Echo

The pragmatic middle ground for Go web development. Echo gives you routing, middleware, and request binding without the kitchen-sink complexity of full frameworks, but with more structure than the standard library alone. If you're building an API in Go and want something that just works, Echo is the safe bet.

Gin is the most popular Go framework and Echo's direct competitor — similar performance, larger ecosystem. Chi is more minimalist, closer to net/http. Fiber is Express-inspired and faster in benchmarks but uses fasthttp, which breaks some standard library compatibility.

Echo's middleware ecosystem is mature: JWT auth, CORS, rate limiting, logging — all built in. The documentation is solid, and the API is stable. You won't fight breaking changes between versions.

The catch: Echo's popularity has plateaued while Fiber gains momentum. The framework is reliable but not exciting — no recent innovations, and the community is less active than Gin's. If you want bleeding-edge performance, Fiber wins. If you want the largest ecosystem, Gin wins. Echo is the dependable middle child.