Not sure what you mean by so much more code. Datastar seems to do more than htmx. Otherwise, there are less features because React and friends over-complicate things for the vast majority of use-cases.
Datastar is 40% smaller than HTMX even before you add SSE or Alpine or JS head support, etc.
Ohhhhh I thought you meant simpler than React, lol. Gotcha. I was going by what it does, not line of code of the implementation, which is what matters in this context (a skeptic looking to check something out quickly).
Ok I think I've been talking to a bot because looking back on this, I'm confused.