View Template Engines

JavaScript (Node.js)

Template Engine	Notes	When to Use
EJS	Familiar HTML with <% %> tags.	When you want straightforward HTML templating with embedded JS; great for small to medium apps.
Pug (Jade)	Indentation-based, terse syntax.	When you prefer concise syntax and don’t mind indentation-based structure. Great for rapid prototyping.
Handlebars (hbs)	Logic-less templates with {{}}.	When you want separation of logic and view, with helpers and partials. Often used with Express.
Mustache	Simpler than Handlebars, also logic-less.	When you need simple rendering without logic-heavy templates, great for shared templates across platforms.
Nunjucks	Jinja2-inspired with inheritance.	When you want template inheritance, macros, and a richer feature set; good for larger projects.
Marko	Streaming, fast rendering, component-based.	When performance is key, or you want component-driven server-side rendering.
LiquidJS	Shopify-inspired Liquid templates.	When you’re building an app that requires safe, user-editable templates or you’re integrating with Shopify.

Python

Template Engine	Notes	When to Use
Jinja2	Flask’s default, Django-like syntax.	When you need powerful templating with control structures; widely used with Flask and other frameworks.
Django Templates	Integrated with Django.	When you’re using Django and want tight integration with its features (tags, filters, inheritance).
Mako	More Pythonic, powerful.	When you need advanced features like inline Python and performance.
Chameleon	Fast XML/HTML rendering.	When performance is critical and you prefer compatibility with XML-based systems (e.g. Zope, Pyramid).
Tornado Templates	Lightweight, part of Tornado framework.	When you’re using Tornado for async web apps and want simple templating.

Java

Template Engine	Notes	When to Use
Thymeleaf	Modern, Spring-friendly.	When you’re using Spring Boot and want modern HTML templates with easy integration.
Freemarker	Very flexible, widely used.	When you need complex templating with lots of customization; used in Spring, Struts, etc.
JSP (JavaServer Pages)	Part of Java EE, verbose.	When you’re in a legacy Java EE environment or using Java web containers like Tomcat.
Velocity	Older, Apache project.	When working on older codebases or needing email templating.
Pebble	Similar to Thymeleaf, modern.	When you want a modern, lightweight alternative with easy syntax and support for Spring Boot.

Ruby

Template Engine	Notes	When to Use
ERB	Embedded Ruby, Rails default.	When using Rails, or when you need simple, direct embedding of Ruby code in HTML.
Haml	Indentation-based.	When you like concise, whitespace-sensitive templates and want to avoid closing tags.
Slim	Very terse, even more concise than Haml.	When you want minimal syntax and super clean templates.

PHP

Template Engine	Notes	When to Use
Blade	Laravel’s powerful engine.	When using Laravel; supports components, slots, and easy control structures.
Twig	Symfony’s default, Django-inspired.	When using Symfony or other frameworks; good for separation of logic and presentation.
Smarty	Plugin-friendly, older.	When working with legacy apps or when you want caching and plugin support.

.NET (C#)

Template Engine	Notes	When to Use
Razor	ASP.NET’s default.	When using ASP.NET MVC, Razor Pages, or Blazor; great for mixing C# and HTML.
Spark	Flexible DSL for HTML.	When you want an alternative to Razor with different syntax; less common today.