Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

W3M VS Svelte

Compare W3M VS Svelte and see what are their differences

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W3M logo W3M

w3m is a text-based web browser as well as a pager like ' ...

Svelte logo Svelte

Cybernetically enhanced web apps
  • W3M Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-06-22
  • Svelte Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-27

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

W3M features and specs

  • Lightweight
    W3M is a lightweight browser, making it suitable for systems with minimal resources, and performs well even on older hardware.
  • Text-based
    As a text-based browser, W3M is useful for accessing web content via command-line interfaces, which can be beneficial for users who prefer non-GUI environments.
  • Fast Performance
    Due to its minimalistic design, W3M provides fast browsing experiences, especially when handling simple webpages or when operating over slow connections.
  • Keyboard Navigation
    W3M allows efficient browsing using keyboard shortcuts, which can enhance productivity for users who master these controls.
  • Inline Image Support
    W3M supports the display of inline images when combined with certain terminal emulators, offering better multimedia support compared to some other text-based browsers.

Possible disadvantages of W3M

  • Limited Modern Web Support
    W3M struggles with rendering complex websites that rely heavily on JavaScript and modern web technologies, limiting its usability on many current sites.
  • User Interface
    The text-based user interface can be difficult for new users to adapt to, especially those accustomed to graphical web browsers.
  • Limited Interactivity
    Due to its text-based nature, W3M has limited support for interactive web features, which can impede full functionality on interactive pages.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    The reliance on keyboard shortcuts and the lack of a GUI can present a steep learning curve for new users who are not familiar with text-based navigation.
  • Dependency on Terminal
    W3M requires a terminal interface, which might not be as appealing or accessible for users used to graphical environments.

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.

Analysis of Svelte

Overall verdict

  • Svelte is highly recommended for developers looking for a modern, efficient, and easy-to-learn framework. It provides excellent performance and a great developer experience. Its growing community and ecosystem reinforce its viability as a strong option for new projects.

Why this product is good

  • Svelte is considered good because it offers a unique approach to building user interfaces. Unlike other frameworks, Svelte shifts the work from the browser to the build step, compiling components into efficient vanilla JavaScript at build time. This results in faster performance and smaller bundle sizes. Additionally, Svelte's reactivity model is straightforward and intuitive, leading to more maintainable code. Its syntax is easy to learn and helps in building applications quickly.

Recommended for

  • Developers seeking a lightweight and performant alternative to React or Vue.
  • Projects where bundle size and speed are critical.
  • Developers new to front-end frameworks due to its simplicity and ease of learning.
  • Rapid prototyping and single-page applications.

W3M videos

Terminal-based Web Browsing with w3m - Lunduke Show

More videos:

  • Review - nVLC Browser Extension for W3M - Linux TUI
  • Review - w3m-img -- View Images in the Console - Linux CLI

Svelte videos

SvelteKit Breaking Changes 2022 - My Reactions and What You Need to Know!

More videos:

  • Review - Svelte vs React vs Angular vs Vue
  • Tutorial - SvelteKit Crash Course Tutorial #1 - What is SvelteKit?
  • Review - Why Svelte is the best JS "framework"
  • Review - Oh crap, here comes *another* JavaScript framework || SVELTE || Sveltejs

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to W3M and Svelte)
Web Browsers
100 100%
0% 0
Javascript UI Libraries
0 0%
100% 100
Rental Property Management
JavaScript Framework
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare W3M and Svelte

W3M Reviews

We have no reviews of W3M yet.
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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.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Svelte seems to be a lot more popular than W3M. While we know about 392 links to Svelte, we've tracked only 10 mentions of W3M. 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.

W3M mentions (10)

  • dnf update is downloading ImageMagick?
    [code]Installed Packages Name : w3m-img Version : 0.5.3 Release : 57.git20220429.fc37 Architecture : x86_64 Size : 32 k Source : w3m-0.5.3-57.git20220429.fc37.src.rpm Repository : @System From repo : fedora Summary : Helper program to display the inline images for w3m URL : http://w3m.sourceforge.net/ License : MIT and UCD Description : w3m-img package... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Setting up lynx
    You should check w3m http://w3m.sourceforge.net/. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • The sad truth
    Try http://w3m.sourceforge.net some day. :). Source: about 3 years ago
  • w3m rocks
    Does anyone have a chart/rundown of why we should choose links/lynx/w3m? The old main page calls links / lynx "neighbors"... http://w3m.sourceforge.net/ I use links (gentoo user here), but I do not really see a huge difference between the three. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
  • Is Firefox the only alternative to all the chromium-based browsers?
    Lynx is pretty good, but I personally like w3m. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

Svelte mentions (392)

  • The UI Future Is Colourful and Dimensional
    The first time I visited https://svelte.dev , the non-flat-vector banner instantly won me. It just stands out from the world around it. I just sort of assumed the engineering was superior to the competition if they were going to lead with crimped metal (and was right). Flat design has always struck me as an extremist response to an issue. Windows Vista required everyone to be on the same page design-language wise... - Source: Hacker News / about 21 hours ago
  • Whimsy: a Tiny Game Engine I Made for Storytellers
    Svelte as the main framework. (Whimsy is my first Svelte project, actually! And Svelte didn't disappoint. Almost.). - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Creating Beautiful User Interfaces With Material Design for Bootstrap 4 & 5 (MDB)
    We're going to build our Svelte application using the Svelte REPL sandbox (or just REPL) at svelte.dev. I recommend checking out all the great documentation at svelte.dev, like its Examples section showcasing Svelte's many features, as well as the cool interactive tutorial at learn.svelte.dev. - Source: dev.to / 5 days ago
  • Plain Vanilla Web – Guide for de-frameworking yourself
    In theory, “de-frameworking yourself” is cool, but in practice, it’ll just lead to you building what effectively is your own ad hoc less battle-tested, probably less secure, and likely less performant de facto framework. I’m not convinced it’s worth it. If you want something à la KISS[0][0], just use Svelte/SvelteKit[1][1]. Nowadays, the primary exception I see to my point here is if your goal is to better... - Source: Hacker News / 16 days ago
  • 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 / 17 days ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing W3M and Svelte, you can also consider the following products

Lynx.invisible-island.net - Thomas Dickey is the maintainer/developer of the Lynx text-browser. This page gives some background and pointers to Lynx resources.

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

Browsh - A fully-modern text-based browser, rendering to TTY and browsers

Vue.js - Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces

Links - Links is a graphics and text mode web browser, released under GPL. Links is free software.

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