Front End reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 184 Reddit reviews across 28 subreddits and 42 posts to rank the best Front End brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/retroid, r/dotnet, r/django, r/SBCGaming, r/OdinHandheld. Top-rated brands include Daijisho (4.3/5), Beacon (4.6/5), Emulation Station (4.3/5).
Stats
Reviews184
Subreddits28
Posts42
Brands86
Products40
184 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Daijisho
4.3
(21)
"Daijisho is definitely not half-baked. It’s probably the most extensive launcher and the go-to option for free launchers."
"Diajisho. It's great and free"
"Easy to setup, free, looks and performs great. The Art Book themes look just like ES-DE."
"Daijisho and es-de. No doubt"
"It's a complete front end."
"I refer Daijisho to ES, love it."
"I'm using daishijo and I really like it."
"Daijishō Or Reset Collection . I use Daijishō."
"Best free Daijisho"
"Daijisho is my personal favorite ❤️"
#2
Beacon
4.6
(13)
"I use Beacon and haven't had any problems with it."
"BEACON! Has been my go to."
"Beacon."
"I really like Beacon for its ease of use and excellent game cataloging."
"Beacon is the easy winner. It makes the system feel like a proper emulation machine."
"Until Emulation Station allows internal and external storages at the same time, Beacon is my choice."
"I recommend Beacon"
"I'm really liking Beacon."
"I use Beacon on my 3+, it's a paid frontend (about $4) but it looks and works great"
"I've been enjoying Beacon - I think grid view matches what you're looking for?"
#3
Emulation Station
4.3
(9)
"I think Emulation Station is much better and way more customizable."
"Emulation station is much better, can customize to look really good with themes etc"
"Emulation Station is King in my opinion if you want your handheld to feel like an emulation device and not like an android device."
"Emulation Station"
"If you really wanna full non-Android experience and a real emulation only experience."
"LOVE emulation station. A bit more than launchbox."
"I joined the patreon for a minute to support the dev and get the apk."
"It looks and works great after setup!"
"Frustrating due to duplicates that were hard to remove."
#4
ES-DE
4.3
(7)
"ESDE has a much better scraper for box art/previews and a wider range of skin themes for customization."
"ES-DE works great for my needs"
"ES-DE is what I use and it looks good."
"I like both for differents reasons, now day I use ES-DE but maybe I go back to Daijisho."
"I go back and forth between daijisho and ES-DE."
"ES-DE, Beacon, Pegasus"
"Don’t know about vita, but es-de is great for everything else."
#5
htmx
4.4
(5)
"* htmx+alpinejs for interactivity"
"Use HTMX to keep it simple, you will have one codebase."
"I would recommend HTMX. If not, probably vue."
"You can use HTMX ad well."
"I’d go with HTMX and Alpine."
#6
Pegasus
4.8
(4)
"Pegasus for the win 🏆"
"Pegasus for the win 🏆"
"Pegasus best regardless of money"
"Pegasus looks good as well"
#7
Svelte
4.8
(4)
"Svelte! Especially since the new version dropped last Saturday"
"But svelte is so much more fun man, its a breeze"
"Check out Svelte, it’s fantastic"
"For small project like this i suggest svelte or vue"
#8
Angular
4.5
(4)
"Angular is by far the best atm and last 8 yrs"
"Angular makes connecting CSS, HTML, and Javascript more intuitive."
"Angular is a great choice because of signals."
"Angular is also a great choice for front-end development."
#9
React
4.3
(4)
"React"
"React 19 is familiar and a solid option."
"React is widely used and will enhance your CV."
"Using React for front-end development is a great choice for modern applications."
#10
Launchbox
4.0
(4)
"Last time I used a front end in Windows, Launchbox was pretty good."
"I like Launchbox"
"I would gladly pay for a frontend that works with any emulator after the initial configuration."
"On PC I like LaunchBox."
#11
Vue
4.0
(4)
"Suggest use Vue or Htmx."
"If you know vue, I kindly suggest you look into quasar."
"Vue is also recommended for those up for some JS."
"This was enough for me to get started. One month should be more than enough to learn all this."
#12
Tailwind CSS
4.7
(3)
"Use tailwind or bootstrap for the UI."
"Tailwind also has a ton of pre-built components so you can wholesale drop components from online into your site."
"With this stack I became full stack (weak front end but at least now I know better)."
#13
Batocera
4.7
(3)
"Personally I like Batocera."
"BATOCERA........the king."
"Batocera is good for emulation."
#14
Bubble
4.7
(3)
"For beginners, I'd recommend Bubble.io - it's no-code, cloud-based."
"For beginners, I'd recommend Bubble.io - it's no-code and pretty intuitive for building chat interfaces."
"Bubble is a cheap all-in-one platform for user interface, programming logic, and secure database."
#15
Java
4.7
(3)
"The API endpoints are well-structured and easy to consume."
"Great for back end services and front end development!"
"The explanation of front-end and back-end technologies is clear and informative."
#16
Open Web UI
4.0
(3)
"OpenWebUI is probably my favourite but you can’t beat the native experience imo"
"Dockerised Open WebUI or OpenLLM. Both excellent products."
"Open webui https://openwebui.com"
#17
Blazor
3.7
(3)
"Blazor wasm would be a good choice. You get to use your C# skills to do your front end work."
"Blazor is not a bad framework, especially for internal projects."
"Blazor is good to have in your portfolio."
#18
Microsoft
3.7
(3)
"Blazor WASM is awesome and can be a PWA too."
"Ms Access is the easiest to use with the lowest learning curve, making it suitable for basic security needs."
"Blazor is not ready for enterprise, production application deployment."
#19
Kodi
3.3
(3)
"Maybe Kodi as a video, music player interface."
"Also Kodi if you just want a 'front end'."
"Kodi is awesome but I don't recommend it unless you have local content."
#20
Libre Chat
5.0
(2)
"Alternatively I use Librechat.AI and host it as a docker. I like it better."
"Check out Libre Chat"
#21
Alpine.js
5.0
(2)
"Alpine js for micro transactions, htmx for interaction with back."
"I would look into using AlpineJS. It’s a lightweight front end framework."
#22
JavaScript
5.0
(2)
"My Suggestion is to stick with javascript ecosystem for front end. You will have lot of community resources to get started."
"Javascript allows for dynamic interactions."
#23
Telerik
5.0
(2)
"I'm surprisingly happy with Blazor WebAssembly."
"It has everything you need. Their report component especially is insanely good."
#24
Shea Moisture
5.0
(2)
"Wash every three days with Shea Moisture Curl and Shine Shampoo"
"Style with Shea Moisture Curl and Shine gel"
#25
LibreChat
4.5
(2)
"LibreChat has been my favorite client for Open AI and Anthropic for over a year now."
"LibreChat supports Groq and is quite good."
#26
SvelteKit
4.5
(2)
"I’ve been using SvelteKit with a web API; it's nice."
"Sveltekit is recommended for those up for some JS."
#27
Typing Mind
4.5
(2)
"The interface is WAAAAY better than chatgpt/claude GUI."
"I found typing mind to work best with sync."
#28
Allegro Packets
4.5
(2)
"This is the swiss knife of troubleshooting packet captures."
"You would connect that to the Gigamon and be able to have a full packet capture solution."
#29
Laravel
4.5
(2)
"It shows you how to build a simple app with a Vue or React frontend with a Laravel backend."
"In my experience, in most backend dev jobs you’ll eventually end up doing front end."
#30
Msty
4.0
(2)
"Maybe Msty would be suitable for you?"
"There's an app called Msty.app. it supports local models as well as online ones like groq."
#31
Strapi
4.0
(2)
"[Strapi](https://strapi.io/) - [github link](https://github.com/strapi/strapi)"
"There are a few headless CMS options out there like Contentful or Strapi that could fit your needs."
#32
NocoDB
4.0
(2)
"You could use something like nocoDb or baserow, which basically let you create your database schema without knowing it."
"Nocodb might help you here"
#33
Odin
4.0
(2)
"It's a nice frontend. Has a few small issues, but nothing crazy and I like the UI."
"I have three front ends installed. None set as a home app and just pick one to use based on my mood when I turn on the Odin."
#34
Steam Deck
5.0
(1)
"I use a Steam Deck as my main HTPC for all my tvs and it is great for that."
#35
Coinops
5.0
(1)
"Coinops is the best looking frontend for emulators imo."
#36
Beacon Game Launcher
5.0
(1)
"Beacon game launcher is highly regarded among those in the community"
#37
Soapbox
5.0
(1)
"I think your best bet would be soapbox-fe."
#38
FusionQuill.AI
5.0
(1)
"FusionQuill.AI is a great Windows app that works seamlessly with Ollama and other AI providers."
#39
WordPress
5.0
(1)
"Diving into PHP and working on WordPress websites is a great way to learn essential web development skills."
#40
OpenWeb UI
5.0
(1)
"OpenWeb UI is easy to use and very similar to the ChatGPT interface."
#41
Niagara
5.0
(1)
"I appreciate the minimalistic UI and the ability to navigate games within the apps."
#42
Webui
5.0
(1)
"Webui can run locally on your own machine, providing flexibility and control."
#43
Console Launcher
5.0
(1)
"I use console launcher as my main home and have ES-DE pinned to the home screen for launching emulators. I've tried tons of launcher configs and I like this setup the best."
#44
MudBlazor
5.0
(1)
"MudBlazor has rarely let me down."
#45
MediatR
5.0
(1)
"Using MediatR instead of Fluxor because of Telerik."
#46
HTML
5.0
(1)
"HTML defines how your UI is structured."
#47
CSS
5.0
(1)
"CSS makes everything look pretty."
#48
mGBA
5.0
(1)
"MGBA is far superior to anything else in existence."
#49
EmuELEC
5.0
(1)
"Personally I like EmuELEC."
#50
BoltAI
5.0
(1)
"The UI looks clean and simple, yet powerful with many features."
#51
Jam.py
5.0
(1)
"Just published a new app (almost no code), have a look if u like, still wip."
#52
Stripe
5.0
(1)
"Stripe is recommended for payments, as it can be integrated anywhere."
#53
Theorie
5.0
(1)
"Condition with Theorie Rose Conditioner"
#54
Baserow
4.0
(1)
"You can solve this with Baserow."
#55
Next.js
4.0
(1)
"For more advanced users, Next.js + Tailwind is solid if you're comfortable coding."
#56
Wix
4.0
(1)
"Wix Studio might be a good fit, has no-code features in addition to custom coding capabilities."
#57
Big AGI
4.0
(1)
"You said user-friendly, so that would probably be something like big-agi."
#58
RetroArch
4.0
(1)
"Retroarch."
#59
DevExpress
4.0
(1)
"If you have some money to spend: I would always go for XAF from DevExpress."
#60
Contentful
4.0
(1)
"There are a few headless CMS options out there like Contentful or Strapi that could fit your needs."
#61
ButterCMS
4.0
(1)
"Check out ButterCMS which is an API-based or headless CMS with a preconfigured blog engine."
#62
Ford
4.0
(1)
"The '80s light bar came close."
#63
Django
4.0
(1)
"It's really useful for creating a react-like experience in the frontend."
#64
HTMX
4.0
(1)
"HTMX and Razor Pages cut down on the learning side of things and are less of a headache."
#65
Swordfish
4.0
(1)
"Lemuroid is simple to use and takes the guesswork out of picking emulators."
#66
Dash
4.0
(1)
"Dash HTML components offer a React-style simplicity and type safety."
#67
lxml
4.0
(1)
"Using lxml for simple components allows for easy HTML conversion."
#68
SillyTavern
4.0
(1)
"SillyTavern works well with my setup."
#69
vllm
4.0
(1)
"Vllm offers an OpenAI compatible API."
#70
RXJS
4.0
(1)
"RXJS can help simplify API connections."
#71
ESDE
4.0
(1)
"ESDE is relatively new and still has some teething issues, but is quickly becoming a cult favorite."
#72
App Store
4.0
(1)
"The app is secure and allows for convenient use without a computer."
#73
Claude
4.0
(1)
"You can use Google Search with Claude this week."
#74
OpenAI
4.0
(1)
"You can dictate to it, and output via TTS."
#75
Anthropic
4.0
(1)
"I use it with the anthropic and openAI APIs."
#76
EmulationStation
4.0
(1)
"A lot of people have been enjoying EmulationStation."
#77
PHP
4.0
(1)
"PHP may not be cool and trendy tech but it works for your purposes."
#78
jQuery
4.0
(1)
"I’d also recommend getting some jQuery in there."
#79
Flycast
4.0
(1)
"Works well for Dreamcast games."
#80
SendGrid
4.0
(1)
"SendGrid is a popular and inexpensive email service."
#81
Loops
4.0
(1)
"Loops is an easy-to-use email service for developers."
#82
Olaplex
4.0
(1)
"Olaplex 3 but it may not help you if your hair isn’t damaged"
#83
Garnier
4.0
(1)
"I would recommend trying a deep conditioner - a cheap one is Garnier 1 min mask"
#84
Rice Water Rinse
4.0
(1)
"I use the rice water rinse, instructions found on YouTube."
#85
MVC.net
3.0
(1)
"MVC.net can be used for commercial projects."
#86
Nice GUI
2.0
(1)
"Nice GUI has limitations when serving from Django without tricks."
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