What is the best Template engine for 22+

[wide laurel]

This is probably a silly question, but I wanted to have a few routes resolved with a template.

I was looking at the landscape of options in npmJS.
Btw, I’m using node 22, typescript and esm.

I initially picked Pug, but I didn’t like its syntax. Then I was eyeing Twig as I’ve worked with it in another project long time ago, thought it seems it’s not that popular, aka might not support esm, haven’t checked actually.

Then I saw EJS which seems like a very popular in npmJS. I’ve wired it up, but I noticed that it doesn’t really have a way to support layouts, only includes. I can live with that I guess.

So my question is if this library is a solid choice or , old and bloated nowadays. Or should I keep looking for other ones. Thanks 🙏

[rigid dagger]

https://handlebarsjs.com/

[unkempt flint]

I still prefer Pug, the source files are half the line count because all the visual noise of closing tags are gone.

But 99% of the time I use Vue.