HTMX detections: 11,482 among 10M+ sites scanned (Source: WebPulse Common Crawl scan, 10M+ detections. Surpassed Gatsby (10,133) and SvelteKit (8,682). Among detected frameworks only.)
The Signal
HTMX doesn't appear in framework comparison articles. It doesn't have a conference. It doesn't have a venture-backed company behind it. It's a single JavaScript file that extends HTML with Ajax capabilities. And among the frameworks we can detect, it now outnumbers Gatsby and SvelteKit — two of the most-hyped modern frameworks. HTMX's actual usage is likely higher — its minimal footprint makes it harder to detect via HTML signatures than heavier frameworks.
Why HTMX Matters
HTMX represents a philosophical rejection of the JavaScript-framework era. No build step. No node_modules. No virtual DOM reconciliation. Just HTML attributes that make existing servers interactive. It's the web going back to hypermedia — and it works.
WebPulse itself runs on HTMX. Our scanner, our search, our chat widget — all HTMX. We chose it because it produces clean, semantic HTML that AI agents can parse. The framework's philosophy aligns perfectly with the AI-first web thesis.
