Is Ember.js Dead?

Is Ember.js still relevant? Is it dying? Or is it already dead? 

These are good questions if you are contemplating whether to invest time, money, and effort into learning how to build web applications with Ember.js. Pro tip: We make it much easier with our Ember.js Essentials course.

Today, we are going to argue why Ember.js still has staying power — despite what you may or may not have heard.

Ember.js is Used by Leading Organizations 

Ember.js is used by some of the biggest names in tech, including:

• Microsoft

• Netflix

• Intercom

• Square

• Heroku

• LinkedIn

• Apple

This alone indicates that the JavaScript framework has some staying power. 

Ember.js has an Active Commit History

One surefire way to tell if a software project is dead is by looking at its commit history, which is a record of updates that have been made to a software version control repository.

In this case, Ember.js has had an active commit history. Even more notable, a new version of Ember.js was just released this past July. 

Ember.js Skills are in Demand

At the time of this writing, data from Glassdoor indicates that organizations are looking for developers who understand how to use Ember.js. For example, searching for “Ember.js” yielded 25 jobs within a 100-mile range of Dulles, VA, and 31 listings within a 100-mile range of New York City. 

In comparison, when searching for “React” in DC, 514 jobs were listed, and in New York City, 2113 listings appeared. 

While that may seem like a reason not to learn Ember.js, remember, fewer engineers understand it because it is a specialized skill. There is less competition and likely higher salary potential for developers who can add it to their skill sets.

Online Chatter Indicates Selective Interest

Stack Exchange is an excellent way to see what developers are currently working on, and we can filter questions in Stack Exchange by tags.

In this case, searching for posts with an Ember.js tag shows that 178 questions were opened for Ember.js within the first six months of 2022. In comparison, 2311 questions were opened for React just in the last week of June of 2022, and Vue.js yielded 353 questions within the last week of that same month as well. 

Both React and Vue yielded more results than Ember.js in one week alone. So, why are React and Vue more popular than Ember.js?

Ultimately, React and Vue are much easier to learn than Ember.js, which has a notoriously steep learning curve. With fewer Ember resources available online, people tend to choose React or Vue instead of Ember. 

Additionally, Ember.js is better used for large projects and is rather heavy for small single-page applications. If you’re building something like a web store or a note-taking app, React and Vue are much better options. However, if you build a monolithic app like Intercom, Ember.js should be your go-to. 

No, Ember.js is not dead

Though it is not as widely adopted as other JavaScript frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue, it’s still very much worth your time to learn Ember.js. Let CBT Nuggets help. If you subscribe to CBT Nuggets, you can start the Ember.js Essentials course now. 

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