Compare the Top Development Frameworks for Freelancers as of January 2026

What are Development Frameworks for Freelancers?

Development frameworks are code libraries and development tools that streamline the development process for developers that build applications. Development frameworks simplify the process of programming in different languages. There are a variety of different types of development frameworks including web development frameworks, mobile app development frameworks, frontend and backend frameworks, and more. Compare and read user reviews of the best Development Frameworks for Freelancers currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

  • 1
    .NET MAUI

    .NET MAUI

    Microsoft

    .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI) is a framework for building modern, multi-platform, natively compiled iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows apps using C# and XAML in a single codebase. .NET MAUI uses the latest, modern technologies for building native apps on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows abstracting them into one common framework built on .NET 6. Native apps look and feel like the operating system on which they belong by default and layouts are fully adapted to each device automatically with no additional code. Platform APIs are available directly from C# to access over 60 platform features from a single cross-platform API including access to things like isolated storage, sensors, geolocation, camera, and a whole lot more with no compromises.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 2
    TSQL.APP

    TSQL.APP

    UX1 BV

    TSQL.APP is a web-based SQL platform for building data-driven applications directly within SQL Server. Featuring a built-in IDE, it enables developers to create responsive web apps using SQL for backend logic and UI interactions. Key features include: Dynamic UI Components: Cards represent database records in list and form views, with customizable modals for inputs, alerts, tables, and real-time reports. Action Scripting: SQL-based action scripts define app behavior, enabling CRUD operations and complex workflows. Real-Time Interactivity: Reports auto-refresh, and audio/visual alerts provide instant user feedback. Security and Accessibility: Supports secure logins, cloud access, and file management through meta tables. Extensibility: Integrates with .NET CLR for advanced operations. TSQL.APP is ideal for building adaptable business apps with responsive data handling, streamlined workflows, and custom user interactions.
    Starting Price: €220 5 Developers/Users
  • 3
    Laravel

    Laravel

    Laravel

    Laravel is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. We’ve already laid the foundation — freeing you to create without sweating the small things. We love clean code just as much as you do. Simple, elegant syntax puts amazing functionality at your fingertips. Every feature has been thoughtfully considered to provide a wonderful developer experience. Dispatch background jobs to perform slow tasks like sending emails and generating reports while maintaining blazing fast response times. Stop sweating authentication. Laravel provides scaffolding for secure, session-based authentication, while Laravel Sanctum provides painless authentication for APIs and mobile applications. Laravel is committed to delivering the best testing experience you can imagine. No more brittle tests that are a nightmare to maintain. Beautiful testing APIs, database seeding, and painless browser testing let you ship with confidence.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 4
    Lit

    Lit

    Lit

    Building on top of the Web Components standards, Lit adds just what you need to be happy and productive: reactivity, declarative templates and a handful of thoughtful features to reduce boilerplate and make your job easier. Every Lit feature is carefully designed with web platform evolution in mind. Weighing in at around 5 KB (minified and compressed), Lit helps keep your bundle size small and your loading time short. And rendering is blazing fast, because Lit touches only the dynamic parts of your UI when updating — no need to rebuild a virtual tree and diff it with the DOM. Every Lit component is a native web component, with the superpower of interoperability. Web components work anywhere you use HTML, with any framework or none at all. This makes Lit ideal for building shareable components, design systems, or maintainable, future-ready sites and apps.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 5
    Phoenix Framework

    Phoenix Framework

    Phoenix Framework

    Build rich, interactive web applications quickly, with less code and fewer moving parts. Join our growing community of developers using Phoenix to craft APIs, HTML5 apps and more, for fun or at scale. Interact with users and know who is connected right now, across one or dozens of nodes, by using our built-in Channels and Presence technologies. Or try LiveView for a refreshing new way to develop real-time apps without the client-side complexities. At its core, Phoenix is a rock-solid web framework that improves the tried and true Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture with a fresh set of functional ideas. Phoenix puts the focus on your business domain, bringing you immediate productivity and long-term code maintainability.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 6
    Vaadin

    Vaadin

    Vaadin

    Vaadin is a web app development platform for Java. It helps you build reliable web apps with great UX faster than before. Building an enterprise web app involves a lot of moving pieces. Vaadin simplifies the process with an integrated web app development platform for Java backends. Vaadin comes with all the components, frameworks, and tools you need to build a reliable, secure, app with great UX. Research shows that good user experience (UX) increases employee engagement, helps digital transformations to succeed, and avoids costly mistakes. The Vaadin Design System provides UI components and UX patterns that help you build consistently good user experiences in every app. Better yet, you can use it to build a custom design system for your organization. Vaadin comes with 45+ UI components that help you build consistent UIs fast. The theme can be customized to match your brand. Vaadin components work with screen readers and assistive devices.
    Starting Price: $139 per month
  • 7
    Helidon

    Helidon

    Helidon

    Helidon is a cloud-native, open‑source set of Java libraries for writing microservices that run on a fast web core powered by Netty. Helidon Níma is the first Java microservices framework based on virtual threads. Helidon is designed to be simple to use, with tooling and examples to get you going quickly. Since Helidon is simply a collection of Java libraries running on a fast Netty core, there is no extra overhead or bloat. Helidon supports MicroProfile and provides familiar APIs like JAX-RS, CDI, and JSON-P/B. Our implementation runs on our fast Helidon Reactive WebServer. Helidon Reactive WebServer provides a modern functional programming model and runs on top of Netty. Lightweight, flexible, and reactive, the Helidon WebServer provides a simple-to-use and fast foundation for your microservices. With support for health checks, metrics, tracing, and fault tolerance, Helidon has what you need to write cloud-ready applications that integrate with Prometheus, Jaeger/Zipkin, etc.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 8
    Vert.x

    Vert.x

    Vert.x

    Han­dle more re­quests with fewer re­sources com­pared to tra­di­tional stacks and frame­works based on block­ing I/O. Vert.x is a great fit for all kinds of ex­e­cu­tion en­vi­ron­ments, in­clud­ing con­strained en­vi­ron­ments like vir­tual ma­chines and con­tain­ers. Peo­ple told you asyn­chro­nous pro­gram­ming is too hard for you? We strive to make pro­gram­ming with Vert.x an ap­proach­able ex­pe­ri­ence, with­out sac­ri­fy­ing cor­rect­ness and per­for­mance. Don’t waste re­sources, in­crease de­ploy­ment den­sity and save money. You pick the model that works best for the task at hand, call­backs, promises, fu­tures, re­ac­tive ex­ten­sions, and (Kotlin) corou­tines. Vert.x is a toolkit, not a frame­work, so it is nat­u­rally very com­pos­able and em­bed­d­a­ble. We have no strong opin­ion on what your ap­pli­ca­tion struc­ture should be like. Se­lect the mod­ules and clients you need and com­pose them as you craft your ap­pli­ca­tion.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 9
    Jersey

    Jersey

    Eclipse Foundation

    Developing RESTful web services that seamlessly support exposing your data in a variety of representation media types and abstracting away the low-level details of client-server communication is not an easy task without a good toolkit. In order to simplify the development of RESTful web services and their clients in Java, a standard and portable JAX-RS API has been designed. Jersey RESTful web services 3. x framework is an open-source, production-quality, framework that provides support for Jakarta RESTful web services 3.0. Jersey framework is more than the JAX-RS reference implementation. Jersey provides its own API that extends the JAX-RS toolkit with additional features. Track the JAX-RS API and provide regular releases of production quality reference implementations that ship with GlassFish. Provides APIs to extend Jersey & build a community of users and developers. Makes it easy to build RESTful Web services utilizing Java and the Java Virtual Machine.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 10
    Yii

    Yii

    Yii PHP framework

    Yii is a fast, secure, and efficient PHP framework. Flexible yet pragmatic, works right out of the box, and has reasonable defaults. While Yii can virtually eliminate most repetitive coding tasks, you are responsible for the real creative work. This often starts with designing the whole system to be built, in terms of some database schema. The best way to do this is by using migrations. Yii gives you the maximum functionality by adding the least possible overhead. Sane defaults and built-in tools help you write solid and secure code. Write more code in less time with simple, yet powerful APIs and code generation. Yii is a generic web programming framework, meaning that it can be used for developing all kinds of web applications using PHP. Because of its component-based architecture and sophisticated caching support, it is especially suitable for developing large-scale applications such as portals, forums, content management systems (CMS), ecommerce projects, RESTful services, etc.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 11
    PHPixie

    PHPixie

    PHPixie

    PHPixie is easy to learn and does not rely on automatic; you will always be in charge of what's happening. Designed for speed since first release and proven by independent benchmarks. Built using components that can be used without the framework. Linear execution flow, no static code, and low coupling. Reuse and share your code via Composer as self-contained bundles. Never find yourself in an event hell ever again as event use is avoided. Database components support working with MongoDB out of the box. Designed from scratch according to SOLID principles and industry standards. PHPixie started as a micro framework and has gradually grown to be one of the most popular full-stack PHP frameworks while retaining its high performance. This is in part because of the strict architecture that avoids common pitfalls such as reliance on static methods, global scope, singletons, and other antipatterns, thus also ensuring that the code is easy to read, debug, extend, and test.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 12
    Fat-Free Framework

    Fat-Free Framework

    Fat-Free Framework

    Speed up your development process. F3 is lightweight, easy-to-use, and fast. Most of all, it doesn't get in your way. It has a gentle learning curve so you save money on training expenses. Whether you're a novice or an expert PHP programmer, F3 will get you up and running in no time. No unnecessary and painstaking installation procedures and no complex configuration are required. A powerful yet easy-to-use PHP micro-framework designed to help you build dynamic and robust web applications. Full-featured toolkit, super lightweight code base with just ~90kb, and easy to learn. Take advantage of the built-in features. Develop apps that really rock. F3 gives you a solid foundation, a mature code base, and a no-nonsense approach to writing web applications. Under the hood is an easy-to-use web development tool kit, high-performance URL routing, a multi-protocol cache engine, built-in code highlighting, and support for multilingual i18n applications.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 13
    Koin

    Koin

    Kotzilla

    Koin simplifies DI and empowers developers in the Kotlin landscape. Koin helps you build any kind of Kotlin & Kotlin multiplatform application, from Android mobile to backend Ktor server applications. Koin is built for the most demanding apps and is trusted by developers worldwide. Koin is an open source dependency injection framework tailored for Kotlin developers. With its intuitive DSL and lightweight container, Koin simplifies dependency injection for any Kotlin application and SDK. Koin framework lets you build your dependency injection in a breeze, with simple API and Kotlin DSL. Koin can help you create complex Android mobile applications, so you can focus on your business, not your tools. Koin connects on top of the Kotlin ecosystem. Using the power of Kotlin, Koin provides easy dependency injection across multiple platforms. Already used by thousands of companies in the world, Koin is ready to scale in production.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 14
    Nitric

    Nitric

    Nitric

    Nitric is an open source, cloud-agnostic backend framework that enables developers to declare infrastructure as code and automate deployments using pluggable plugins. It supports multiple languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, and Dart. Key features include defining APIs (REST, HTTP), serverless functions, routing, authentication/authorization (OIDC-compatible), storage (object/file storage, signed URLs, bucket events), databases (e.g., managed Postgres with migrations), messaging (queues, topics, pub/sub), websockets, scheduled tasks, and secrets management. Nitric integrates with tools like Terraform or Pulumi, or lets you write your own plugins, and works with major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). It also supports local development with simulated cloud environments so you can prototype, test, and iterate without incurring cloud cost. The framework emphasizes declarative security, resource access management, and portability.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 15
    CakePHP

    CakePHP

    CakePHP

    The migration guide has a complete list of what's new in 4.3.0. We recommend you give that page a read when upgrading. While CakePHP 4 contains a number of breaking changes we have prepared an exhaustive migration guide covering all the deprecated and removed features as well as highlighting the shiny new features. CakeDC, the commercial entity behind the CakePHP framework, was established by Larry Masters, the founder of CakePHP. CakeDC offers CakePHP development, consultancy, CakePHP training and code review Services. From startups and social networks to e-commerce and enterprise-level applications, CakeDC provides the highest quality CakePHP development available. The things you need are built-in. Translations, database access, caching, validation, authentication, and much more are all built into one of the original PHP MVC frameworks.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 16
    Enhance

    Enhance

    Enhance

    Enhance ships with everything you need to build a production-ready app. Organize your pages as easily as a desktop folder. Access and store data with simple JavaScript functions. Build reusable components with HTML and scoped CSS. Add client-side interaction just where you need it. Build server-rendered custom elements that seamlessly upgrade to interactive web components. Enhance makes the right way the easy way. Start with a version that works everywhere for everyone. Incrementally upgrade interactive elements from there. The web platform has what you need and never goes out of fashion. Ditch throbbers and loading screens by removing framework bloat and authoring only the code you need. When you learn Enhance, you’re learning development approaches that will last as long as the web does. Enhance apps are designed with deployment in mind. When you're ready to launch, we've got you covered with Begin.
  • 17
    Quarkus

    Quarkus

    Quarkus

    Quarkus tailors your application for GraalVM and HotSpot. Amazingly fast boot time, incredibly low RSS memory (not just heap size!) offering near-instant scale up and high-density memory utilization in container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes. We use a technique we call compile time boot. Quarkus provides a cohesive, fun-to-use, full-stack framework by leveraging a growing list of over fifty best-of-breed libraries that you love and use. A cohesive platform for optimized developer joy with unified configuration and no hassle native executable generation. Zero configs, live reload in the blink of an eye, and streamlined code for the 80% common usages, flexible for the remainder 20%. The combination of Quarkus and Kubernetes provides an ideal environment for creating scalable, fast, and lightweight applications. Quarkus significantly increases developer productivity with tooling, pre-built integrations, application services, and more.
  • 18
    UnionML

    UnionML

    Union

    Creating ML apps should be simple and frictionless. UnionML is an open-source Python framework built on top of Flyte™, unifying the complex ecosystem of ML tools into a single interface. Combine the tools that you love using a simple, standardized API so you can stop writing so much boilerplate and focus on what matters: the data and the models that learn from them. Fit the rich ecosystem of tools and frameworks into a common protocol for machine learning. Using industry-standard machine learning methods, implement endpoints for fetching data, training models, serving predictions (and much more) to write a complete ML stack in one place. ‍ Data science, ML engineering, and MLOps practitioners can all gather around UnionML apps as a way of defining a single source of truth about your ML system’s behavior.
  • 19
    Remix

    Remix

    Remix Framework

    Remix is a seamless server and browser runtime that provides snappy page loads and instant transitions by leveraging distributed systems and native browser features instead of clunky static builds. Built on the Web Fetch API (instead of Node) it can run anywhere. It already runs natively on Cloudflare Workers, and of course supports serverless and traditional Node.js environments, so you can come as you are. Page speed is only one aspect of our true goal though. We're after better user experiences. As you’ve pushed the boundaries of the web, your tools haven’t caught up to your appetite. Remix is ready to serve you from the initial request to the fanciest UX your designers can think up. Get fancy with transition hooks and make some pending UI. Remix handles all the state, you simply ask for it.
  • 20
    Laminas

    Laminas

    Zend Framework

    Laminas is the enterprise-ready PHP framework and components. Components for any PHP application, include dependency injection, event dispatchers, input validation and filtering, pagination and navigation, feed generation and parsing, and much, much more. Build PHP middleware applications, using the PSR-7 and PSR-15 specifications, using a variety of routing and templating options, and the dependency injection container you prefer. Build RESTful APIs using standards and provide validation, authentication, authorization, and versioning right out of the box. A proven history of success running business critical and high-usage applications, ready for PHP 7. Laminas is built with security best practices. Store passwords and encrypt with AES-256. Engineered with performance tuning in mind, Laminas runs up to 4x faster than version 2 releases. Laminas API tools provide JSON representations that can be parsed and used in any mobile framework.
  • Previous
  • You're on page 1
  • Next