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HTMX vs Alpine.js vs Vanilla JS: Lightweight Frontend Approaches Compared (2026)

The pendulum has swung back from heavy JavaScript frameworks — htmx, Alpine.js, and vanilla JS each represent a different philosophy on how much JavaScript your web app actually needs. htmx gives you AJAX, WebSockets, and CSS transitions via HTML attributes. Alpine.js adds Vue-like reactivity directly in your markup. Vanilla JS uses the platform APIs.…