Svelte vs Angular: Which Framework Suits Your Project?

Thanks to the advent of frameworks, development activities have become easier due to the extra bit of abstraction. Developers can now achieve more complex functionalities while writing less code. JavaScript, being the default language of the web, has several frameworks available that make web development faster. Getting familiar with these JavaScript frameworks is important to know which framework best suits your next project.

React, Angular, Vue, and Svelte are some of the most popular JavaScript frameworks; this article will focus on Angular vs Svelte. Let’s dive into how they compare and which projects they suit best.

To properly understand this blog post, you need to have a basic knowledge of the following:

Overview of Svelte

Svelte is a JavaScript framework that can be used to build a full-scale application or small bits of other applications. The core principle of Svelte is based on running the code at compile time; this is different from frameworks like React and Vue, which perform most of the operations in the browser while the app is running without a virtual DOM. This makes developing Svelte applications faster, bundles smaller, and performance better. Svelte is also easier to write and learn. It basically entails coding in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with the addition of a few extensions. However, Svelte has a framework called SvelteKit which allows the implementation of more complex functionalities and features such as routing and server-side rendering. The main features of Svelte include:

Compile-Time Approach: A distinct feature of Svelte, especially in comparison to other frameworks, is that it does most of the work at compile time. This is noticeably different from Angular, which does most of the work in the browser. The compile-time approach of Svelte allows the development of more performant applications with smaller bundle sizes.
Reactive Programming: Svelte adopts reactive programming, a declarative programming paradigm that uses asynchronous programming to process and update an application’s UI. This makes state management easier.
No Virtual DOM: Due to the compile-time approach, Svelte does not use a virtual DOM (as is the case for frameworks like React and Vue) to update the DOM. It manipulates the DOM directly after the code has been compiled.
Built-in State Management: Unlike frameworks that use libraries to manage a component’s state, Svelte has built-in state management, making it easier to manage states across different components in the application.

Overview of Angular

Developed by Google, Angular is a JavaScript framework used for building scalable and efficient single-page applications (SPA). It adopts the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, which separates the application functionality into user interfaces, data, and logic. This separation allows for maximum scalability when developing complex applications. Angular is built with TypeScript, which allows features such as type-checking and ensures more structured development. The features of Angular include:

Model-View-Controller (MVC) Architecture: Angular is built on the MVC design pattern which allows for maximum scalability when building modern web applications. Thanks to the MVC architecture, Angular adopts a two-way data-binding approach that provides a seamless synchronization between the model (data) and the view when an update is made.
TypeScript Support: Angular supports TypeScript because it’s built with the language, resulting in the development of clean, well-structured, maintainable code.
Dependency Injection: Unlike Svelte, Angular has built-in support for dependency injection, which allows the development of more efficient and modular applications.
Improved Modularity: Angular allows you to organize your codebase into modules, which provides an easier way to develop, manage, test, and deploy your applications.

Differences between Svelte and Angular

The major difference between Svelte vs Angular is how they each run code in an application. Svelte does most of the work at compile time while Angular does most of the work in the browser. Also, Angular follows an MVC architecture in developing an application while Svelte follows a reactive system app.

Comparison of Angular, Svelte

In this section, we’ll take a deep dive into a detailed comparison of both frameworks, easing your decision of the framework that suits your project best. This comparison will cover diverse criteria such as syntax, working principles, performance, size, active community, ease of learning, and predicted relevance.

Syntax

When learning a new language or framework, a crucial factor is its syntax. In this section, we’ll take a quick look at the syntax of Svelte and Angular by finding the sum of two numbers in both frameworks.

Here’s how we’ll get the sum of two numbers in Svelte:

<script>
  let firstNumber = 0;
  let secondNumber = 0;
  let sum = 0;

  function calculateSum() {
    sum = Number(firstNumber) + Number(secondNumber);
  }
</script>

<input type="number" bind:value={firstNumber} placeholder="Enter first number">
<input type="number" bind:value={secondNumber} placeholder="Enter second number">
<button on:click={calculateSum}>Calculate Sum</button>

<p>The sum of {firstNumber} and {secondNumber} is {sum}</p>

Save this code

Here, we see Svelte’s syntax is similar to Vanilla JavaScript. We create a function in the <script/> tag to find the sum of both numbers and then display the result using a <p> tag after the user has given the input for two numbers. Overall, this simple Svelte code snippet displays a user interface that takes in two numbers and gives the sum as output.

Here’s how we’ll get the sum of two numbers in Angular:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `
    <input type="number" [(ngModel)]="num1" placeholder="Enter first number">
    <input type="number" [(ngModel)]="num2" placeholder="Enter second number">
    <button (click)="addNumbers()">Add</button>
    <p>Result: {{ result }}</p>
  `
})
export class AppComponent {
  firstNumber: number = 0;
  secondNumber: number = 0;
  result: number = 0;

  addNumbers() {
    this.result = this.firstNumber + this.secondNumber;
  }
}

Save this code

Here, we start by importing the Component decorator from Angular and then creating a component class AppComponent which contains the function for the logic. The logic to display the UI goes into the template box of the class component.

Performance and Speed

When dealing with web applications, aiming for maximum speed and performance is hugely important. Waiting an extra second for a page to load can be annoying. This is why we, as developers, must make a conscious effort to build highly performant applications. Many factors affect an application's speed such as bundle size, complexity of the code, server performance, etc. We must consider all of these when picking between Angular, React, Vue, Svelte, or another framework.

Concerning the performance and speed of an application for Svelte vs Angular, Svelte offers an environment for faster applications due to its smaller bundle size and the fact that it compiles the code at build time. However, when dealing with large and complex applications, Angular provides the necessary support and tooling to build performant applications.

Size and Optimization

Bundle size refers to the total size of a library that contains all the assets needed to run optimally. The bundle size of a library directly affects the speed of an application. Packages go through a process called minification which means removing all unnecessary files from an application without affecting its functionality in a bid to reduce the bundle size.

Svelte has a minified bundle size of about 6.8kb while Angular has a minified bundle size of about 180kb, which makes Svelte significantly lighter than Angular. However, both frameworks are well-optimized and will work efficiently under the right conditions.

Learning Curve

Another important criterion when learning a new framework is its ease of learning. Whether or not a language or framework’s learning curve is steep affects a developer’s productivity, especially in the early stages. When comparing Svelte vs Angular vs React, frameworks with a gentle learning curve are generally preferred.

Coming from a JavaScript background with no prior experience with JavaScript frameworks, Svelte is easier to learn since it’s almost literally writing JavaScript. In fact, Svelte is one of the easiest JavaScript frameworks to learn. So, if you’re keen on learning a framework that has a gentle learning curve, then Svelte is for you.

Community Support

Have you ever been stuck or faced with a bug for a long time, searched for a solution on the internet, and easily found it? Oh, the joy! That’s the power of community support. The larger the community, the easier for developers to get past bugs and solve other problems when using that framework.

At the time of this writing, Svelte has over 76,000 stars on GitHub and over 680 contributors. Angular, on the other hand, has over 94,000 stars on GitHub and over 1900 contributors. Both frameworks have fairly large active communities, but Angular has a more mature community base, considering it’s older than Svelte.

Predicted Relevance

Are you comparing Angular vs React vs Vue vs Svelte but you’re worried these frameworks might not be relevant in the next 4-5 years? Well, don’t! Thanks to their immense relevance in the world of web development, Svelte and Angular will likely be here for a very long time and are definitely worth learning.

According to NPM, Svelte has over 1 million weekly downloads while Angular has over 3 million weekly downloads. This confirms both frameworks are fast-growing and should stand the test of time.

Benefits and Shortcomings of Svelte vs Angular

In this section, we will discuss the benefits and shortcomings of both frameworks, further helping you choose your preferred framework.

Benefits of Svelte

Lightweight and fast due to the compile-time approach
Easy to learn
Easy to manage states across components with its built-in state management feature
Supports Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
Has no dependencies, so your application is less prone to vulnerabilities

Shortcomings of Svelte

A small developer community makes it harder to find resources, libraries, and other helpful tools
Compared to Angular, it is not well suited to large-scale applications

Benefits of Angular

Well-suited for building large-scale applications
Large and active developer community
Provides seamless TypeScript support
Built-in testing support
Due to its modular structure, large codebases are easy to organize and maintain.

Shortcomings of Angular

Relatively steep learning curve.
Larger bundle size due to the injection of various dependencies
Relies on some third-party libraries to run, which can lead to complexities in codebases or compatibility when migrating to newer versions

Angular, Svelte, and Pieces

I know just how tasking it can be to learn a new framework, but Pieces can help. Whether you’re trying to pick up a new framework or trying to migrate from one framework to another, here are three ways Pieces can help you:

Pieces Copilot: Svelte vs Angular? Made your decision yet? Well, whichever you end up with, Pieces Copilot will give you solid backing! With contextualized code generation, Pieces Copilot helps you develop your projects— all you have to do is give it a prompt. Do you have a piece of Svelte or Angular code you don’t understand? Pieces Copilot will provide a detailed explanation of the code and give as much insight as you want on the codebase. Even better, it’s available at every point of your development workflow — in your browser, your favorite IDE, and the Pieces for Developers Desktop App.
Code Conversion: Perhaps you want to know a code snippet’s functionality in a new language but you don’t want to go through the syntax learning process. Don’t worry, Pieces can help here, too. With the built-in language converter in the Pieces for Developers Desktop App, you can convert code from one language to another, with support for over 40 languages.
Community Support: Learning a new language or framework can get confusing and lead to questions that require answers from experienced devs. From learning about coding to connecting with other developers to staying updated on the latest features, the ever-growing Pieces Discord community is at the center of it all. Feel free to join the Discord community and discover more exciting ways Pieces can help you enhance your productivity.

Conclusion

Svelte and Angular are both great JavaScript frameworks, but the best framework for your next project ultimately depends on your requirements. In this blog post, we discussed the Svelte vs Angular frameworks in detail and compared their syntax, performance, speed, size, optimization, learning curve, community activity, and predicted relevance. We also discussed the benefits and shortcomings of both frameworks and how Pieces can help you learn each. Now you can make the right choice for your next project!