The Data Nobody Published
React dominates the conference circuit. Next.js dominates the startup TLDs (.io, .ai, .dev). But Vue.js has quietly built an empire on niche TLDs that nobody is tracking. On .xyz — the TLD of choice for Web3, crypto, and experimental projects — Vue is 39% of detected sites. That's 4,635 sites. More than Next.js and Nuxt.js combined on the same TLD.
Why Niche TLDs?
The .xyz TLD is where Web3 projects, crypto protocols, and experimental tech live. These are developer-heavy communities where framework choice is a technical decision, not a procurement default. Vue won these communities the same way it won China and Korea — through developer advocacy, documentation quality, and a lighter footprint than React.
.lol at 75% Vue is the most striking — a meme TLD dominated by a single framework. .to at 27% Vue is used for link shorteners and tools where Vue's reactive model fits perfectly. The pattern: Vue wins in communities where developers build interactive tools, not content sites.
The Shadow Framework
Vue.js is 1% of the global web by our detection. React is 0.8%. Next.js is 3%. By the headline numbers, Vue barely registers. But when you look at TLDs where developers choose freely — not defaulting to WordPress, not following procurement — Vue shows up at rates 25-75x the global average. The framework is bigger than the broad numbers suggest. It just lives in places most scans don't look.
