alt Hacker News> ...a web app has is just a login page, then even that alone is enough to warrant using a framework rather than doing direct DOM manipulation (or even worse, full page refreshes
Maybe, but it doesn't necessarily need to be a SPA framework though. There are simpler libraries/frameworks like htmx that considerably reduce complexity and also let you avoid direct DOM manipulation.
Yeah, the debate about which framework is best is like debating which programming language is best, in that they all have pros and cons, that can be debated endlessly.
However, in general, whatever's most popular is a strong signal (like a crowd-sourced signal) that it's probably indeed "the best" all around, which are two words that can also, of course, be debated endlessly based on one's personal definition of "best".