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Comment by pibaker | Hacker News Reader

Of course people do. No one is forced to use React or any other web framework unlike how they are practically forced to use JavaScript, and yet React wins. This should be enough evidence that people like it enough, at least more than most other frameworks out there.

It is also somewhat ironic that until late 2010s a common complaint about web development is how fast it changes and how many new things are coming up all the times. It was a very valid complaint, of course. But then when the React monoculture rose to the top, and everyone decides to complain about how that sucks instead. You really can't win.

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I have never been able to pick the framework and libraries for my day job. I’m almost always working on something someone started years prior or bound to an organization that has strict choices. Personally I wouldn’t pick react :)

React wins because it has become a default choice and folks like what’s comfortable to their preferences

React wins because it has a predictable interface that has become industry standard. Industry standard saves money. Not everything must be creative.

Not very predicatble with Vercel ownership.

React is bad exactly because this predictability doesn't exist, it changed radically for the worse at least 2 times without any consultation to the community

I mean, that means someone at your work liked React enough to choose it over the alternatives.

I see a lot of personal projects, solo founder applications etc running made in React. I respect your opinion but other people definitely do choose it when they have fully control of what they use.

That doesn’t mean they like it now, and more importantly it doesn’t mean it was actually the best choice at the time.

I used to be on a team that used Mongo for a relational database because Mongo was trendy at one time. So all joins had to be done in the application layer.

Most decision-makers make decisions based on what they already know. Most of my colleagues only know React, because they've only been exposed to React. Why do you think Java dominates the market still? React solved a huge problem when it was new, and it still solves that problem fine (change detection - the reactivity model). There are better alternatives available now (Vue - signals), but the difference isn't big enough to create a new monoculture. Sure there are peripheral concerns like how mature the ecosystem is or the particular ergonomics of a framework, but these are mostly fluff.

I've been in the situation a couple of times where we had full control over choosing the frontend framework. Every time we chose React, the main argument was hirability and the fact that the engineers in question were most proficient in React. That is, inertia.

Secondly, when someone new asks me what web framework to learn, I tell them React. And the main reason, every time, is that this is more likely to get them a job, i.e., inertia.

We got here somehow. Clearly, React didn't get here purely on momentum, and must have done something less poorly than the other frameworks. But I think it's hard to deny that inertia plays a big role in its current popularity.

Hey careful, I actually didn't say I do or have worked with React :)

I think you get me now but I'm just merely stating the stickiness and trendiness of these architecture decisions. Some other people mention this but just because a majority of the industry works on something doesn't mean it is the best.

I am a bit of the proof of this. I work on Angular at Google and have for a long time. It is kind of comical because I have worked on a few side projects outside of Google and I always use Angular, I know it too well.

I built a massive Angular webapp recently (2025) outside of Google and have had multiple people approach me about migrating it to React. They come at me like this is some old thing that needs to be refactored to unlock the modern times. It's just curious, there are large groups of people that don't really even understand what they are doing, they are just chasing words and hype. Mind you, there are reasons to pick one framework over the other still... but let's at least debate that instead of just the names of frameworks. React has won the framework adoption race so I can't argue much there.

React does have its benefits, but there is also a tendency to pick it because of the inertia it has over whether it is the best tool for the job. "Everyone uses react and this will maximize our hiring pool / set of contractors we can use", "A react project will look good on my resume".

I don't see why "inertia" or adoption should be excluded when deciding what library to use for the job. If you are manufacturing a physical product you will need to consider how easy it is to source any component before adding it to your bill of materials. I don't see why software engineering should be different. There is a reason why we are all working in boring languages and not Haskell or LISP despite their supposed technical superiority.

What do you mean nobody is forced to use react? What is this brave new world where you can learn lisp and use it for everything you desire, where corporate culture has no sway over your tech choices?

On the contrary, I am forced to use React and Next.js as many SaaS vendors have partnerships with Vercel, and only make extension points available with them.

If I want anything else, I have to implement the integrations myself, search for some open source project that has already done it, or ask AI.

Doable on hobby projects, unthinkable in professional settings.

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