This post is a detailed guide to deciding which solution is best for you: Angular vs React vs Vue.js.

Only a few years ago, programmers were primarily debating whether to use Angular or React for their applications. However, in recent years, there has been a rise in interest in a new player known as vue.js.

This tutorial should assist if you’re a developer just beginning on a project and can’t decide which JavaScript platform to employ.

A Quick Overview – Angular vs React vs Vue.js

Angular, React, and Vue.js are among the most popular JavaScript frameworks for modern web development. Here’s a quick overview to help you understand their key differences and decide which one suits your project best.

Exploring Angular

Google’s Angular was released in 2010, giving it the eldest of the bunch. It is a JavaScript framework based on TypeScript. With the release of Angular 2 in 2016 (and the removal of the “JS” from the original moniker – AngularJS), a significant shift happened. Angular 2+ is also known as Angular. Although AngularJS (version 1) is currently receiving upgrades, we will concentrate on Angular.

Key Features

  • Angular is a comprehensive framework with a steep learning curve, suitable for large-scale applications and enterprise-level development.
  • It offers a complete solution for building web applications, with features such as a built-in dependency injection system, two-way data binding, and comprehensive routing.
  • Angular is built and maintained by Google, with a large and active community and extensive documentation.

Exploring React

React is indeed an open-source front-end Javascript for creating component-based user interfaces. It was created in 2013 by Facebook and is presently managed by the open-source community and Facebook. Because of the ease with which it allows the creation of web applications, it is the most extensively used JavaScript-based library. Furthermore, in addition to designing UI, it provides various features, including Flux and React Native.

Key Features

  • React is a lightweight library, focused on building user interfaces, and suitable for developing single-page applications.
  • It offers a component-based architecture, allowing for reusability and easy management of complex user interfaces.
  • React uses a virtual DOM, which allows for efficient updates and high performance, even for large-scale applications.
  • React is developed and maintained by Facebook, with a large and active community and extensive ecosystem of libraries and tools.

Because each element in a react application acts as a building block, the application is highly reusable. JavaScript reusable components save time and complexity.

Exploring Vue.js

Vue.js, often known as vue.js, is the group’s newest member. Evan You, a former Google employee, created it in 2014. vue.js has witnessed a significant increase in popularity over the last few years, despite the fact that a huge corporation does not back it. On the official vue.js website’s releases page, the most recent version is always announced. Patreon provides funding for vue.js contributors. It should be mentioned that vue.js has its own GitHub source and uses TypeScript.

Key Features

  • Vue is a progressive framework, offering a gradual learning curve and suitable for building small to medium-sized applications.
  • It offers a flexible and versatile architecture, allowing for easy integration with existing projects and libraries.
  • Vue uses a template-based syntax, which is easy to understand and write, making it a great choice for beginners.
  • Vue is developed and maintained by a small team of core developers, with a growing and active community and a fast-growing ecosystem of libraries and tools.

Angular vs React vs Vue.js – Structure

Angular

The original framework, AngularJS, is an MVC framework. However, because Angular 2 is also component-based, there is no tight relationship with MV*-patterns.

Angular projects are divided into Modules, Components, and Services. There is, at most, one root element and one root modules in every Angular application.

Each Angular component includes a Template, a Class that specifies the app logic, and MetaData. The metadata for a component instructs Angular where to look for the building components required to develop and display its view.

Angular templates are created in HTML, but they can also incorporate Angular template syntax, which includes extra directives for output reactive data and rendering multiple items, among other things.

Components in Angular employ Services to delegate business-logic responsibilities like obtaining data or validating input. They are an essential component of Angular apps. While Angular does not require their use, it is strongly advised to structure apps as a collection of discrete services that may be reused.

Because Angular is written in TypeScript, it is suggested that you utilise it for the best experience, but ordinary JavaScript is also accepted.

React

React does not require a specific structure for the project, and as the official “Hello World” example below shows, you can get started with React only with just a few code lines.

basic starting code for a React application

Because React may be used as a UI toolkit to render elements without requiring a particular project structure, it isn’t exactly a framework.

React Elements are the simplest components of React apps. They are much more effective than DOM elements since the React DOM ensures that they are updated as soon as something changes.

Components are significant building blocks that create self-contained, reusable sections that can be utilised throughout the programme. They accept prop inputs and generate elements which are then presented to the user.

An example of the simplest way of defining a component

React is built on JavaScript, although it is primarily paired with JSX (JavaScript XML), a grammar extension that allows users to create elements that include both HTML and JavaScript.

Anything made with JSX could also be made with the React JavaScript API. However, most people prefer JSX because it is more intuitive.

Also read:- Advantages of ReactJS

Vue.js

The vue.js core library focuses exclusively on the View layer. It’s termed a progressive framework since its functionality may be expanded by standard and third-party packages like vue.js Router or Vuex to make it a genuine framework.

Although the MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) pattern is not technically related with vue.js, it was somewhat influenced by it. With vue.js, you’ll largely be working on the ViewModel layer, ensuring that the app data is processed in such a way that the framework can generate an up-to-date View.

The templating syntax in vue.js allows you to create View components by combining familiar HTML with specific directives and capabilities. Although basic JavaScript and JSX are supported, this templating syntax is preferable.

Vue.js components are small, self-contained units that can be reused across the application. SFCs with the vue.js extension include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, allowing all relevant code to be contained in a one file.

SFCs are the preferred method of organising code in big vue.js projects. SFCs must be transpiled into functioning JavaScript code using tools like Webpack or Browserify.

A simple Vue.js application typically consists of the following parts:

  1. An HTML template that defines the structure and layout of the user interface.
  2. A JavaScript file that defines the Vue instance and its properties and methods. This is where the logic of the application is defined.
  3. A CSS file that defines the styling of the user interface.

HTML file:-

JavaScript file:

Angular vs React vs Vue – Popularity

FrameworkGoogle Trends (Last 5 years)GitHub StarsStack Overflow Questions
AngularSteady decline since 201873.9k88.3k
ReactSteady increase since 2018193k214k
VueSteady increase since 2017206k135k

There are various methods for determining a technology’s or framework’s popularity. For this piece, we checked various sources to determine how popular each one is in these areas: Google searches, npm downloads, Github stars and the most popular technology.

Google Searches and Trends: 

If we go to Google Trends and compare the three frameworks, we obtain the following graphic:

We recognise that React is among the most popular, whereas VUE.js is the least popular.

npm Downloads:

If we look at npm trends for the amount of downloads, every framework has had in the last year, and we can see that React is the most popular.

GitHub Stars:

According to the graph below, the framework with the most stars on Github is vue.js, trailed by React and lastly Angular. We added Angular.js stars, to be honest, to this framework, whereas when they migrated from Angular.js to Angular, they created a new repository; therefore, all the stars they had at the start were lost.

Demand:

Finally, let us emphasise the need for each framework. To obtain the information, we conducted several LinkedIn searches, taking into consideration the outcomes of job searches in the EU and the US.

According to this graph, the most popular framework is React, followed by Angular and finally, vue.js.

Angular, React, and vue.js are all actively being developed. They release new versions on a regular basis and keep the old ones updated. You can utilise any of these frameworks with confidence because the present level of assistance is high in each case.

It’s worth noting that Angular isn’t developing as quickly as it once did, whereas vue.js, despite starting more recently, appears to be growing rapidly.

Angular vs React vs Vue – Key Differences

FeatureAngularReactVue.js
LanguageTypeScript (JavaScript superset)JavaScriptJavaScript
Learning CurveSteepModerateShallow
CommunityLarge and activeLarge and activeGrowing
PerformanceGoodExcellentGood
DOM (Document Object Model) ManipulationReal DOMVirtual DOMVirtual DOM
ComponentsComponents-basedComponents-basedComponents-based
Data BindingTwo-way data bindingOne-way data binding (with hooks)Two-way data binding
Mobile SupportNativeScript (with Angular)React NativeWeex (with Vue.js)
Developer ExperienceGoodGoodGood
Angular vs React vs Vue.js

Final say

As previously indicated, we can’t anticipate which frameworks will be useful in the long run, but each project has a strong community behind this one and is always evolving.

There are a few issues to think about before diving into a new framework.

First, the experience of your staff can be a crucial factor when selecting a new technology.

Similarly, you must examine the talent accessible in your area in order to hire software developers for your project.

Finally, the complexity and scale of the project can have an impact on the framework you choose.                                                 

By considering all of the important distinctions, I hope you can determine which front-end framework is appropriate for your objectives and requirements.

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