SolidJS vs Svelte for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

SolidJS Overview

SolidJS is the performance king. Fine-grained reactivity means components render once, and only the specific DOM elements that depend on changed state get updated. No virtual DOM, no diffing, no unnecessary re-renders. It consistently tops JS framework benchmarks, sitting right next to vanilla JavaScript.

The API uses JSX, which feels familiar if you've worked with React. But the mental model is different. Signals are the core primitive. You create them, read them, and update them. SolidJS automatically tracks which parts of your JSX depend on which signals and updates only those parts. No dependency arrays, no stale closures.

SolidJS has SolidStart as its meta-framework, which provides routing, SSR, and file-based API routes. The ecosystem is small but functional. The community is passionate and growing. For performance-sensitive applications, SolidJS delivers results that other frameworks can't match without significant optimization effort.

Svelte Overview

Svelte takes the radical approach of compiling your components into optimized vanilla JavaScript at build time. There's no framework runtime shipped to the browser. Your components become efficient imperative code that directly manipulates the DOM. The result is small bundles and fast performance that's close to SolidJS without the learning curve.

Svelte 5 introduced runes ($state, $derived, $effect), which brought its reactivity model closer to SolidJS signals while keeping Svelte's trademark simplicity. Writing Svelte components is a joy. Less syntax, less boilerplate, more readable code. A component that takes 40 lines in React or SolidJS might take 20 in Svelte.

SvelteKit, the meta-framework, is excellent. Form actions, load functions, progressive enhancement, and file-based routing. The developer experience is among the best in the framework ecosystem. The community is smaller than React's but growing, and the energy around Svelte 5 has brought new attention and new libraries.

Key Differences

Performance. Both are fast. SolidJS edges out Svelte in raw benchmarks because fine-grained reactivity is the most efficient update mechanism possible. Svelte's compiled output is fast but uses a slightly different update strategy. In practice, the difference is negligible for 95% of applications. You won't notice it unless you're rendering thousands of reactive elements simultaneously.

Syntax. SolidJS uses JSX. Svelte uses its own single-file component format with HTML templates. If you like JSX and come from React, SolidJS feels more natural. If you prefer writing HTML-like templates with less ceremony, Svelte wins. Svelte's syntax is objectively less verbose.

Learning curve. Svelte is easier to learn. The template syntax is intuitive, the documentation is excellent, and there are fewer concepts to master. SolidJS looks like React but has crucial differences (no destructuring props, components don't re-run) that trip up newcomers. Learning SolidJS means unlearning React habits.

Ecosystem. Svelte has a larger ecosystem than SolidJS. More UI libraries (Skeleton, Melt UI), more community packages, more tutorials. SvelteKit is more mature than SolidStart. For solo developers who need ready-made solutions, Svelte offers more options.

Meta-framework maturity. SvelteKit is production-ready and battle-tested. SolidStart is newer and still evolving. If you need a full-stack framework with routing, SSR, and form handling, SvelteKit is the more reliable choice today.

When to Choose SolidJS

• Raw performance is a genuine requirement, not just a preference
• You prefer JSX syntax over template syntax
• You're building something with many reactive elements (dashboards, data grids)
• You enjoy working with cutting-edge technology
• You want the most efficient reactive model available

When to Choose Svelte

• You want the simplest, most productive developer experience
• You prefer writing less code and reading cleaner components
• You need a mature meta-framework (SvelteKit)
• You want a larger ecosystem of community packages
• Learning curve matters and you want to be productive quickly

The Verdict

Svelte for most solo developers. The 9/10 vs 7/10 rating captures the practical reality. Svelte gives you 90% of SolidJS's performance with a significantly better developer experience, a larger ecosystem, and a more mature meta-framework. You'll ship faster, write less code, and find more community resources when you get stuck.

SolidJS is the better choice only if performance is a hard requirement. Real-time data visualization, complex animations, apps with thousands of simultaneously reactive elements. In those cases, SolidJS's fine-grained reactivity gives you headroom that Svelte can't match. For everything else, Svelte's simplicity and ecosystem maturity make it the more productive tool for building solo.