Version 0.0.2
0
45
FairUse Javascript in place of PHP
- Weekly Downloads
- 256
↓14%
- Bundle (gzip)
- 0 B
- Updated
- Vulns
- 0
Health Score Breakdown
Maintenance
20
Popularity
20
Quality
50
Security
100
Stability
70
Htmx vs React
Side-by-side NPM package comparison
Quick Verdict
Most Popular
React
118.8M weekly downloads
Best Maintained
React
100/100 maintenance score
Highest Quality
Htmx
50/100 quality score
Overall Pick
React
Best all-around based on popularity, size, maintenance & quality
Version 19.2.4
0
85
ExcellentReact is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
- Weekly Downloads
- 118.8M
↑31%
- Bundle (gzip)
- 2.8 KB
- Updated
- Vulns
- 0
Health Score Breakdown
Maintenance
100
Popularity
100
Quality
50
Security
100
Stability
70
Choosing between Htmx and React? Here's a data-driven comparison based on real npm data — downloads, bundle size, health scores, and more — to help you decide which package fits your project best.
Downloads & Popularity
React leads with 118.8M weekly downloads — roughly 463882.3x more. Htmx has 256 weekly downloads. Higher download counts generally indicate broader community adoption and a larger ecosystem of tutorials, plugins, and support.
Bundle Size
Htmx has the smallest gzipped bundle at 0 B. React comes in at 2.8 KB. A smaller bundle size means faster page loads, which improves user experience and Core Web Vitals scores.
Health Score Comparison
React has an overall health score of 85/100 (very good), with strong maintenance, security, popularity scores. Htmx has an overall health score of 45/100 (moderate), with strong security scores. Health scores are calculated from maintenance activity, code quality, security posture, popularity, and stability metrics.
When to Choose Each
Choose Htmx if you value strong security track record. Choose React if you value massive community and ecosystem, minimal bundle footprint, actively maintained, strong security track record.
Our Verdict
Both Htmx and React are solid choices for JavaScript development. React has the edge in overall health score (85/100), while each package brings unique strengths to the table. Evaluate them based on your project's priorities — whether that's community size, bundle efficiency, or maintenance activity — and choose the one that aligns best with your requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is htmx better than react?
- It depends on your needs. Htmx has a health score of 45/100 while React scores 85/100. React has more weekly downloads (118.8M), suggesting broader adoption. Consider your specific requirements — bundle size, community support, and feature set — to decide which is the better fit.
- Which has a smaller bundle size, htmx or react?
- Htmx has the smaller gzipped bundle at 0 B. A smaller bundle means faster load times for your users, which can positively impact SEO and user experience.
- How many developers use htmx vs react?
- Based on npm download statistics, Htmx has approximately 256 weekly downloads and React has approximately 118.8M weekly downloads. These numbers reflect package installations, not unique developers, but they indicate relative adoption levels.
- Which is better maintained, htmx or react?
- React currently has the higher overall health score at 85/100. Htmx has a maintenance score of 20/100 and React scores 100/100 on maintenance.
HTMX vs React: Hypermedia vs Virtual DOM in 2026
HTMX and React represent two fundamentally different philosophies for building interactive web applications. React pioneered the component-based, virtual DOM approach — you write JavaScript that describes your UI, React diffs it against the previous state, and surgically updates the real DOM. HTMX takes the opposite approach: keep your application logic on the server, use HTML attributes to declare what should happen on user interactions, and let the server return HTML fragments that get swapped into the page.
The bundle size difference is stark: HTMX is roughly 14 KB gzipped with zero build step, zero transpilation, and zero runtime dependencies. A typical React application — React + ReactDOM + a router + state management — easily exceeds 80 KB before you write a single line of application code. For content-heavy sites, marketing pages, and server-rendered applications where most logic lives on the backend, HTMX delivers interactivity at a fraction of the JavaScript cost. React's larger bundle pays for itself in complex, highly interactive applications — dashboards, real-time collaboration tools, or anything with extensive client-side state management.
The right choice depends on your application type and team. HTMX shines when paired with server frameworks like Django, Rails, Flask, or Go — you get SPA-like UX without abandoning server-rendered architecture. React is the better choice for applications that genuinely need rich client-side interactivity: drag-and-drop interfaces, real-time data visualization, complex form workflows, or offline-capable PWAs. Many experienced developers are now using HTMX for their server-rendered pages and reaching for React only when the interaction complexity genuinely demands a client-side framework.
Related Comparisons
The 2026 JavaScript Stack Cheatsheet
One PDF: the best package for every category (ORMs, bundlers, auth, testing, state management). Used by 500+ devs. Free, updated monthly.