Top 10 Best Golang Web Frameworks

Golang (or Go) is an open-source compiled programming language that is used to create software that is simple, methodical, and secure. It was created by Google in 2007 and has been widely accepted by developers worldwide due to characteristics such as memory safety, structural typing, garbage collection, and resemblance to C-language.

So, in this article, Relia Software reviewed the top 10 best Golang web frameworks that you should consider in your web application development.

>> Read more about Golang:

• Top 6 Best Golang Testing Frameworks in 2024
• Best Practices For Dependency Inversion in Golang
• Type Conversion in Golang: How To Convert Data Types in Go?

What are Golang Web Frameworks?

Golang web frameworks are collections of pre-written code used to quickly create application programming interfaces (APIs) and web services. Frameworks are not required while developing tiny applications but are required when developing production-level software.

Even with the features and knowledge, writing a debugging production-level application takes a significant amount of time. As a result, frameworks are frequently employed.

Frameworks provide additional functions and services that can be used by other developers who want to add comparable functionalities to their software without having to write the full-fledged software from scratch.

Pros and Cons of Golang Web Frameworks

Pros of Golang Web Frameworks

Great performance: Go is veritably smooth and will offer better performance with the same tackle as Python and Java. One of the reasons Go offers good performance is that it's statically compartmented, just like C and C++.

Easy to learn: The simplicity of this programming language makes it extremely easy to learn, no matter the experience one has in web development. Its syntax is indeed easier to borrow if the developer has previous experience with Java and C. The language also has a large community, making it easier for inventors to get results from Go-centered forums.

Concurrency: Go will divide large programs into smaller tasks and run them coincidentally through goroutines and channels. With this, computers will execute these tasks much more briskly and spend lower idle time. This feature also makes Go the ideal language for erecting scalable apps whose user base grows exponentially over time.

>> Read more: Mastering 6 Golang Concurrency Patterns to Level Up Your Apps

No need for a framework: It's possible to make web applications with Go without counting on frameworks. Go has an excellent standard library, making it possible to produce apps right within without using a framework like the utmost programming languages. So, if you aren't a fan of frameworks, Go’s standard library is good enough to get you going.

A smart standard library: Developers using this language can do nearly everything without importing any secondary libraries. This saves developers from issues similar to crimes from clashing function names that arise from counting on secondary libraries.

Google’s authority in the assiduity: Go is supported by Google, a company that we anticipate to be then for numerous further years to come. That simply means Go will still have Google’s backing, which is necessary for its growth.

>> Read more: Detailed Code Examples of Dependency Inversion Principle in Go

Cons of Golang Web Frameworks

It's sometimes too simplistic: Being simple is at the core of Golang, but occasionally being too simplistic comes at a cost. The simplicity of this language comes at the expense of the limited versatility, offered by languages similar to Swift or Haskell. These languages are much harder to learn, but they pack in numerous features that enable inventors to do complex tasks much more briskly.

It's still a young language: One of the disadvantages of being a new language is the fairly lower community support compared to languages that have been around for over 2 or 3 decades. Being new also affects the number of packages available in the language’s libraries. Go might have a smart standard library, but it's nowhere near what the likes of Java and Python offer.

It has no GUI library: Another major con with Go is the fact that it has no Graphical User Interface library. This means you'll have to connect a library to your app rather than doing it natively with languages similar to Java and Python.

Top 10 Best Golang Web Frameworks

Gin/Gin-Gonic

Gin is a framework built on top of HTTP router and middleware, providing features that simplify the development of web applications with Golang. Gin has the same API as Martini but offers up to 40 times the performance of Martini.

Gin-gonic is designed to create high-performance web applications while supporting many features such as request and response processing, routing, middleware, validation, logging, and more. It also has a simple and easy-to-use syntax, allowing programmers to quickly create complex web applications with Golang.

Here's a simple example demonstrating how to create a basic web server with Gin that responds to a GET request on the root path ("/"):

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
)

func main() {
	router := gin.Default()

	router.GET("/", func(c *gin.Context) {
		c.String(200, "Hello, World from Gin!")
	})

	err := router.Run(":8080")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error starting server:", err)
	}
}

You can find a more comprehensive tutorial on the official Gin website: https://gin-gonic.com/

Beego

Beego is an open-source, high-performance web framework built specifically for the Go programming language. It follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern and provides a rich set of features for rapid development of web applications, APIs, and backend services. Beego is known for its ease of use, flexibility, and focus on performance.

Beego offers a modular design, allowing developers to choose and integrate only the necessary components for their project. Additionally, built-in libraries such as context handling, ORM support for data access, logging mechanisms, and libraries for operations with HTTP objects provide a comprehensive set of tools for various needs.

Here's a basic code example for creating a simple web server with Beego that responds to a GET request on the root path ("/"):

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/beego/beego/v2/routing"
)

func main() {
	routing.HandleFunc("/", func(ctx *routing.Context) {
		ctx.WriteString("Hello, World from Beego!")
	})

	err := routing.Run(":8080")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error starting server:", err)
	}
}

Find a more comprehensive tutorial on the official Beego website: https://beego.wiki/

Echo

Echo is a framework focused on performance, extensibility, and simplicity. Echo supports RESTful API design, you can use it as a standalone framework or in combination with other libraries like Gin. Echo provides many features such as data binding and display, automatic TLS support, extensibility, HTTP/2 support, middlewares, router optimization, and others.

A simple code example for Echo framework:

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/labstack/echo/v4"
)

func main() {
	e := echo.New()

	e.GET("/", func(c echo.Context) error {
		return c.String(http.StatusOK, "Hello, World from Echo!")
	})

	err := e.Start(":8080")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error starting server:", err)
	}
}

For further information, you can access the official Echo website: https://echo.labstack.com/ 

Iris

Iris is a fast, simple, and lightweight Golang framework, suitable for those familiar with the Node.js framework. Iris also has many libraries such as passport, express-session, body-parser, Morgan, etc. It allows integration of third-party libraries into the project effectively. Similar to Beego, Iris also provides essential MVC support, with built-in support for sessions, routing, and caching middleware.

Here's a basic example for how to create a simple web server with Iris that responds to a GET request on the root path ("/"):

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/kataras/iris/v12"
)

func main() {
	app := iris.New()

	app.Get("/", func(ctx iris.Context) {
		ctx.WriteString("Hello, World from Iris!")
	})

	err := app.Run(":8080")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error starting server:", err)
	}
}

For a more comprehensive tutorial, access the official Iris website: https://github.com/kataras/iris 

Gorilla

The Gorilla web toolkit isn't a single framework, but rather a collection of reusable packages for building HTTP-based applications in Go. Gorilla addresses various aspects of writing a web service: context, mux, and other libraries to implement cookies, sessions, WebSockets, and RPC over HTTP.

Many big names, including Netflix, use Gorilla for their web application development. It also possesses a series of useful features and is completely free to use. Gorilla is quite easy to use, with documentation provided in multiple languages.

Here's an example demonstrating a basic web server with Gorilla's mux (routing) package that responds to a GET request on the root path ("/"):

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"

	"github.com/gorilla/mux"
)

func main() {
	r := mux.NewRouter()
	r.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello, World from Gorilla!")
	})

	fmt.Println("Starting server on port 8080")
	err := http.ListenAndServe(":8080", r)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error starting server:", err)
	}
}

For a more comprehensive tutorial on using Gorilla packages, refer to the official documentation: https://github.com/gorilla

Revel

Revel is one of the best Golang frameworks, it requires no setup and configuration, which is completely different from all other Go frameworks. In addition, Revel is completely free from middleware and third-party plugins.

The Hot Code Reload tool on Revel will allow you to rebuild your project on every file change. Revel also allows you to use components freely to meet other needs.

While Revel is no longer under active development, there are still resources available for those interested in learning more. Here's an example (note that some functionalities might require additional libraries):

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/revel/revel/v1/controller"
	"github.com/revel/revel/v1/routing"
)

type App struct {
	*controller.Controller
}

func (c App) Index(cc *routing.Context) routing.RenderResult {
	return c.Render("index", "Hello, World from Revel!")
}

func main() {
	fmt.Println("Starting Revel server...")
	routing.Run(":8080")
}

For a more comprehensive understanding, you can refer to some of the archived Revel documentation: https://github.com/revel/revel 

Gocraft

Gocraft is a minimalist yet powerful framework that offers a lot of flexibility and extensibility. Gocraft is famous for its built-in middleware that helps developers write and add additional features to web applications. It is easy to use and ideal for developing high-performance web applications.

Here's a basic example demonstrating how to create a simple web server with gocraft/web that responds to a GET request on the root path ("/"):

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"

	"github.com/gocraft/web"
)

func main() {
	router := web.New(web.Config{})
	router.Get("/", func(c *web.Context) error {
		return c.WriteString(http.StatusOK, "Hello, World from gocraft/web!")
	})

	fmt.Println("Starting server on port 8080")
	err := router.ListenAndServe(":8080")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error starting server:", err)
	}
}

You can find a more comprehensive tutorial on the official gocraft/web GitHub repository: https://github.com/csells/go_router

Fiber

Fiber is a Go web framework similar to Express.js. Fiber provides capabilities such as low-memory operation and extensive routing. Fiber is built on top of the Fast HTTP engine for Go, making it one of the fastest Go frameworks.

It relies heavily on minimalism and Unix philosophy in order to provide simple and modular software technology. Fiber proposes to enable new product owners to quickly create web apps. Fiber's characteristics include a built-in rate limiter that restricts business to a single endpoint.

Here's a basic example demonstrating a simple web server with Fiber that responds to a GET request on the root path ("/"):

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/gofiber/fiber/v2"
)

func main() {
	app := fiber.New()

	app.Get("/", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
		return c.SendString(http.StatusOK, "Hello, World from Fiber!")
	})

	err := app.Listen(":8080")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error starting server:", err)
	}
}

For a more comprehensive tutorial, you can refer to the official Fiber documentation: https://docs.gofiber.io/

Kratos

Kratos is another Golang framework that focuses on the microservice method. Kratos provides key capabilities that aid with rapidly developing a critical web operation from scratch. Kratos is a framework that provides the capabilities required for constructing a large, strong web operation that is also easily accessible.

With the aid of great coffers and new support, Kratos improves the product proprietor's efficacy and removes various difficulties that are most likely to occur in distributed systems and software engineering, allowing them to focus entirely on the launch of businesses.

Furthermore, Kratos is an excellent educational resource for all rudiments of microservices, allowing each programmer to broaden their knowledge and capabilities.

While including a basic code snippet might be challenging due to Kratos' focus on microservices, here's the official getting started guide that demonstrates core concepts through examples: https://go-kratos.dev/en/docs/

Fast HTTP

It provides a quick HTTP garçon as well as a customer API. Because of the optimization, Fast HTTP is presented as an alternative to net/HTTP. It is optimized for speed and can interact with more than 100k requests per second and more than 1 million concurrent keep-alive connections on modern hardware.

Fast HTTP uses less memory and supports 'Connection Upgrade' easily viaRequestCtx.Hijack. When idempotent requests fail, the customer supports automatic retry.

Similarly, the Fast HTTP API is designed to keep the possibility to extend customer and garçon executions or to build bespoke customer and garçon executions from scraping. However, as the internet/HTTPS gains popularity, it becomes more dependable and tested. Furthermore, both net/ http and fast/ https are supported.

Here's a link to the official documentation showcasing its functionalities: https://github.com/valyala/fasthttp

Factors to Consider When Choosing Golang Web Frameworks

Project size and complexity: Consider the scale and complexity of your project. A framework like Gin or Echo may be sufficient for small to medium-sized projects, while larger projects may profit from the comprehensive features offered by Beego or Revel.

Performance requirements: If performance is a top precedence, frameworks like Gin, Echo, or Fiber, known for their speed and effectiveness, are good choices.

Ease of use: Evaluate the literacy curve and ease of use of each framework. Beginners may find Gin or Echo more approachable, while more educated developers may appreciate the inflexibility and power of Beego or Revel.

Community and support: Consider the size of the framework's community. A vibrant community ensures ongoing support and regular updates.

Compatibility and integrations: Assess the comity of the framework with your preferred database, ORMs, and third-party libraries. ensure that the framework integrates well with the tools you plan to use in your design.

>> Read more about other languages' frameworks:

• Ruby on Rails Framework: Powering the Future of Web Development 
• Top 8 Python Frameworks for Website Development in 2023

Conclusion

So, these are the Stylish Golang Frameworks that our developers had to deal with during the development process, but it isn't a final verdict on the Best Golang Framework. There are yet additional Golang web frameworks that can help your online application succeed.

However, you can employ these Golang frameworks in your future systems to acquire the best results and save enough time to launch your web operation quickly, among other things.

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