It is believed that User-Experience is the main reason for the success of any website. That is why, for any digital solution, the user interface is given the utmost priority. Due to this reason, business owners always want to have such websites, which can satisfy their customers. And a good user interface can only be obtained from a good frontend framework. That’s why we should choose the best Frontend Frameworks for our web application.
Although we have many front-end frameworks available, it is quite difficult to choose the best and ideal one among them, as each one is different on its own. So, Today we are going to present you this article on a popularly debated topic which is “Angular vs Vue vs React”.
Although there are so many Javascript frameworks, among them these three are the most popular and used technology. A few years back, developers were debating over Angular and React js, on choosing one for their project. But for many years, a different interest has been seen for Vue js, so today we will talk battle of comparison over these three and will see which one is excellent.
Let’s move ahead with our discussion
Angular vs React vs Vue – The Complete Overview
Before getting into the technical aspects, let’s first have some basic knowledge of these three frameworks and see how they have come.
AngularJS
Angular is an open-source typescript-based framework, which is led by Google. Since it was initially released in 2010, it is oldest among the all. In 2016, Angular 2 was released, a complete rewrite of Angular JS. This framework follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) approach.
Angular js offers extraordinary features, which allow developers to have complete control over a UI, User-input, validating forms, routing management, and much more. Angular offers a wide range of features and allows you to test, build and manage your app efficiently. Many giant companies like Google, Forbes, Whatsapp, and others are using this technology.
Features of AngularJS
Architecture
Angular is based on MVC architecture, which separates the architecture into three layers. Model, View, and Controller. Due to this approach, the logic, presentation, and application parts are separated. So, application management is handled in a fluent way.
Data Binding
For implementing the data-binding functionality, there is no need to write any different codes. With the use of some snippets, data can be easily bound from HTML code to the application control.
Code Less and Function More
A coder can write less code and perform more functionality with the same code. The filter functionality of Angular provides the functionality to write less code.
Template Engine
With Template Engine, one can develop the user interface quickly and smoothly with the use of various template options.
Pros of AngularJS
- Offers excellent app performance
- Best option for creating large-scale applications with extensive in-built features
- Having well-structured codes, which is beneficial for complex-level projects.
- Embraces the Angular-CLI command tool
- Angular js projects are easily scalable, expandable, and can be developed quickly.
- Offers offline support and PWA capabilities for web applications
- Having stronger community support
Cons of Angular JS
- There is no server authentication and authorization for Angular, so apps are less secure
- It is totally dependent on Javascript, without JS theAngular pages will look like basic pages
- There are many ways to perform tasks, so it becomes difficult to choose the most optimized way to perform the task
React JS
React is an open-source frontend library, mainly used for designing applications using UI components. It was initially released in 2013 and supported by Facebook and Instagram.
React has maintained its position due to its outstanding features and functionalities. It uses virtual DOM, which makes it easier to compare the previous HTML code differences and only loads the different parts. Additionally, it provides you tool, which helps you to decide what to render and when. This improves the app loading time and enhances performance.
Despite being the Youngest technology, Reactjs is the fastest growing among all. Leading brands like Netflix, Uber, PayPal, etc have shown interest in React JS.
Features of React JS
Component Model
React js does not use any templates. The logic of the component is written in Javascript, which provides flexibility and enables a large amount of data to pass through your applications. However, this approach is used in most of all frontend frameworks, But React was the first to introduce this approach.
Virtual DOM
Virtual DOM is the simple copy of the DOM to be created. The changes which need to be done are first implemented in the Virtual DOM. Later, both the DOMs are compared and differences are checked, then the real DOM will modify only the changed part. This process is much faster and smoother than the Real DOM part.
One-Way Data Binding
The one-way data binding is an advantage for Reactjs. It makes the view react to any changes which have been implemented in the Model, but the View changes cannot affect the model. This way data only flows in one direction and reduces the possibility of errors.
React Native
React uses React Native, (which is an affiliate framework), rather than a web component to facilitate the development of mobile applications. These applications can include native building blocks and look the same as the app built with Java or C. React Native apps have much higher performance and they are superior to Native Apps.
Want to know more about React Native, and find which is better React or React Native? Read this article – React vs React Native
Pros of React JS
- It ensures faster loading
- Developing dynamic web applications with React js is easier
- Offers less coding and more functionality
- Reusable components make your app easier to develop and maintain
- The Virtual DOM enables smoother and faster performance
- You can make React application SEO-friendly by implementing React SEO practices
- React applications are extremely easy to test and maintain
Cons of React JS
- It only focuses on the View layer of an application
- The framework updates frequently, which results in poor documentation
- Migrating data from React js can be time-consuming
Angular vs React vs Vue – Market Growth
Angular JS
As per the BuiltWith Reports, there are 1,098,987 currently live websites of Angular JS. The majority of its customers belong to the United States. In GitHub, it has 84.7k Stars and 22.5k Forks. Angular JS has been used by 2.1 million of developers.
React JS
According to Statista Reports, React js has become the most-used web framework among software developers worldwide in 2022, and 46.62 percent of people are using React currently. In GitHub, it contains 197k Stars and 41k Forks. It powers 2 million websites.
Vue JS
W3tech says that Vue JS is used by 0.9 % of all websites, whose JS library we know. Vue version 2 is more popular and it is used by almost 94% of all the websites of Vue JS. In GitHub, it has acquired 201k Stars and 33k Forks.
As, you can see Vue JS has acquired more stars from the rest, which means it is the most lovable framework over Angular and React JS.
Now, we will see the comparison chart for these three on the basis of Market trends
| Stars | Forks | Latest Version | License | Weekly Downloads | |
| Angular JS | 84.7k | 22.5k | 1.8.3 | MIT | 445,899 |
| React JS | 197k | 41k | 18.2.0 | MIT | 16,475,922 |
| Vue JS | 201k | 33k | 2.7.14 | MIT | 3,213,387 |
Angular vs React vs Vue – The Detailed Comparison
Although Reactjs, Angular, and Vue, are the current web development trends and technologies. So, Let’s observe them from different perspectives
Performance
Angular JS
As Angular js uses the real DOM instead of Virtual DOM, that’s why it renders the applications slower than both React and Vue due to its Real DOM implementation. That means whenever any changes require in the app, it will affect the entire tree structure, which results in poorer performance in large mobile applications.
React JS
Reacjs uses virtual DOM instead of Real DOM, whenever any changes occur, it compares the changes in both the DOM, then modifies accordingly which results in better performance. Moreover, Performance is the major advantage of React js, and it offers numerous features which make it possible for delivering efficiency.
There is also support for server-side rendering, which improves performance, search engine visibility, and social sharing content.
Vue JS
When it comes to performance, Vue JS is incredibly the best. It is extremely useful in complicated programs. It might be as small as 20KB while maintaining speed and versatility, which allows it to achieve a significant performance than others. The manageable size of Vue and its ability to implement parts, make it the best choice.
Learning Curve
Angular JS
Among all the three, Angular is a complicated and vast framework. It is a full-blown framework with a large set of concepts. Apart from components, it also provides support for Modules and services. Therefore, when starting with Angular, you need to understand all the concepts first. When scaling your project, you are expected to write and design the codebase in a particular manner, which would help you in your project maintenance. Therefore, the learning curve for Angular is not as simple as that.
React JS
The learning curve of React js is very much simple compared to other programming languages. As it is built on top of the Javascript framework. It has HTML-like syntax and in-depth documentation, which makes it best for developers who want to learn and implement.
For React, you have to first learn JSX, which is quite simple. Then you have to go through the routing library and state management. Overall, React js is not much complicated.
Vue JS
Vue offers a higher level of customizability than Angular and React JS, which makes it easy to learn. It is simple to understand than both because it is more adaptable. The other benefit of Vue is, it can be easily integrated with other frameworks in terms of their functionality and their components. Vue js offers simplicity, but its downside is, it allows the developers to write poor codes, which is difficult to test and debug for complex processes.
Framework Size
Angular JS
Size is absolutely a matter of concern while developing any web application because it is directly related to the application’s performance. Because, before the app become functional, both the application and framework need to be downloaded. However, AngularJS is the heaviest of all with 143kb. So, if you are looking to build large-scale applications, then Angular is the best choice.
React JS
While using React, you don’t have to bother about a huge list of libraries. The size of Reactjs is 43k along with varieties of features and chart library. This enables developers to create templates for testing utilities.
Vue JS
Vue JS is the light-weight among all, with a size of 23k. It is a very simple, easy-to-use, and flexible Javascript framework that simplifies web development. It helps you to keep your code efficient with a balance of internal dependencies and flexibilities.
Components
Angular JS
In Angular components are called directives. They are just the markers on the DOM elements, which Angular can track and attach specific behavior. Therefore, Angular separates the UI part of components like HTML tags, and their behavior in the form of Javascript.
React JS
React js combines the UI and the behavior of components. In React the code is only responsible for creating UI elements and dictating their behavior.
Vue JS
In Vue js, the components are highly intuitive. Vue is highly customizable, which allows you to combine UI and the behavior of components within a script. It is great for integrating with other libraries like Bootstrap.
Data-Binding
Angular JS
Data binding is the automatic synchronization of data between the view and the model. In Angular js, you can use build a template that can build different components with a different model. This way, whenever the HTML or component view differs, the bound model also changes.
With two-way data binding applications,’ the presentation layer remains very simple which results in a clean UI. Complex data and manipulations can be done easily.
React JS
React used one-way data binding, first, the model will be updated then it will change the interface element. But if you change the interface element, the model will remain the same.
Vue JS
Like Angular, the data-binding in Vue is two-way. It synchronizes the entire model with the DOM mechanically. This states that all the Vue templates are fundamentally legal, with few extra features.
Eco-system
While choosing any framework or library, it is important to look at the availability of ready-to-use components and themes, which would help you to build new features easily.
Angular JS
Angular is slightly different if we look at its ecosystem. Angular has many official components by Google, which offers material design components for applications.
You can build cross-platform mobile applications with Angular JS using NativeScript, which also supports Vue, but Angular support is better.
Angular is a part of the Mean stack, which combines Angular with MongoDB, Express JS, and Node JS. The good thing about this is, it is powered by using only one language Javascript.
React JS
In Reactjs, finding components and ready-to-use material is extremely easy because it has vast resources available on Google and GitHub. React’s ecosystem includes React Native, which is widely used for developing IOS or mobile applications from a single code base written in React JS.
Moreover, React js is a part of the MERN stack, which includes MongoDB, Express JS, Next js, and Node js. It also relies on the single language Javascript.
Vue JS
Earlier, it was harder to find the available components in Vue JS. But now the community has grown, there is a wide range of input components and elements which can speed up your development process.
Vue js easily integrates with Laravel, so both of them can be easily integrated with each other. They are often used together.
Future Growth
Angular JS
Ivy Compiler has been recently introduced by Angular JS, due to which build times have been reduced, assets are optimized, and testing times are speeding up. This has improved the developer’s experience greatly.
The angular framework comes with often updates, it releases updates generally multiple times a year. These updates introduced new features and capabilities. Since last year, weekly downloads of Angular have also grown.
React JS
React js will not go anywhere, it has been ranked number one globally by Stackoverflow. Hence, it is ahead in the race of competitors. In countries like US and India, React is the first choice. The number of job opportunities has also increased after the pandemic. So, it seems that it will not dominate in the upcoming years too.
Moreover, the library is backed up by the Facebook team, which ensures that the tool is continuously updated with the latest features and functionalities. So, if developers want to go ahead with React, they should definitely work on their skills. If business owners want to build their applications with React js, it is indeed the best option.
Vue JS
The latest version of Vue is a much-needed update, which has made the Vue more suitable for large-scale projects. It is in fact the fastest-growing framework. Vue’s downloads have grown by 87% now. If it’s continuously growing like this then it is sure it will suppress Angular for sure.
Angular vs React vs Vue – Short Summary
Let’s have a look at some direct head-to-head comparisons between Angular vs Vue, Vue vs React and React vs Angular
| React vs Angular | Both framework or library is used for mobile and web app development. But Angular JS is preferred for complex-level applications which are enterprise-ready. Sometimes, React requires some extra tools and libraries to integrate which keeps the library small, but also increases the extra work of integrating outside tools. On the other side, Angular JS is a full-fledged solution that doesn’t require any extra libraries to put on. Moreover, it has a steeper learning curve than React JS. |
| React vs Vue | The battle between React vs Vue is debatable and it is difficult to find the best one. Vue has ever grown in popularity and has taken over React js popularity. The React developers are also introducing new components, so there’s no reason, it will be declined further. Compared to React js Vue js is more suitable for complex and small applications and extremely easier to learn for beginners. While React can be easily integrated into existing projects. The use of HTML and JSX is an advantage. Vue is best for beginners while Reactjs is the best choice for experienced programmers |
| Angular vs Vue | They are widely different libraries with different sets of features and learning curves. Vue js is the best choice for beginners and less experienced developers. Angular JS is preferred for large apps. A large library like Angular would require more attention to keep up with the updates while Vue JS will be less demanding in the future because its latest releases are in two separate repositories helps. |
Now, let’s look at the comparison chart between Angular vs Vue vs React JS.
| Angular JS | Vue JS | React JS | |
| Launched Year | 2010 | 2014 | 2013 |
| Developed By | Evan You | ||
| Use Cases | Progressive web apps, hybrid mobile apps and enterprise-level web applications. | Dynamic single page applications and web apps | Dynamic and single page apps React and Native Mobile apps with React JS |
| Community | Large community as it is the oldest | It has a growing community and mainly consists of open-source contributors and freelancers | Having vast community and Facebook developers are a part of community |
| Functionality | Functionality can be easily extended with third-party libraries | Extensive functionality out of the box, makes applications more heavy-weight | Wider varieties of third-party services for React JS, due to library’s bigger popularity |
| Programming Language | Typescript for better performance | Based on Pure Javascript | Based on Javascript |
| Ease of Developers | Angular JS, is the oldest technology and you can find the Angular js developers easily | Vue js is gaining popularity, therefore many strong Vuejs developers are there in the market | Reactjs is a currently popular frontend framework, therefore you can get to hire Reactjs developers easily |
| Learning Curve | Steep | Gradual | Smooth |
Angular vs React vs Vue – The Conclusion
All three are best as per use-cases. Angular js is robust, while React is flexible and Vue js is simple and high-performing. But the final library depends upon the project and its requirements and the vision you are having for your web application. So, we recommend you first, understand all your requirements and then choose the best front-end technology as per your requirements.
Here, UPSQODE can assist you in guiding the best frontend development technology of your choice, if you have any queries you can contact us.