React Won by Default – And It's Killing Frontend Innovation

React's dominance stems from default adoption rather than technical merit, creating a self-perpetuating cycle that stifles frontend innovation. Alternative frameworks like Svelte, Solid, and Qwik offer superior performance through compile-time optimizations, fine-grained reactivity, and resumability, but struggle for adoption due to network effects. This monoculture creates technical debt, limits skill diversity, and slows ecosystem evolution. Breaking free requires deliberate framework evaluation based on project constraints rather than momentum, considering factors like performance needs, team skills, and long-term maintenance costs.