Vue vs React vs Angular: What Framework Would You Choose?

3. The 2021 year edition of JavaScript Rising Stars that estimate the number of stars added on GitHub annually shows striking statistics: React is the top UI framework  with 18.5k stars for the first time since JavaScript Rising Stars, leaving React with 14.3k stars in second place and Angular.js 9,3k stars in fourth.

4. Searching on indeed on February 21, 2022, showed the following results: React has 67,301 job offerings, Angular has 24,508 job offerings, and Vue.js has 3,857.

Therefore, we can undoubtedly claim that React is a winner in terms of finding a job and its long-lasting popularity among the developers. Though, we can also witness Vue.js vs React opposition getting intensified as to Vue.js community adherence. Angular is also keeping its stable middle position getting positive feedback from both: developers and employers.

Angular, Vue.js and React components

The performance of the framework is determined by the most valuable parts — its components. Their workflow is related to the way in which it receives the input data, and the way it responds to that data. In general, a component receives input and alters its behavior in response to it. A modification in the UI of a certain portion of the webpage usually reflects a shift in behavior. The usage of a particular set reusing code is a breeze. A basket on an e-commerce site or a signup button on a social platform are examples of components.

Angular

Components of Angular are named directives. They are markers on DOM elements, which are tracked by Angular. Angular separates the UI parts of components as attributes of HTML tags and their behavior in the form of JavaScript code. When comparing Angular with React, this is what makes it distinct.

React

Contrary to Angular, React combines the UI and components behavior. For example, below is the code for a React Hello World element. To put it simply, the same part of the code is responsible for UI element creation and command of its behavior.

Vue.js

In Vue.js UI and behavior are a part of the components. The framework is also very customizable which allows combining UI and components behavior within a script. In addition, instead of simply using CSS, you may utilize what was before in Vue, which is a fantastic feature. Whenever it comes to integrating with other frameworks, such as Bootstrap, Vue is fantastic.

Vue vs React vs Angular performance and framework size

Angular

Angular uses a real DOM, therefore it’s best suited for the single-page applications where content is updated from time to time. It makes the process of updating much slower and in case of losing the flow, it will take a lot of time to find out the issue. Thankfully to the two-way data binding process, all the changes made in the Model are replicated into the views in a secure and efficient way. Due to the wide range of features available, the application is much heavier ((according to the most latest statistics, the file size is 2MB.) ) in comparison to Vue and React which slows down the performance a little.

React

Contrary to Angular, React uses a virtual DOM that enhances the performance of all-sizes applications that need regular content updates. Single-direction data allows better control over the project. The disadvantage might be the need of developers to constantly upgrade their skills as to the constantly evolving nature of React. As React doesn’t provide a wide range of libraries, its size is much smaller than the size of Angular (approximately 100KB).

Vue.js

Vue also uses a virtual DOM, so the changes within a project are made without affecting the DOM properly. Vue possesses the smallest size of the three (approximately 80KB ) which significantly speeds up its performance.

To conclude, considering performance, Vue and React are more convenient in developing easy-to-maintain and bug-free web applications.

The simplicity of the process of mastering a new framework matters a lot if one is considering learning it or training someone. So, which of them is the most learning-friendly?

Angular, Vue and React learning curve

Vue.js is probably the easiest to learn. And it’s dictated by two major reasons:

1. It doesn’t require a special setup. To start, you just need to import the Vue library into HTML file and add some JS (but for bigger Vue projects).

No need to learn big special syntax. The usage of Vue is based on JavaScript and HTML, enhancing it with directives like v-for that are pretty self-explanatory.

2. Angular and React require a more complex project setup. Though, the task is simplified by the availability of fitting setups: create-react-app, Angular CLI, and Vue CLI (for more complex projects).

Mastering Angular and React also requires learning TypeScript or JSX syntax correspondingly.

Though, the learning curve of Angular is considered to be much steeper than of React. It’s a complex framework that is constantly developed and offers multiple options to solve a single problem.

React also requires constant learning as it’s frequently updated but learning it comes much easier with tutorial for beginners and basic JavaScript knowledge. The main difficulty is the Redux library.

Vue, Angular and React use cases

Angular

Being developed by Google, it’s actively used in its AdWords applications for maximizing the performance. Among other famous web resources that utilize Angular, we can name the Guardian, Lego, Nike, PayPal, and Weather.com.

React

Initially designed for Facebook, React is still actively used by the company for creating a variety of its products. Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, and WordPress also embrace this framework.

Vue.js

Unlike Angular and React, Vue doesn’t have powerful patrons to implement it in each of its products. Though thankfully to its flexibility, it has gained popularity among such popular brands: 9Gag, Nintendo, GitLab, and Grammarly.

Vue vs React vs Angular — a comparative table