7 Best Angular Frameworks for Rapid Web Application Development

Angular has become one of the most widely used frameworks for building dynamic web applications. Its declarative templates, dependency injection, and robust tooling provide a solid foundation for rapid app development.

However, even with the extensive capabilities built into Angular itself, developers often utilize Angular frameworks to accelerate development further. These frameworks build on top of Angular to provide additional structure, reuseable components, tools, and best practices out of the box.

In this guide, we‘ll explore some of the top Angular frameworks used by professional developers to deliver complete web apps more efficiently.

1. Ionic

Ionic is an open source UI toolkit for building high quality, cross-platform mobile and web apps with web technologies. Built on top of Angular, it provides reusable UI components based on mobile interface guidelines and best practices.

Some key features of Ionic include:

  • Mobile-optimized HTML, CSS, and JS components
  • Supports progressive web apps, native iOS, native Android, and desktop apps
  • Theming and gesture support
  • Easy integration with Cordova for native functionality
  • Vibrant ecosystem of plugins and extensions

Apps built with Ionic retain a native look and feel while leveraging the core productivity benefits of Angular and web development. Brands using Ionic include NASA, Sworkit, and MarketWatch.

2. Angular Material

Angular Material provides reusable UI components based on Google‘s Material Design guidelines. It has an excellent collection of layouts, menus, overlays, buttons, and forms that are professionally designed and easy to customize.

Benefits of Angular Material include:

  • Complete Material Design component library
  • Responsive mobile support
  • Accessiblity features like ARIA roles
  • Customizable SASS-based theming
  • High quality design backed by Google UX research

Apps that need to follow Material Design principles can greatly accelerate development with Angular Material. It takes care of visuals so teams can focus business logic.

3. NativeScript

NativeScript is an Angular framework for truly native mobile apps. Instead of running inside a web view, NativeScript compiles Angular code directly to platform native UI components.

Key NativeScript features:

  • Native UI components for iOS and Android
  • Lighting fast performance comparable to Java or Swift apps
  • Can still leverage web skills like CSS and Angular
  • Open source under Apache 2.0 license

While options like Ionic allow wrapping web apps as mobile apps, NativeScript enables you to build mobile apps directly with Angular and web skills. The end result feels natural on each platform with no sacrifices on functionality or UX.

4. NestJS

NestJS applies common architectural patterns like layers, modularity, and dependency injection to accelerate Angular enterprise application development.

Why consider NestJS?

  • Opinionated structure promoting scalability
  • Built-in support for unit testing
  • Integrates well with TypeScript
  • Uses Express internally, easy to configure for backend tasks
  • Modular design, enforces separation of concerns

For larger, more complex Angular applications, NestJS provides the architectural guidance that helps big teams build fast while maintaining quality.

5. UI Bootstrap

As one of the oldest and most widely adopted Angular component frameworks, UI Bootstrap tightly integrates Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript components into Angular apps.

Reasons developers continue relying on UI Bootstrap include:

  • Familiar set of Bootstrap 4 components
  • Officially maintained by the AngularUI team
  • Over 18k GitHub stars
  • Integrates cleanly without jQuery dependencies
  • Easy to theme using Bootstrap SASS files

For teams already comfortable with Bootstrap, UI Bootstrap makes it simple to carry over what you know while taking advantage of Angular speed and organization behind the scenes.

6. NgRx

NgRx provides reactive state management based on RxJS observable streams that helps manage complexity in larger apps.

Why consider NgRx:

  • Implements Redux patterns in Angular
  • Immutable centralized state
  • Powerful side effect model
  • Sophisticated caching and performance
  • Encourages consistency across app

When application state becomes difficult to trace in sprawling Angular apps, NgRx offers a clean approach based on disciplines proven in environments like React and Vue.

7. Ngxs

As another popular state management option, Ngxs takes inspiration from libraries like NgRx but opts for a simpler API optimized specifically for Angular.

Reasons to choose Ngxs:

  • Focused purely on Angular rather than RxJS
  • Simpler actions, reducers, and decorators
  • Friendlier syntax, less boilerplate code
  • Good for teams with less FRP experience
  • Easier integration testing

Ngxs lowers barriers to entry for centralized state management, making it approachable for Angular developers at all skill levels.

Which Framework is The Right Choice?

With an abundance of excellent Angular frameworks, how do you determine what works best for your app?

Here are a few key criteria to consider:

  • App Type: Mobile apps may benefit from Ionic or NativeScript, while enterprise apps align better with NestJS.
  • Design Needs: Teams lacking design resources would do better starting with Angular Material or UI Bootstrap.
  • Complexity: More complex apps with lots of asynchronous data should consider state management like NgRx or Ngxs.
  • Team Skills: Evaluate frameworks in light of your team‘s size, skill sets, and preferences for patterns like Redux.

Take time up front to carefully evaluate project goals, resources, and constraints before deciding on an Angular framework. This will maximize productivity gains over the long haul.

Conclusion

Angular itself provides an amazing toolbox for delivering web applications fast. But the frameworks above give teams an even bigger headstart.

Ionic, Angular Material and the rest set your team up for success by applying proven patterns tailored exactly to Angular environments. Your apps gain both speed and quality right out of the gate.

Hopefully this overview provides some helpful guidance on getting the most from Angular!</ Choose a framework that fits your app goals and start building.