jQuery is slow! (Updated with jQuery 4)

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CONTENTS

Thoughts

10

Min read

jQuery is slow! (Updated with jQuery 4)

Donald Ng

December 5, 2025

4.7

Reviews across G2 & Capterra

Quick answer<br>jQuery is no longer necessary for most web development because modern browsers natively support querySelector, fetch, classList, addEventListener, and all the DOM manipulation APIs that jQuery was built to abstract. For performance-critical sites, jQuery's 87KB file adds unnecessary weight and parse time compared to equivalent vanilla JavaScript which requires zero additional bytes.<br>Key takeaways<br>Modern browsers support all core jQuery APIs natively — check youmightnotneedjquery.com to find vanilla JavaScript equivalents before adding jQuery to a new project.<br>jQuery 4.0 drops IE support and improves performance, but vanilla JavaScript is still lighter for most use cases and ships with zero additional file weight.<br>If your site already uses jQuery and depends on multiple plugins, audit the full dependency chain before removing it — the migration cost may outweigh the performance gain for complex existing codebases.

jQuery burst onto the scene in 2006 and changed everything. It made JavaScript easy when it used to be painful, letting anyone with basic coding knowledge build interactive websites.<br>I still remember my first jQuery project. That magical moment when I typed $('.my-element') and could control any part of my webpage with just a few keystrokes. For someone just learning to code, it felt like discovering a superpower.<br>For a long time, jQuery was everywhere - it was the go-to solution for making websites dynamic. But times have changed. JavaScript has gotten better, new tools have emerged, and now developers face a choice: stick with trusty jQuery, or move on to something new?<br>The Ease of jQuery<br>What made jQuery special? It took headache-inducing JavaScript tasks and made them simple. Want to grab elements from a page? Instead of writing five lines of clunky code, you could just write $('[data-custom-attribute]'). Need to fetch data from a server? jQuery's AJAX made it feel like child's play.<br>But here's the thing: JavaScript has grown up. Many of the problems jQuery solved aren't really problems anymore, and here is the harsh truth...<br>The Performance Overhead Of jQuery<br>One of the most common criticisms of jQuery is its performance compared to native JavaScript. While jQuery’s convenience methods simplify tasks, they often come with an additional overhead that can slow down execution.<br>For example, selecting elements using jQuery’s $('div.class') is typically slower than using native JavaScript’s document.querySelectorAll('.class'). This difference might seem negligible in small-scale operations but becomes significant in larger applications or scripts with repetitive tasks.<br>Additionally, the inclusion of the entire jQuery library, often exceeding 84.5KB after minified , can be overkill for modern projects that use only a fraction of its features. This bloat can impact page load times, especially in performance-critical applications.<br>Developers seeking speed and efficiency are now leaning toward native JavaScript methods, which offer the same functionality without the performance cost.

Source: https://mathiasbynens.be/demo/jquery-sizeFree A/B Testing Tool<br>Run your next A/B test the right way<br>Visual editor, 15 KB script, GA4-native — and free forever up to 100,000 monthly visitors. No developer required.<br>✓ Visual editor✓ 15 KB script✓ GA4 integration✓ Free up to 100k visitors<br>Try Mida free →<br>Modern JavaScript Alternatives<br>Fortunately, modern JavaScript has evolved to include built-in tools that eliminate the need for many of jQuery’s features. Here are a few examples:<br>TaskjQueryNative JavaScriptSelect element by ID$('#id')document.getElementById('id')Add a class$('#id').addClass('active')element.classList.add('active')AJAX Request$.ajax({...})fetch('url').then(response => ...)<br>With these modern methods, developers can write cleaner, faster, and more maintainable code. Tools like the Fetch API, classList, and array methods like map, filter, and reduce further reduce the need for external libraries.<br>Contemporary JavaScript Frameworks<br>The rise of modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular has done a lot to make jQuery obsolete. These libraries offer a more structured and scalable approach to building user interfaces with JavaScript, and they include their own tooling and conventions for managing state, controlling DOM updates, and handling events.<br>Using one of these frameworks often involves a slight learning curve compared to jQuery. However, the benefits they provide—like robustness, component modularization, better performance, and scalability—give them a clear edge.<br>A/B Testing Platforms Moving Away from jQuery<br>A/B testing tools...