51 Best JavaScript Libraries Every Developer Should Know

JavaScript - the language we've all grown to love and use daily. It's the unseen yet omnipresent force driving the web, from the simplest of websites to the most complex web applications. Yet, for all its widespread use and flexibility, one of the greatest challenges we face as developers is sifting through its vast, ever-expanding universe of packages. 

Finding those gems – the packages that truly make our coding lives easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable – can be a daunting task. This article aims to ease that journey by highlighting some of the best and most useful JavaScript packages that are well worth incorporating into your development toolkit.

1. Tatum

We live to serve blockchain devs, so no surprise we’re serving up the only library you’ll ever need to get your app to speak to blockchains first. It’s an essential tool for any Web3 dev. Docs: Tatum Documentation

npm i @tatumio/tatum

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2. Lodash

Lodash is the Swiss Army knife of JavaScript. Offering a plethora of utility functions for everyday programming tasks, it emphasizes a functional programming paradigm. Whether you're manipulating arrays, strings, objects, or numbers, Lodash has a function for that. Docs: Lodash Documentation

npm i lodash

3. React

React has revolutionized the way we build user interfaces. It's a declarative, efficient, and flexible JavaScript library that's perfect for creating dynamic UIs, especially for data-heavy applications. Docs: React Documentation

npm i react react-dom

4. Moment.js

Handling dates and times in JavaScript can be a real headache. Moment.js comes to the rescue, making parsing, validating, manipulating, and displaying dates and times a breeze, not to mention handling those pesky time zones. Docs: Moment.js Documentation

npm i moment

5. Mongoose

Mongoose is an elegant MongoDB object modeling tool for Node.js. It provides a straightforward, schema-based solution to model your application data and includes built-in type casting, validation, query building, and business logic hooks. Docs: Mongoose Documentation

npm i mongoose

6. Jest

Testing is crucial, and Jest makes it delightful. This JavaScript Testing Framework focuses on simplicity and support for large-scale applications. Docs: Jest Documentation

npm i -D jest

7. Webpack

Webpack is a powerful static module bundler for modern JavaScript applications. Docs: Webpack Documentation

npm i -D webpack webpack-cli

8. Axios

When it comes to making HTTP requests, Axios stands out. This promise-based client is great for fetching or saving data. Docs: Axios Documentation

npm i axios

9. Socket.io

For real-time communication, Socket.io is a game-changer. It enables bidirectional and event-based communication between web clients and servers. Docs: Socket.io Documentation

npm i socket.io

10. Next.js

Next.js offers a seamless framework for building server-rendered React applications. Docs: Next.js Documentation

npm i next react react-dom

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11. Angular

Angular is a platform and framework for building single-page client applications using HTML and TypeScript. Docs: Angular CLI Documentation

npm i -g @angular/cli

12. Redux

Redux is a predictable state container for JavaScript apps, perfect for managing the state in a consistent way in large applications. Docs: Redux Toolkit Documentation

npm i @reduxjs/toolkit react-redux

13. Vue.js

Vue.js is a progressive framework for building user interfaces, focusing on declarative rendering and component composition. Docs: Vue Documentation

npm i vue

14. Nodemon

Nodemon is a utility that monitors changes in your source and automatically restarts your server. Docs: Nodemon Documentation

npm i -D nodemon

15. Babel

Babel is a JavaScript compiler that lets you use next generation JavaScript, today. Docs: Babel Documentation

npm i -D @babel/core @babel/cli

16. TypeScript

TypeScript adds optional static typing to JavaScript, enhancing code quality and understandability. Docs: TypeScript Documentation

npm i -D typescript

17. GraphQL

GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for executing those queries. Docs: GraphQL Documentation

npm i graphql

18. Tailwind CSS

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom designs. Docs: Tailwind Documentation

npm i -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer

19. Electron

Electron lets you build cross-platform desktop apps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Docs: Electron Documentation

npm i -D electron

20. Puppeteer

Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium. Docs: Puppeteer Documentation

npm i puppeteer

21. ESLint

ESLint statically analyzes your code to quickly find problems. Docs: ESLint Documentation

npm i -D eslint

22. Svelte

Svelte is a radical approach to building user interfaces, where the work happens at build time. Docs: Svelte Documentation

npm i svelte

23. Yarn

Yarn is a fast, reliable, and secure dependency management tool. Docs: Yarn Documentation

npm i -g yarn

24. Parcel

Parcel is a web application bundler with zero configuration. Docs: Parcel Documentation

npm i -D parcel

25. D3.js

D3.js is a library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers. Docs: D3 Documentation

npm i d3

26. Three.js

Three.js is a library and API used to create and display animated 3D graphics in a web browser. Docs: Three.js Documentation

npm i three

27. Gatsby

Gatsby is a React-based, GraphQL powered, static site generator. Docs: Gatsby Documentation

npm i gatsby react react-dom

28. Chakra UI

Chakra UI is a simple, modular and accessible component library for React. Docs: Chakra UI Documentation

npm i @chakra-ui/react @emotion/react @emotion/styled framer-motion

29. Cypress

Cypress is a next generation front end testing tool built for the modern web. Docs: Cypress Documentation

npm i -D cypress

30. React Router

React Router is a collection of navigational components that compose declaratively with your application. Docs: React Router Documentation

npm i react-router-dom

31. MobX

MobX is a simple, scalable state management solution. Docs: MobX Documentation

npm i mobx mobx-react-lite

32. Vuetify

Vuetify is a Vue UI Library with handcrafted Material Components. Docs: Vuetify Documentation

npm i vuetify

33. RxJS

RxJS is a library for reactive programming using Observables. Docs: RxJS Documentation

npm i rxjs

34. Zustand

Zustand is a small, fast and scalable state-management solution using simplified flux principles. Docs: Zustand Documentation

npm i zustand

35. Ant Design

Ant Design is an enterprise-class UI design language and React UI library. Docs: Ant Design Documentation

npm i antd

36. Material-UI

Material-UI offers React components following Material Design guidelines. Docs: MUI Documentation

npm i @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled

37. Formik

Formik is a popular form library for React and React Native. Docs: Formik Documentation

npm i formik yup

38. Firebase

Firebase provides a comprehensive suite of tools for building and managing powerful apps. Docs: Firebase Documentation

npm i firebase

39. Styled-components

Styled-components allows you to write actual CSS code to style your components in React. Docs: Styled-components Documentation

npm i styled-components

40. Prettier

Prettier is an opinionated code formatter that enforces a consistent style. Docs: Prettier Documentation

npm i -D prettier

41. Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a popular HTML, CSS, and JS library for responsive, mobile-first projects. Docs: Bootstrap Documentation

npm i bootstrap

42. Feathers

Feathers is a lightweight web-framework for creating real-time applications and REST APIs using JavaScript or TypeScript. Docs: Feathers Documentation

npm i @feathersjs/feathers

43. Strapi

Strapi is an open-source headless CMS based on Node.js. Docs: Strapi Documentation

npx create-strapi-app@latest my-project

44. Quasar

Quasar can build SPA, SSR, PWA, Mobile, and Electron apps from the same codebase. Docs: Quasar Documentation

npm i -g @quasar/cli

45. Nuxt.js

Nuxt.js is an intuitive Vue framework that simplifies universal or single page Vue apps. Docs: Nuxt Documentation

npm i nuxt

46. VueX

VueX is a state management pattern + library for Vue.js applications. Docs: VueX Documentation

npm i vuex

47. Storybook

Storybook is a tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, and Angular. Docs: Storybook Documentation

npx storybook@latest init

48. Apollo Client

Apollo Client manages local and remote data with GraphQL. Docs: Apollo Client Documentation

npm i @apollo/client graphql

49. Sass

Sass is a preprocessor scripting language that is compiled into CSS. Docs: Sass Documentation

npm i -D sass

50. GreenSock (GSAP)

GreenSock (GSAP) is a robust JavaScript toolset for animations. Docs: GSAP Documentation

npm i gsap

51. Express

Express is a minimalist and flexible Node.js web application framework. Docs: Express Documentation

npm i express