A favicon of Handlebars

Companies Using Handlebars

Our database tracks 211,982 domains running Handlebars, from small studios to global corporations. Below you'll find a full list of companies using Handlebars with market share data, adoption trends and technical stack insights.

Handlebars holds a 0.25% share of the JavaScript libraries market, ranking #40, based on our analysis of 95,249 enriched companies at TechnologyChecker.io. The top companies using Handlebars include PwC, Bank of America, HSBC, Allianz, SAP and Microsoft, alongside websites using Handlebars for server-side rendering with Node.js and Express. Data updated monthly across 29.9M live domains.

Published Mar 12, 2026 · Updated Sep 4, 2026 · Data analysed on September 4, 2026.

Share:

Handlebars Usage Statistics

How has Handlebars adoption changed over time? Our current crawl window opens in June 2026, so this chart covers three months. Handlebars was detected on 172,042 active domains in June, 204,754 in July and 211,982 in August. That is a rise, not a decline — though total observed domains grew from 172,402 to 233,991 over the same period, so most of it reflects our crawl reaching further rather than new installations. Churn is low: 26,418 domains have dropped Handlebars since we began tracking it in March 2026, around one in nine, which is modest for a library whose obituary gets written regularly.

List of Companies Using Handlebars

Which companies use Handlebars? Our verified list of companies using Handlebars on TechnologyChecker.io covers brands that use Handlebars across finance, healthcare, technology and retail — from PwC, Bank of America, HSBC and Allianz to Microsoft, SAP, Siemens, Kaiser Permanente, Lowe's and Subway. Many of the websites using Handlebars deploy it on primary domains rather than subdomains, which points to core infrastructure rather than isolated experiments.

Download all 211,982 Handlebars customers with full company data, or create a signal to track when companies start or stop using Handlebars.

Verified list of companies and domains where we detect Handlebars — sorted by company size. Companies matched to domains where we detect Handlebars; a detection may be one storefront rather than a company-wide deployment.
CompanyDetection URLDomainCountryIndustryEmployeesTypeFoundedLinkedIn
Walmart Community Grants Team logoWalmart Community Grants Team
walmart.orgwalmart.orgUnited StatesRetail10001+Public Company1962https://linkedin.com/company/walmart
PwC logoPwC
www.strategyand.pwc.compwc.comUnited KingdomProfessional Services10001+Privately Held1998https://linkedin.com/company/pwc
Siemens AG logoSiemens AG
www.dex.siemens.comsiemens.comGermanyAutomation Machinery Manufacturing10001+Public Company1847https://linkedin.com/company/siemens
Microsoft logoMicrosoft
azure.microsoft.commicrosoft.comUnited KingdomRetail51-200Privately Held2021https://linkedin.com/company/ecocentricuk
Bank of America logoBank of America
bettermoneyhabits.bankofamerica.combankofamerica.comUnited StatesBanking10001+Public Company1998https://linkedin.com/company/bank-of-america
HSBC USA Inc. logoHSBC USA Inc.
www.hsbc.comhsbc.comUnited KingdomFinancial Services10001+Public Company1865https://linkedin.com/company/hsbc
Concentrix logoConcentrix
www.concentrix.comconcentrix.comUnited StatesIT Services and IT Consulting10001+Public Company1983https://linkedin.com/company/concentrix
Allianz Group logoAllianz Group
allianz.comallianz.comGermanyFinancial Services10001+Public Company1890https://linkedin.com/company/allianz
Santander Consumer USA Inc. logoSantander Consumer USA Inc.
www.santander.comsantander.comSpainBanking10001+Public Company1857https://linkedin.com/company/banco-santander
SAP logoSAP
sap.comsap.comGermanySoftware Development10001+Public Company1972https://linkedin.com/company/sap
Show 15 more Handlebars using companies as demo data
CompanyDetection URLCountryIndustryEmployeesTypeFounded
Kaiser Permanente logoKaiser Permanente
kp.orgkp.orgUnited StatesHospitals and Health Care10001+Nonprofit1945https://linkedin.com/company/kaiser-permanente
Honeywell International, Inc. logoHoneywell International, Inc.
www.honeywell.comhoneywell.comUnited StatesAppliances, Electrical, and Electronics Manufacturing10001+Public Company1974https://linkedin.com/company/honeywell
Subway logoSubway
order.subway.comsubway.comUnited StatesRestaurants501-1000Privately Held1965https://linkedin.com/company/subway
State Farm logoState Farm
get-id-card.statefarm.comstatefarm.comUnited StatesInsurance10001+Privately Held1922https://linkedin.com/company/state_farm
Lowe's logoLowe's
corporate.lowes.comlowes.comUnited StatesRetail10001+Public Company1921https://linkedin.com/company/lowe's-home-improvement
Roche logoRoche
diagnostics.roche.comroche.comSwitzerlandBiotechnology Research10001+Public Company1896https://linkedin.com/company/roche
Medtronic plc logoMedtronic plc
global.medtronic.commedtronic.comUnited StatesMedical Equipment Manufacturing10001+Public Company1949https://linkedin.com/company/medtronic
EDF logoEDF
souscrire.edf.fredf.frFranceElectric Power Generation10001+Public Company1946https://linkedin.com/company/edf
Kotak Mahindra logoKotak Mahindra
kotak.comkotak.comIndiaBanking10001+Public Company1985https://linkedin.com/company/kotak-mahindra-bank
City of New York logoCity of New York
portal.311.nyc.govnyc.govUnited StatesPrimary and Secondary Education10001+Government Agencyhttps://linkedin.com/company/nyc-department-of-education
AstraZeneca plc logoAstraZeneca plc
astrazeneca.comastrazeneca.comUnited KingdomPharmaceutical Manufacturing10001+Public Company1999https://linkedin.com/company/astrazeneca
Philips logoPhilips
www.ip.philips.comphilips.comNetherlandsHospitals and Health Care10001+Public Company1891https://linkedin.com/company/philips
Novo Nordisk A/S logoNovo Nordisk A/S
onecode.novonordisk.comnovonordisk.comDenmarkPharmaceutical Manufacturing10001+Public Company1923https://linkedin.com/company/novo-nordisk
Baker Hughes Inc. logoBaker Hughes Inc.
rigcount.bakerhughes.combakerhughes.comUnited StatesEnergy Technology10001+Public Company2014https://linkedin.com/company/bakerhughes
CEVA Logistics logoCEVA Logistics
customeronline.cevalogistics.comcevalogistics.comFranceTransportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage10001+Privately Held2006https://linkedin.com/company/ceva-logistics

There are 211,982 companies and domains where we detect Handlebars, sign up to download the entire Handlebars dataset.

Here are some of the most recognizable companies using Handlebars and brands using Handlebars in 2026:

  • PwC -- Professional services firm using Handlebars in web application development
  • Bank of America -- Financial institution with Handlebars on customer-facing platforms
  • Microsoft -- Technology group running Handlebars across web properties
  • SAP -- Enterprise software vendor using Handlebars for templated content
  • HSBC -- Global bank deploying Handlebars on regional sites
  • Allianz -- Insurance group using Handlebars in customer portals
  • Siemens -- Industrial group with Handlebars in web systems
  • Kaiser Permanente -- Healthcare provider using Handlebars for content-heavy pages
  • AstraZeneca -- Pharmaceutical company running Handlebars on public sites
  • Lowe's -- Retailer using Handlebars for catalogue templating

Which Countries Use Handlebars the Most?

Where do companies use Handlebars? The United States leads with 39,273 domains, followed by the United Kingdom (6,976), Germany (4,719), Canada (4,630), Australia (3,808) and Spain (3,487). The US share is unusually dominant — better than five to one over the next market — which fits a library that spread through the Node.js and Express ecosystem rather than through a hosted platform with its own geographic footprint.

🇺🇸United States39,27341.2%
🇬🇧United Kingdom6,9767.3%
🇩🇪Germany4,7195.0%
🇨🇦Canada4,6304.9%
🇦🇺Australia3,8084.0%
🇪🇸Spain3,4873.7%
🇫🇷France2,6642.8%
🇮🇳India2,2932.4%
🇳🇱Netherlands2,0442.1%
🇧🇷Brazil1,9152.0%
🇮🇹Italy1,7551.8%
🏳️Portugal1,3941.5%
🇳🇿New Zealand1,0751.1%
🇨🇭Switzerland8130.9%
🇸🇪Sweden7970.8%

Share of the 95,249 Handlebars domains we matched to a company record — 44.9% of the 211,982 we detect. Top 15 countries shown, so these do not sum to 100%. Domains with no matching company record are not represented here and skew small and independent.

Handlebars Market Share Among JavaScript Libraries

What is Handlebars's market share? Handlebars holds a 0.25% share of the JavaScript libraries market, ranking #40, based on our monthly crawl of 29.9M live domains and 40K+ tracked technologies at TechnologyChecker.io. That rank is lower than its reputation suggests, and the reason is the category it sits in: jQuery (18.51%), core-js (12.13%) and jQuery Migrate (9.86%) ship on a large fraction of the entire web. Handlebars is a specialised templating engine measured against universal utilities. Its closest true peer is Mustache, which it extends.

Customers212.0KCompanies using Handlebars
Companies Analyzed95.2KWith LinkedIn company data
Market Share0.25%Of the category market
Category Ranking#40In its category

Top Competitors by Market Share

Handlebars Customers by Company Size & Age

Is Handlebars only for small businesses? By domain count it mostly is: 64.99% of enriched Handlebars domains belong to companies with 1-10 employees and 20.74% to companies with 11-50. The enterprise presence is real but small in share — PwC, Bank of America, HSBC, Allianz, SAP, Microsoft, Siemens, AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk all run Handlebars on production domains, and organisations with 10,001+ employees hold a low single-digit percentage of domains. Both facts matter: the volume is small teams, the weight is a handful of very large ones.

Company Size Distribution

Company Age (Founded Decade)

What Industries Use Handlebars the Most?

Which industries use Handlebars? Real Estate leads at 8.8% of enriched Handlebars domains, almost tied with Retail at 8.51%, then Retail Apparel and Fashion (3.07%), Insurance (1.94%) and Food and Beverage Services (1.77%). That top-two concentration is much sharper than the flat spreads elsewhere in this category — property listings and product catalogues are exactly the repeated-structure, data-driven pages a logic-less template engine is built for.

Real Estate6,691 (8.8%)
Retail6,475 (8.51%)
Retail Apparel and Fashion2,337 (3.07%)
Insurance1,472 (1.94%)
Food and Beverage Services1,346 (1.77%)
Individual and Family Services1,329 (1.75%)

How are specific industries using Handlebars? Financial services brands on Handlebars including Bank of America, HSBC, Allianz, Santander and State Farm use it in regulated environments where predictable, logic-free templates are an audit advantage. Healthcare and pharmaceutical organisations using Handlebars such as Kaiser Permanente, Roche, Medtronic, AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk apply it to content-heavy public sites. Professional services and technology firms including PwC, Microsoft, SAP and Concentrix round out the enterprise tier, based on our enriched company data at TechnologyChecker.io.

Handlebars Alternatives & Competitors

How does Handlebars compare to competitors? Handlebars ranks #40 at 0.25% in the JavaScript libraries category, based on our market share data across 29.9M live domains at TechnologyChecker.io. The rows above it — jQuery (18.51%), core-js (12.13%), jQuery Migrate (9.86%) — are general-purpose utilities, not templating rivals. Its genuine peer is Mustache (4.08%), which Handlebars extends with helpers and block expressions, alongside EJS and Pug. This profile publishes no switching numbers. Of the domains that have ever run both Handlebars and Modernizr, 88.3% still run both, with 87.4% for core-js, 86.2% for Lodash and 85.5% for Underscore.js; even the lowest pair we measured, RequireJS, sits at 71.4%. These libraries share a build rather than compete for a slot.

TechnologyDomainsMarket Share
A favicon of jQuery
jQuery
15,706,58918.51%
A favicon of core-js
core-js
10,291,22812.13%
A favicon of jQuery Migrate
jQuery Migrate
8,365,3679.86%
A favicon of jQuery UI
jQuery UI
4,787,1365.64%
A favicon of Swiper
Swiper
4,101,3644.83%

Tech Stack of Handlebars-Powered Websites

What technologies do Handlebars customers pair it with? Based on our analysis of 95,249 enriched companies at TechnologyChecker.io, Handlebars has the highest jQuery overlap of any library we track in this batch: jQuery appears on 97.15% of Handlebars domains, with core-js at 83.2%, Underscore.js at 46.26%, Lodash at 45.8% and Modernizr at 42.89%. This is a traditional server-rendered architecture almost without exception. Cloudflare (67.3%) fronts two-thirds and Google Analytics (58.66%) instruments most. The number that distinguishes Handlebars from its neighbours is what is missing: WordPress reaches only 15.38%, against the 80%+ website-builder concentration behind GSAP and RequireJS. Handlebars is chosen by developers, not shipped by a platform.

Analytics & Tag Management

A favicon of Google Analytics
Google Analytics
58,664 (58.66%)
A favicon of Cloudflare Browser Insights
Cloudflare Browser Insights
13,485 (13.48%)
A favicon of Adobe Analytics
Adobe Analytics
2,549 (2.55%)
WordPress.com Stats
930 (0.93%)
A favicon of MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights
786 (0.79%)

JavaScript Frameworks

A favicon of Backbone.js
Backbone.js
7,800 (7.8%)
A favicon of Vue.js
Vue.js
5,334 (5.33%)
A favicon of React
React
3,824 (3.82%)
A favicon of Mustache
Mustache
2,659 (2.66%)
A favicon of AMP
AMP
1,194 (1.19%)
A favicon of React Router
React Router
1,127 (1.13%)

CDN & Hosting

A favicon of Cloudflare
Cloudflare
67,298 (67.3%)
A favicon of cdnjs
cdnjs
27,279 (27.28%)
A favicon of Google Hosted Libraries
Google Hosted Libraries
22,649 (22.65%)
A favicon of jsDelivr
jsDelivr
17,347 (17.35%)
A favicon of jQuery CDN
jQuery CDN
7,281 (7.28%)
A favicon of Unpkg
Unpkg
3,862 (3.86%)

UI & CSS Frameworks

A favicon of Bootstrap
Bootstrap
29,000 (29%)
A favicon of Tailwind CSS
Tailwind CSS
9,342 (9.34%)
A favicon of Animate.css
Animate.css
5,463 (5.46%)
A favicon of Element UI
Element UI
5,071 (5.07%)
A favicon of Material UI
Material UI
2,454 (2.45%)
A favicon of ZURB Foundation
ZURB Foundation
2,096 (2.1%)

CMS & Website Builders

A favicon of WordPress
WordPress
15,375 (15.38%)
A favicon of Backdrop
Backdrop
2,896 (2.9%)
A favicon of Drupal
Drupal
508 (0.51%)
A favicon of Squarespace
Squarespace
275 (0.28%)
A favicon of Webflow
Webflow
252 (0.25%)

Handlebars Customer Reviews with Pros and Cons

Based on aggregated G2 reviews, Handlebars users praise its ease of use, template flexibility, and ability to keep code clean with smaller file sizes. The most common criticism is the learning curve around its unique syntax and the lack of standardized patterns across projects. We're continuing to collect G2 review data to expand this section.

Generated from real user reviews on G2

Pros
  • Users consistently praise the ease of use and template flexibility of Handlebars, noting that it simplifies the process of integrating data into web applications.
  • Many appreciate how it helps maintain cleaner code and reduces file sizes.
Cons
  • However, some users mention that it can be challenging to learn due to its unique syntax and lack of standardization.

Expert Analysis: Handlebars Growth Trends & Key Signals for Sales Teams in 2026

David Thomson
David ThomsonCTO, TechnologyChecker

Handlebars is the profile in this batch where the domain count is smallest and the signal is cleanest.

1. A Number You Can Trust

Handlebars runs on 211,982 active domains, #40 in JavaScript libraries at 0.25%. Both figures understate its standing, because the category is topped by utilities that ship almost everywhere — jQuery at 18.51%, core-js at 12.13% — and a specialised templating engine will never rank against those.

What makes this profile unusual is detection quality. 93.62% of Handlebars detections carry a version string, which can only come from reading the Handlebars.VERSION global off the live page. Compare GSAP at 40%. When a page is recorded as running Handlebars, it is almost always running Handlebars.

The current window rises, 172,042 → 211,982 across June to August 2026, but our total observed domains rose in step so I would not read that as growth. Churn is the honest measure and it is low: 26,418 domains dropped it since March 2026, roughly one in nine.

Sales Signal: A small list you can rely on beats a large one you cannot. Handlebars detections carry unusually little noise.

2. Nobody Installed This By Accident

The other two libraries in this batch are mostly platform artifacts: GSAP sits on WordPress or Wix on over 80% of its domains, RequireJS on GoDaddy or Wix on 81% of its. Handlebars reaches only 15.38% WordPress, and no builder appears in force behind it.

That makes it the one profile here where the domain count really does approximate a count of decisions. Someone chose Handlebars, wrote templates in it, and deployed them.

Sales Signal: This is the qualified list in this batch. Every domain represents a team that made a templating decision and can discuss it — which is not true of the GSAP or RequireJS populations.

3. Customer Profile, Industry and Geography

By count Handlebars is a small-team library: 64.99% of enriched domains belong to companies with 1-10 employees and 20.74% to companies with 11-50. But the enterprise tier is unusually regulated — PwC, Bank of America, HSBC, Allianz, Santander, State Farm, Kaiser Permanente, Roche, Medtronic, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk. Logic-free templates are an audit advantage when a compliance reviewer has to read them.

Real Estate leads the industry mix at 8.8%, effectively tied with Retail at 8.51% — a far sharper concentration than the flat 3-5% spreads elsewhere in this category. Both are listing-driven businesses that render the same page shape thousands of times, which is precisely the job Handlebars exists to do. Geographically the United States dominates with 39,273 domains, more than five times the United Kingdom's 6,976.

Sales Signal: Real estate and retail catalogue platforms are the highest-density segment. Regulated enterprises are the highest-value one, and they chose this library for reasons — auditability — that will not change.

4. Why This Profile Publishes No Switching Numbers

The test is what share of domains that ever ran both technologies still run both. For Handlebars and Modernizr it is 88.3%, core-js 87.4%, Lodash 86.2%, Underscore.js 85.5%, jQuery UI 83%, GSAP 79.8%. The lowest pair in the whole sweep is Handlebars and RequireJS at 71.4% — still well above the line where coexistence stops being the explanation.

The comparison people actually want is Handlebars against Mustache, since Handlebars is a superset of it. We publish no figure there either: sharing a build is the normal state for template engines, and a page carrying both tells you nothing about a decision.

Sales Signal: Treat any "migrating off Handlebars" list as co-occurrence data. The library's users are not leaving in measurable numbers — one in nine over five months.

5. The Handlebars Technology Stack

jQuery appears on 97.15% of Handlebars domains, the highest overlap of any profile in this batch and effectively universal. core-js follows at 83.2%, then Underscore.js (46.26%), Lodash (45.8%) and Modernizr (42.89%) — a stack built for browsers that needed help, maintained because it works.

Cloudflare fronts 67.3% and cdnjs serves 27.28%, with Google Analytics on 58.66%. On frameworks, Backbone.js (7.8%) actually outranks React (3.82%), which is a reversal of the modern pattern and tells you how much of this estate predates component architecture.

Sales Signal: Assume jQuery. Assume no build step. Products requiring a modern toolchain will not fit this population.

Key Takeaways

Handlebars holds 211,982 domains at 0.25%, ranking #40 in a category dominated by universal utilities. Its distinguishing feature is that the number is real: only 15.38% WordPress and no builder concentration, so these are deliberate installations, and 93.62% of detections carry a version string. It concentrates in Real Estate (8.8%) and Retail (8.51%) — listing-driven businesses — with a regulated enterprise tier that values logic-free templates for auditability. Churn is low at 26,418 domains since March 2026, and no switching table is published, because every measured pair sits above 71% still-both.

Sales Applications

For teams using TechnologyChecker.io, Handlebars supports three angles:

1. The cleanest list in the category: no builder inflation and 93.62% version-confirmed detections, so minimal filtering is needed before outreach.

2. Listing-driven verticals: Real Estate and Retail together are over 17% of domains, and their use case — rendering one page shape thousands of times — is the durable one.

3. Regulated enterprises: Bank of America, HSBC, Allianz, Kaiser Permanente, AstraZeneca. They picked a logic-less engine for auditability, which makes them poor targets for "more powerful templating" and good ones for tooling, testing and compliance.

Explore the full dataset at TechnologyChecker.io and filter by company size, geography and tech stack across 211,982 Handlebars domains with 95,249 enriched company profiles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who uses Handlebars?

We detect Handlebars on 211,982 domains, including Walmart Community Grants Team, PwC, Siemens AG. A detection means the technology is present on that domain, which for large organisations is often a single storefront or subdomain rather than a company-wide deployment. Among domains we matched to a company with a resolved industry, the most common is Real Estate (8.8%).

How many customers does Handlebars have?

We detect 211,982 domains running Handlebars across our monthly crawl of live business domains. Company data could be matched for 95,249 of them (44.9%), and every company-size, industry and country breakdown on this page describes that matched subset rather than the full detected base. A further 26,418 domains carried a Handlebars detection previously and no longer do.

What is Handlebars's market share?

Handlebars holds 0.25% of the JavaScript Libraries category, ranking #40. This is a share of the domains we detect running a platform in this category — not a share of all websites, and not a share of spending — so it is not directly comparable to figures published on other denominators.

What are the best alternatives to Handlebars?

The top alternatives to Handlebars include jQuery (18.51% market share), core-js (12.13% market share), jQuery Migrate (9.86% market share), jQuery UI (5.64% market share) — measured as a share of the domains we detect running a platform in this category.

Which countries use Handlebars the most?

United States leads with 39,273 matched Handlebars domains, followed by United Kingdom (6,976), Germany (4,719), Canada (4,630), Australia (3,808). These are counts within the 95,249 domains we could match to a company record, not the full detected base.

What size companies use Handlebars?

The most common company size is 1-10 employees, representing 64.99% of the Handlebars domains we could match to a company record and size — a subset of 95,249 matched companies, not of all 211,982 detected domains. This is followed by 11-50 employees (20.74%) and 51-200 employees (7.6%).

How old are companies that use Handlebars?

Among the Handlebars domains we could match to a company with a known founding date, most were founded in the 2010s (39.01%), followed by the 2000s (16.95%). That matched subset is drawn from 95,249 companies and is not representative of all 211,982 detected domains. This suggests Handlebars is most popular among relatively young companies.

What is the ideal customer profile for Handlebars?

The ideal Handlebars customer is: Company Size: Enterprise (10,001+ employees), Location: US, UK, or Germany, City: New York, London, Seattle, Bonn, Founded: 2010-2019, Company Age: ~10-15 years old — based on our analysis of 95,249 enriched companies at TechnologyChecker.io.

Do people still use Handlebars?

Yes. Our data shows 211,982 active domains running Handlebars, and we do not publish a decline figure — our current crawl window covers June to August 2026 and Handlebars rose across it, though largely because our crawl widened. Churn is low: 26,418 domains dropped it since March 2026, about one in nine. It remains widely used for server-side rendering, email templates and PDF generation.

What are the biggest companies using Handlebars?

Enterprises we currently detect running Handlebars include PwC, Bank of America, Microsoft, SAP, HSBC, Allianz, Siemens, Kaiser Permanente, AstraZeneca and Lowe's. Most deploy it for server-side templating in content-heavy or regulated environments. They are not typical of the base by count — 64.99% of Handlebars domains belong to companies with 1-10 employees.

What is Handlebars used for?

Handlebars is a JavaScript templating library that creates reusable templates by combining HTML, text, and expressions. It's primarily used for server-side rendering in Node.js applications, email template generation, PDF creation, and static site generation. Its logic-less philosophy keeps presentation separate from business logic, making it popular in enterprise environments that require strict template governance.

Is Handlebars a framework?

No, handlebars is a templating engine, not a full framework. Unlike React or Vue, which provide component architecture and state management, Handlebars focuses solely on rendering templates from data. It's often used with Express.js via the hbs module for server-side rendering. It provides no built-in routing, data fetching, or application structure.

Why use Handlebars over React or Vue?

Handlebars works best for server-side rendering where you don't need client-side interactivity. It is lighter than React or Vue, has no virtual DOM overhead, and integrates directly with Node.js email services and PDF generators. The two are not really alternatives in practice — our data shows only 3.82% of Handlebars domains also run React, and Backbone.js actually appears more often at 7.8%. Handlebars estates are predominantly traditional server-rendered stacks, with jQuery on 97.15% of them, rather than hybrid React architectures.

What are Handlebars expressions?

Handlebars expressions are content enclosed by double curly braces, like {{firstname}}, that get replaced with data values at render time. Expressions can reference data fields, use built-in helpers like {{#each}} for iteration, or call custom helpers you define. This lets you extend templating functionality without adding business logic to the template itself.

Is Handlebars compatible with Mustache?

Yes, handlebars is largely compatible with Mustache templates. In most cases, you can swap Mustache with Handlebars and keep using existing templates. Handlebars extends Mustache with helpers, partials, and block expressions while maintaining the logic-less philosophy. This compatibility helped Handlebars gain adoption during the Ruby-to-Node.js migration wave from 2012-2016.

What companies are migrating away from Handlebars?

We publish no such figure, and the reason is worth explaining. A switching query cannot distinguish "replaced Handlebars with X" from "added X alongside Handlebars", and in this category it is nearly always the second: every pair we measured sits above 71% still-both, reaching 88.3% for Modernizr and 87.4% for core-js. What we can report is total churn — 26,418 domains have dropped Handlebars since March 2026, roughly one in nine — with no named destination, because we cannot observe where they went.

What tech stack commonly pairs with Handlebars?

Handlebars domains most commonly run jQuery (97.15%), core-js (83.2%), Underscore.js (46.26%), Lodash (45.8%) and Modernizr (42.89%). The near-total jQuery overlap signals traditional server-rendered architectures rather than modern single-page apps — as does Backbone.js (7.8%) outranking React (3.82%). Cloudflare fronts 67.3% of these domains.

Is Handlebars still maintained?

Yes, Handlebars is actively maintained on GitHub as handlebars-lang/handlebars.js. Development focuses on security patches and compatibility rather than new features, the library reached maturity years ago. Our detection data shows stable enterprise usage despite declining overall adoption, which indicates Handlebars remains reliable for organizations prioritizing stability.

What industries use Handlebars the most?

Based on our enriched company data, Real Estate leads at 8.8% of Handlebars domains, almost tied with Retail at 8.51%, then Retail Apparel and Fashion (3.07%), Insurance (1.94%) and Food and Beverage Services (1.77%). Listing and catalogue businesses dominate because they render the same page structure thousands of times, which is what a logic-less template engine is for. The enterprise tier skews to regulated sectors — financial services (Bank of America, HSBC, Allianz, Santander, State Farm) and healthcare (Kaiser Permanente, Roche, Medtronic, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk).

Should I use Handlebars for new projects in 2026?

For most new projects, modern frameworks like Next.js or Nuxt offer better developer experience and performance. However, Handlebars remains a solid choice for server-side email templating, PDF generation, or projects that need Mustache compatibility. If you don't need client-side interactivity and want minimal dependencies, Handlebars delivers. For dynamic web apps, React or Vue provide superior tooling.

How does Handlebars compare to EJS and Pug?

Handlebars uses a logic-less approach where templates contain minimal logic. EJS allows full JavaScript in templates, offering more flexibility but risking mixed concerns. Pug uses indentation-based syntax that's concise but has a steeper learning curve. Handlebars offers the best separation of concerns among the three, though it requires custom helpers for complex logic.

Handlebars Overview
Customers
211,982
Companies Analyzed
95,249
Market Share
0.25%
Category Rank
#40
Top Country
United States
Top Industry
Real Estate
Handlebars Customer ICP

Based on 95,249 company data

Company Size
Enterprise (10,001+ employees)
Location
US, UK, or Germany
City
New York, London, Seattle, Bonn
Founded
2010-2019
Company Age
~10-15 years old
About Our Data

These insights include all TechnologyChecker.io detections of Handlebars (free & paid plans).

Total Detections2.08B
Detection History+20 Years
Domains Crawled29.9M
Technologies44K+
Company Match Rate44.9%