While this is true at some level, there are certain benefits to performance tested, well-thought-out libraries that encapsulate good approaches to problems the standard library does not solve.

I think the bigger problem was that it seemed like a whole bunch of folks wanted to be the one to write "the next big web framework", and they didn't really understand the value and usability of the standard library. Those frameworks are generally not necessary.

Echo is not those frameworks. It's worth a look at the value it provides rather than knee-jerking "no frameworks!".

Absurd statement. For starters: the mux/router included with the standard http library isn't particularly good or performant, which is why most of these projects like gin and httprouter were started in the first place. You'd also have to roll your own middleware implementation, which means you'll end up with your own framework at some point regardless.