lit-html vs lit-element vs svelte vs @microsoft/fast-element
Web Component Libraries Comparison
1 Year
lit-htmllit-elementsvelte@microsoft/fast-elementSimilar Packages:
What's Web Component Libraries?

Web component libraries provide reusable components that encapsulate functionality and styling, allowing developers to create complex user interfaces with ease. These libraries leverage modern web standards to enhance performance, maintainability, and reusability of UI components. They enable developers to build applications that are modular, efficient, and easy to maintain, while also promoting best practices in web development.

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lit-html2,759,98119,2361.71 MB5464 months agoBSD-3-Clause
lit-element2,399,00519,236122 kB5464 months agoBSD-3-Clause
svelte2,115,66881,4092.49 MB8144 days agoMIT
@microsoft/fast-element94,1609,3722.42 MB585 days agoMIT
Feature Comparison: lit-html vs lit-element vs svelte vs @microsoft/fast-element

Performance

  • lit-html:

    lit-html focuses on efficient DOM updates by using a template literal syntax that allows for fine-grained control over rendering. It minimizes the number of DOM operations required, leading to improved performance in dynamic applications.

  • lit-element:

    lit-element enhances performance through its reactive properties and efficient rendering system, which only updates the parts of the DOM that have changed, reducing unnecessary re-renders and improving overall application speed.

  • svelte:

    Svelte compiles components into highly optimized JavaScript at build time, resulting in minimal runtime overhead. This approach eliminates the need for a virtual DOM, leading to faster performance and smaller bundle sizes.

  • @microsoft/fast-element:

    @microsoft/fast-element is designed for high performance, utilizing a lightweight architecture that minimizes overhead and optimizes rendering. It supports efficient updates by leveraging the native browser capabilities for custom elements.

Learning Curve

  • lit-html:

    lit-html has a low learning curve due to its simple syntax and integration with JavaScript template literals. Developers can quickly grasp its usage, especially if they are already familiar with JavaScript and DOM manipulation.

  • lit-element:

    lit-element is relatively easy to learn for developers familiar with JavaScript and web components. Its straightforward API and use of decorators make it accessible, while still offering powerful features for advanced use cases.

  • svelte:

    Svelte is known for its gentle learning curve, as it allows developers to write components in a straightforward manner without the need for extensive boilerplate. The syntax is intuitive, making it easy for newcomers to get started.

  • @microsoft/fast-element:

    @microsoft/fast-element has a moderate learning curve, especially for developers familiar with web standards. Its focus on custom elements and design systems may require some initial investment in understanding its architecture.

Reactivity

  • lit-html:

    lit-html does not directly manage reactivity but works well with reactive frameworks. It allows developers to efficiently render dynamic content by updating only the parts of the DOM that change, relying on external state management.

  • lit-element:

    lit-element utilizes reactive properties that automatically update the DOM when their values change, facilitating a seamless development experience. This reactivity model simplifies state management in applications.

  • svelte:

    Svelte's reactivity is built into the language itself, allowing developers to declare reactive statements that automatically update the UI when dependencies change. This makes state management intuitive and straightforward.

  • @microsoft/fast-element:

    @microsoft/fast-element provides a reactive programming model where changes to properties automatically trigger updates in the DOM. This makes it easier to manage state and keep the UI in sync with underlying data.

Community and Ecosystem

  • lit-html:

    lit-html is also part of the Lit family and is widely used in conjunction with lit-element. Its popularity ensures a robust community support and a variety of resources for developers.

  • lit-element:

    lit-element is part of the Lit family, which has a strong community and is widely adopted for building web components. It benefits from a rich ecosystem of tools and libraries that enhance its capabilities.

  • svelte:

    Svelte has gained significant traction in the developer community, with a vibrant ecosystem of plugins and tools. Its popularity is reflected in a growing number of tutorials, resources, and community-driven projects.

  • @microsoft/fast-element:

    @microsoft/fast-element is part of the FAST framework, which has a growing community and is backed by Microsoft. It integrates well with other Microsoft technologies and has a focus on design systems and accessibility.

Extensibility

  • lit-html:

    lit-html is primarily a templating engine and is designed to work alongside other libraries. While it is not directly extensible, it can be integrated into various frameworks and libraries to enhance rendering capabilities.

  • lit-element:

    lit-element supports extensibility through its base class, allowing developers to create custom elements that can be easily reused and composed. Its design encourages modularity and reusability.

  • svelte:

    Svelte allows for extensibility through its component-based architecture, enabling developers to create reusable components that can be easily integrated into larger applications. It supports custom events and props for seamless interaction.

  • @microsoft/fast-element:

    @microsoft/fast-element is highly extensible, allowing developers to create custom components that can be easily integrated into existing applications. It supports a variety of design systems and can be adapted to different use cases.

How to Choose: lit-html vs lit-element vs svelte vs @microsoft/fast-element
  • lit-html:

    Choose lit-html if you need a powerful templating engine that efficiently updates the DOM, especially for applications that require dynamic rendering of HTML without the overhead of a full framework.

  • lit-element:

    Choose lit-element if you want a lightweight library that simplifies the creation of web components with a focus on reactive properties and efficient rendering, making it ideal for projects that require high performance and a small footprint.

  • svelte:

    Choose Svelte if you prefer a framework that compiles components into highly optimized JavaScript at build time, resulting in faster runtime performance and a simpler development experience with less boilerplate.

  • @microsoft/fast-element:

    Choose @microsoft/fast-element if you are looking for a library that emphasizes performance and interoperability with existing web standards, especially if you need to create custom elements and want to leverage a design system.

README for lit-html

lit-html 2.0

Efficient, Expressive, Extensible HTML templates in JavaScript

Build Status Published on npm Join our Discord Mentioned in Awesome Lit

lit-html is the template system that powers the Lit library for building fast web components. When using lit-html to develop web components, most users should import lit-html via the lit package rather than installing and importing from lit-html directly.

About this release

This is a pre-release of Lit 3.0, the next major version of Lit.

Lit 3.0 has very few breaking changes from Lit 2.0:

  • Drops support for IE11
  • Published as ES2021
  • Removes a couple of deprecated Lit 1.x APIs

Lit 3.0 should require no changes to upgrade from Lit 2.0 for the vast majority of users. Once the full release is published, most apps and libraries will be able to extend their npm version ranges to include both 2.x and 3.x, like "^2.7.0 || ^3.0.0".

Lit 2.x and 3.0 are interoperable: templates, base classes, directives, decorators, etc., from one version of Lit will work with those from another.

Please file any issues you find on our issue tracker.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at lit.dev.

Overview

lit-html lets you write HTML templates in JavaScript with template literals.

lit-html templates are plain JavaScript and combine the familiarity of writing HTML with the power of JavaScript. lit-html takes care of efficiently rendering templates to DOM, including efficiently updating the DOM with new values.

import {html, render} from 'lit-html';

// This is a lit-html template function. It returns a lit-html template.
const helloTemplate = (name) => html`<div>Hello ${name}!</div>`;

// This renders <div>Hello Steve!</div> to the document body
render(helloTemplate('Steve'), document.body);

// This updates to <div>Hello Kevin!</div>, but only updates the ${name} part
render(helloTemplate('Kevin'), document.body);

lit-html provides two main exports:

  • html: A JavaScript template tag used to produce a TemplateResult, which is a container for a template, and the values that should populate the template.
  • render(): A function that renders a TemplateResult to a DOM container, such as an element or shadow root.

Installation

$ npm install lit-html

Or use from lit:

$ npm install lit

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md.