The AI-First Web

HTMX Has 2,467 Sites. The Anti-Framework Is Becoming a Movement.

No build step. No virtual DOM. No npm. HTMX is the reaction to framework fatigue — and at 2M+ scale, it's no longer a curiosity.

June 2026 · 4 min read

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The Signal

2,467

HTMX detections

Source: WebPulse scan, 2M+ sites. Up from undetectable at smaller scales.

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 it now has more detected sites than several 'mainstream' 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.