mature compared to frameworks like Next.js for React.
  • Community Size
    SvelteKit has a smaller community compared to other frameworks, which can affect the availability of online resources, tutorials, and community-driven support.
  • Tooling and Integration
    Some commonly used development tools and integrations may not be fully compatible with SvelteKit, necessitating workarounds or additional configuration.
  • Frequent Updates
    As a newer framework, SvelteKit undergoes frequent updates and changes, which can sometimes lead to breaking changes or require developers to frequently update their knowledge and projects.
  • Market Adoption
    SvelteKit is less adopted in the industry compared to other frameworks, which might make it a less attractive option for companies looking for widely recognized and vetted solutions.

KnockoutJS features and specs

  • Data Binding
    KnockoutJS offers a powerful two-way data binding mechanism, allowing for automatic synchronization between the model and the user interface. This reduces the amount of boilerplate code needed to manage data updates.
  • Declarative Bindings
    The library uses declarative bindings to connect the UI to the data model. This makes it easier to understand the structure of your UI without having to sift through complex JavaScript code.
  • Flexibility
    KnockoutJS is framework-agnostic, meaning it can be integrated with other libraries and frameworks such as jQuery and Angular, providing flexibility in application architecture.
  • Simplicity
    It's relatively easy to learn and use, especially for developers familiar with Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) architecture.
  • Community Support
    Despite being a mature library, KnockoutJS has a solid community with ample documentation and plugins, which can be quite helpful for development and troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of KnockoutJS

  • Performance Issues
    For very complex applications or large datasets, KnockoutJS might lead to performance bottlenecks, since it doesn’t offer the same virtual DOM diffing optimizations as newer frameworks/libraries like React.
  • Steep Learning Curve for Complex Applications
    While it's simple for smaller projects, creating and managing more complex applications often involves a steeper learning curve and can lead to complex models.
  • Lack of Built-in Support for Modern Features
    KnockoutJS does not natively support some modern JavaScript features and patterns, such as ES6 modules or TypeScript, requiring additional configurations or libraries.
  • Decreasing Popularity
    As more modern frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue gain popularity, the use of KnockoutJS is declining, which might lead to a smaller community and fewer updates or improvements in the future.
  • Limited Official Tooling
    Compared to newer frameworks, KnockoutJS has less official tooling support for development, build processes, and testing, which can make project setup and maintenance more arduous.

Svelte videos

Svelte vs React vs Angular vs Vue

More videos:

  • Review - SvelteKit Breaking Changes 2022 - My Reactions and What You Need to Know!
  • Review - Why Svelte is the best JS "framework"
  • Tutorial - SvelteKit Crash Course Tutorial #1 - What is SvelteKit?
  • Review - Oh crap, here comes *another* JavaScript framework || SVELTE || Sveltejs

KnockoutJS videos

KnockoutJS Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Svelte and KnockoutJS)
Javascript UI Libraries
JavaScript Framework
95 95%
5% 5
JS Library
91 91%
9% 9
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Svelte and KnockoutJS

Svelte Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
SvelteJS is a modern JavaScript framework that is useful for building static web apps that are fast, lean, and fun. You can use Svelte to build single, reusable components and large or even small-scale projects. Svelte has started gaining attention because of its ability to produce smaller code bundles that run faster in web browsers.
Source: solguruz.com
Top 10 Next.js Alternatives You Can Try
This web development framework can help you perform the easiest tasks to develop the interface components that users can interact with within their browsers, such as the comment section. Moreover, it has SvelteKit to render the components of the entire page with best practices and developments. You can utilize this platform effortlessly to add basic functionalities and...
20 Next.js Alternatives Worth Considering
Cruise into the Svelte ecosystem with Sapper, a framework that takes all the brilliance of Svelte and dials it up for app building. It’s like Svelte’s outgoing cousin, optimizing for an even smoother ride from development to go-live.
10 Best Next.js Alternatives to Consider Today
SvelteKit, the official framework for Svelte, streamlines the development of Svelte applications. With an intuitive API, SvelteKit simplifies the creation of server-side rendered (SSR) and statically generated (SSG) applications while retaining the reactive nature that makes Svelte unique. If you're seeking a framework that marries simplicity with powerful capabilities,...
The 20 Best Laravel Alternatives for Web Development
The next of these Laravel alternatives is Svelte. It cuts through the complexity, snipping off any excess, pre-compiling its magic to keep your app lightweight without shedding any muscle. The end result? Lightning strikes in web performance.

KnockoutJS Reviews

We have no reviews of KnockoutJS yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Svelte seems to be a lot more popular than KnockoutJS. While we know about 388 links to Svelte, we've tracked only 22 mentions of KnockoutJS. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Svelte mentions (388)

  • Why I’m Learning Vue.js After Six Years in React
    When I teased this series on LinkedIn, one comment quipped that Vue’s been around since 2014—“you should’ve learned it by now!”—and they’re not wrong. The JS ecosystem churns out UI libraries like Svelte, Solid, RxJS, and more, each pushing reactivity forward. React’s ubiquity made it my go-to for stability and career momentum. Now I’m ready to revisit new patterns and sharpen my tool-belt. - Source: dev.to / about 7 hours ago
  • Hyper – Outperform React on every metric
    What is the advantage over Svelte (https://svelte.dev/)? Especially since Svelte is already established and has an ecosystem. - Source: Hacker News / 5 days ago
  • SVQK - A Web Application Development Platform Using Svelte + Quarkus
    At Project Au Lait, we are developing and publishing an open-source asset called SVQK, which combines Svelte (Frontend) and Quarkus (Backend) for web application development. The asset includes automated testing tools and source code generation tools. This article introduces an overview of SVQK. (For instructions on how to use SVQK, refer to the Quick Start.). - Source: dev.to / 18 days ago
  • Why Svelte Might Be the Best Framework You Haven't Tried Yet 🚀
    Embrace the Ecosystem: Explore tools like SvelteKit for full-fledged app development. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Firebase: deploy a React application with Firebase Hosting
    Vite is a modern build tool created by Evan You, the same developer behind Vue.js. It is designed to provide a faster and leaner development experience for modern web projects. You can use Vite to create front-end projects in seconds: React, Svelte, Lit, Qwik and many others modern frameworks are supported. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
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KnockoutJS mentions (22)

  • JSX over the Wire
    > Everything old is new again An age ago I took interest in KnockoutJS based on Model-View-ViewModel and found it pragmatic and easy to use. It was however at the beginning of the mad javascript framework-hopping marathon, so it was considered 'obsolete' after a few months. I just peeked, Knockout still exists. https://knockoutjs.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 25 days ago
  • A First Look at HTMX and How it Compares to React
    The approach is not new, essentially a variation of Knockout, Alpine, and similar "JS-in-HTML" approaches. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • The Best UI Libraries for Cross-Platform Apps with Tauri
    SolidJS and Tauri form another potent combination for creating performant, lightweight, and secure experiences. SolidJS is a reactive UI library that is similar to Svelte in the way it compiles away reactivity and updates the DOM directly, but it also incorporates a fine-grained reactivity system reminiscent of libraries like Marko, Knockout, and MobX. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Why are signals still not so popular?
    People act like Signals are a new discovery. KnockoutJS was using them 13 years ago and other libraries used them before that. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • What is KnockoutJS and how is it relevant in Magento 2?
    Knockout JS is a Javascript library which uses the MVVM pattern to bind data to certain DOM elements. Within Magento, we usually define a View-Model (which is a .js file) and a Template (which is a .html file), and the data in the template file is bound to the view-model, meaning whenever the data in the view-model changes, the template file changes too. Source: almost 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Svelte and KnockoutJS, you can also consider the following products

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

AngularJS - AngularJS lets you extend HTML vocabulary for your application. The resulting environment is extraordinarily expressive, readable, and quick to develop.

Vue.js - Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces

Tailwind CSS - A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

Next.js - A small framework for server-rendered universal JavaScript apps

ember.js - A JavaScript framework for creating ambitious web apps