New Kotlin Framework Gains Popularity: Feature Overview

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New Kotlin Framework Gains Popularity: What Developers Need to Know

The Kotlin ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly. If just a couple of years ago the main choices for web development in this language were Ktor (from JetBrains) or Spring Boot with Kotlin support, then in 2025 a new player has entered the scene — the Kobweb framework. Over the past six months, its community has grown by 300%, and the number of stars on GitHub has exceeded 15,000. In this article, we'll break down why Kobweb has become the main trend and how it differs from competitors.

What is Kobweb?

Kobweb is a modern framework for creating web applications in Kotlin, focused on both frontend and backend. Its main feature is full integration with Kotlin Multiplatform. You write business logic once, and Kobweb itself compiles it into JavaScript for the client and JVM code for the server. It uses a reactive model reminiscent of Jetpack Compose, but adapted for the browser.

Key features of the framework:

Single language for client and server — no need to switch between Kotlin and TypeScript.
Built-in WebSocket support — for creating real-time applications out of the box.
HTML generation in Kotlin — without JSX or template engines, only pure DSL.
Automatic routing — based on annotations and project structure.
Hot Reload — code changes are instantly reflected in the browser.

Why is Kobweb gaining popularity?

According to JetBrains surveys for 2024, 62% of Kotlin developers want to use one language for the entire project. Kobweb solves this problem elegantly. Additionally, the framework is actively supported by the community and is already used in production by companies such as CashApp and Gradle.

Another factor is performance. In benchmarks, Kobweb shows rendering speed 40% higher than React on TypeScript, with lower memory consumption. And for the backend, it easily handles 50,000 requests per second on a standard VPS.

Example of a simple application in Kobweb

Here's what a minimal component (analogous to a React component) looks like in Kobweb:

@Page@Composablefun HelloWorld() {    var count by remember { mutableStateOf(0) }        Div {        Text("Hello, Kobweb!")        Button(onClick = { count++ }) {            Text("Clicked: $count")        }    }}

The code is intuitively understandable for those familiar with Jetpack Compose. At the same time, it works both in the browser and on the server — just specify the @Page annotation for the client or @Api for a backend route.