10 best kotlin web frameworks

So, do you use Kotlin for your software development? Most probably you do.

Kotlin is concise, safe, pragmatic, and focused on interoperability with Java code.

It can be used almost everywhere Java is used today: for server-side development, Android apps, and much more.

Imagine if you could make Kotlin development faster, and see an instant boost in your workflow.

or even better:

What if there were 10 best kotlin web frameworks to choose from.

and each of them could make your development faster and easier?

You’d probably be pumped to read about them. 

Lucky for you, that’s exactly what I’m going to share with you in this post 10 awesome and best kotlin web frameworks

So let’s get started with the list:

1. Ktor

Ktor is a framework for quickly creating web applications in Kotlin with minimal effort.

Ktor Framework doesn’t impose a lot of constraints on what technology a project is going to use – logging, templating, messaging, persistent, serializing, dependency injection, etc.

Sometimes it may be required to implement a simple interface, but usually, it is a matter of writing a transforming or intercepting function. 

2. Kweb

Kweb is a new way to create beautiful, efficient, and scalable websites in Kotlin, quickly.

Kweb is a self-contained Kotlin library that can be added easily to new or existing projects.

When Kweb receives an HTTP request it responds with a small HTML file including optimized instructions for building the page, and a client that connects back to the web server via a WebSocket.

The client then waits and listens for instructions from the server.

3. Javalin

Javalin is a very lightweight web framework for Kotlin and Java which supports WebSockets, HTTP2 and async requests.

Javalin’s main goals are simplicity, a great developer experience, and first-class interoperability between Kotlin and Java.

4. Spark

A micro-framework for creating web applications in Kotlin and Java 8 with minimal effort.

Spark Framework is a simple and expressive Java/Kotlin web framework DSL built for rapid development.

Sparks intention is to provide an alternative for Kotlin/Java developers that want to develop their web applications as expressive as possible and with minimal boilerplate

5. Spring Boot

Spring Boot makes it easy to create Spring-powered, production-grade applications and services with absolute minimum fuss.

it’s a very good framework and has official kotlin support

6. Vaadin-On-Kotlin

Vaadin-on-Kotlin is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications. 

Vaadin-on-Kotlin does not enforce you to use Model-View-Controller (MVC), Dependency Injection (DI) nor Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).

It by default does not use Spring nor JavaEE. Instead, Vaadin-on-Kotlin focuses on simplicity.

7. Jooby

Jooby is a modern, performant and easy to use web framework for Java and Kotlin, with Fast startup time and Hot-Reload for development using Maven or Gradle

Features

• Java and Kotlin API
• Script/lambda routes using fluent API
• MVC routes using Jooby and JAX-RS annotations
• Event Loop and blocking execution modes
• Reactive responses (Completable Futures, RxJava, and Reactor types and Kotlin Coroutines)
• Multi-server including Jetty, Netty, and Undertow
• Simple extension/plugin mechanism with a variety of modules

8. Vert.x for Kotlin

Vert.x is a tool-kit for building reactive applications in a different programming language, like Java and Kotlin. 

Vert.x is Fast with Small memory footprint – Comparable to Spark and have WebSockets support

9. Tekniq

A framework designed around Kotlin providing a full-featured HTTP Framework, Restful HTTP Client, JDBC DSL, Loading Cache, Configurations, Validations, and more.

It’s a suite of tools that have no dependencies on other libraries providing capabilities such as loading cache, configurations, tracking tools, and more.

10. HexaGon

A Microservices framework that takes care of HTTP, serialization, and storage.

Its purpose is to ease the building of services (Web applications, APIs or queue consumers) that run inside a cloud platform.

Conclusion

As a Kotlin developer having and using the right kotlin web frameworks will help you in the quest for putting together an algorithm that will tap into the strengths and capabilities of the project of your choice.