With 2022 also comes new videos and new analysis. In fact, in this new article we analyze the Most Popular Backend Frameworks (2012/2022). That is the evolution of the most popular Backend Frameworks from January 2012 to January 2022 (last available update). The data in the video are calculated based on the stars in the GitHub archive. But in the article we will see and analyze other parameters as well. Most Popular Backend Frameworks – 2012/2022.
Most Popular Backend Frameworks 2022
But let’s start first by answering a question. What are Backend Frameworks? Backend frameworks are server-side programming language libraries that help build the backend structure of a website. Backend frameworks provide ready-made components to develop a dynamic web application. (Source: Kelltontech).
Having said that, the next question is this. What are the most popular Backend Frameworks from 2012 to 2022? Which ones lead the ranking? In the video below you can see the top 15 from the last ten years. Below I will break down the data from the last few years.
Most Popular Backend Framework January 2022
In the video above we saw the evolution of the Most Popular Backend Frameworks from January 2012 to January 2022. But what are the top Backend Frameworks in the first month of 2022? In the lead with the highest “vote” is Laravel. Laravel has 67,902 repository stars from users. Django has 61.614 and Flask is third with 57.681. In the last two years Django has managed to overtake Flask and keep the second position. Then we find ExpressJS with 55,520, Ruby on Rails with 49,840 and Spring with 45,609. There are a total of nine backend frameworks with over 40,000 repository stars. Among them also NestJS, Meteor and Strapi. Closing out the top 15 are Koa, Beego, Symfony, Iris, Coldegniter and .net core with 16,302.
Top 5 Backend Development Frameworks in 2022
- Lavarel
Laravel is an open source MVC framework written in PHP for web application development, created in 2011 by Taylor Otwell as a derivation of Symfony.
Distributed under an MIT license, it maintains all available code on GitHub and is listed, based on GitHub and StackOverflow scores, as the most popular PHP framework, followed by Symfony, CodeIgniter and others; as of August 2014 it is the most followed PHP project on GitHub.
Some of the features are: a modular package management system with a dedicated dependency manager, different ways to access relational databases, tools that help deployment and maintenance of the application, and its arrangement at Syntactic sugar.
2. Django
Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. Built by experienced developers, it takes care of much of the hassle of Web development, so you can focus on writing your app without needing to reinvent the wheel. It’s free and open source.
Ridiculously fast.
Django was designed to help developers take applications from concept to completion as quickly as possible.
Reassuringly secure.
Django takes security seriously and helps developers avoid many common security mistakes.
Exceedingly scalable.
Some of the busiest sites on the Web leverage Django’s ability to quickly and flexibly scale.
3. Flask
Flask is a micro web framework written in Python. It is classified as a microframework because it does not require particular tools or libraries. It has no database abstraction layer, form validation, or any other components where pre-existing third-party libraries provide common functions. However, Flask supports extensions that can add application features as if they were implemented in Flask itself. Extensions exist for object-relational mappers, form validation, upload handling, various open authentication technologies and several common framework related tools.
Applications that use the Flask framework include Pinterest and LinkedIn.
4. Express JS
Express.js, or simply Express, is a back end web application framework for Node.js, released as free and open-source software under the MIT License. It is designed for building web applications and APIs. It has been called the de facto standard server framework for Node.js.
The original author, TJ Holowaychuk, described it as a Sinatra-inspired server, meaning that it is relatively minimal with many features available as plugins. Express is the back-end component of popular development stacks like the MEAN, MERN or MEVN stack, together with the MongoDB database software and a JavaScript front-end framework or library.
5. Ruby on Rials
Ruby on Rails is open source software, so not only is it free to use, you can also help make it better. More than 5,000 people already have contributed code to Rails. It’s easier than you think to become one of them.
Optimizing for programmer happiness with Convention over Configuration is how we roll. Ruby on Rails has been popularizing both concepts along with a variety of other controversial points since the beginning.
Sources: Wikipedia; Company sites
Most used web frameworks among developers worldwide – 2021
In addition to the data shown above there are other interesting data about Most used web frameworks among developers worldwide. In a StackOverflow research published by statista, in August 2021, a sample of 67,593 respondents (software developers) expressed their opinion here most used frameworks.
At the first place of this particular ranking 40.14% answered React.js. In second place instead jQuery with 34.43% and in third place Express with 23.82%. Laravel, which is in first position in the data we showed above, in this case is in twelfth position with 10.12% of the total.

Find more statistics at Statista
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