Backbone.js
Ranked 14 of 21 JavaScript frameworks by recommenders
Light, plain JavaScript framework with no build step that people still like for simple webapps; critics find it painful at scale and stagnant.
Light, plain JavaScript framework with no build step that people still like for simple webapps; critics find it painful at scale and stagnant.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 57%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Simple, light, easy to grasp
“The simplicity of a backbone app, plain javascript with no build”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Marko – A declarative, HTML‑based language” “Backbone is pretty light and pretty easy to grasp”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “jQuery 4.0.0 Released” Complete enough for building webapps
“Very happy still with the Backbone way of building webapps.”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Does Anybody Actually Like React?” “It had everything you needed”
Comment from 30 May 2026 in “Ember.js 7.0”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Leaves developers dreading maintenance
“I dread having to touch the one page we have that uses Backbonejs+Mustachejs.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “No-build, no-NPM, SSR-first JavaScript framework if you hate React, love HTML” “I really wished it would just go away at the time”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “RCE Vulnerability in React and Next.js” “my backbone.js induced ptsd therapy sessions”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “Web Components: The Framework-Free Renaissance” Hard to scale to large codebases
“I don't recall being pleasant enough to work with to want to make anything large in”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 in “Your 'App' Could Have Been a Webpage (so I fixed it for you)” “Each component had to manually manage all of its child components.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Why Vanilla JavaScript” “dealing with 100K LOC large Backbone.js codebases”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “FFmpeg at Meta: Media Processing at Scale” Stagnant and no longer maintained
“no longer maintained backbone / 1.4 django frontend”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Why don't more developers “use the platform”?” “both of them are stagnant”
Comment from 30 May 2026 in “Ember.js 7.0”
Other JavaScript frameworks people recommend
The four most recommended other JavaScript frameworks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 21 JavaScript frameworks, rankedWhat people said
15 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“React, imo, was a much better Backbone.js”
“no longer maintained backbone / 1.4 django frontend”
“I don't recall being pleasant enough to work with to want to make anything large in”
“Each component had to manually manage all of its child components.”
“both of them are stagnant”
“It had everything you needed”
“Backbone if you’re a real engineer.”
“May as well use Marionette or Backbonejs.”
“Very happy still with the Backbone way of building webapps.”
“I dread having to touch the one page we have that uses Backbonejs+Mustachejs.”
“dealing with 100K LOC large Backbone.js codebases”
“my backbone.js induced ptsd therapy sessions”
“Backbone is pretty light and pretty easy to grasp”
“I really wished it would just go away at the time”
“The simplicity of a backbone app, plain javascript with no build”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.