Anti-libraryism: 10 web APIs that replace modern JavaScript libraries - LogRocket Blog

"Modern browsers are quietly eating the JavaScript ecosystem alive. Over the past two years, the major engines have shipped native Web APIs that replace a surprising number of the utilities we still install by default. Yet most developers keep reaching for the same familiar packages anyway. If a dependency has always worked, it stays in the stack, even when the browser already does the same job."

"That reflex costs more than it seems. Every extra package adds weight, maintenance overhead, version churn, and long-term abandonment risk. Native APIs ship 0KB to users, run deep in the engine (often off the main thread), and benefit from optimizations userland libraries can't match. If you're trying to shrink bundles, improve runtime performance, or audit dependency bloat, it's worth knowing which "defaults" have become optional."

"At some point, Axios became the default HTTP client for every JavaScript project. Start a new React app? npm install axios. The reasoning was fair back in 2016: XMLHttpRequest was painful, and Axios gave you a clean promise-based API with interceptors, automatic JSON parsing, and request cancellation. The thing is, fetch() has been available in all major browsers since 2017. It's promise-based, supports streaming, handles every HTTP method, and works in both browser and No"

Modern browser engines have shipped native Web APIs that replace many utilities commonly installed from npm. Many developers continue to include familiar packages by default, but extra dependencies increase bundle size, maintenance overhead, version churn, and abandonment risk. Native APIs deliver 0KB to users, execute deep in the engine (often off the main thread), and benefit from engine-level optimizations unattainable by userland libraries. Shrinking bundles, improving runtime performance, and auditing dependency bloat require identifying optional defaults. Ten native Web APIs can substitute common JavaScript libraries, with guidance on browser support and cases where libraries still provide advantages such as specialized features or cross-environment consistency.

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