Angular vs React vs Vue: Pros, Cons and When to Use

What unites Angular, React, and a relative novelty (2014) in the programming world, Vue? Firstly, all of them are intended to simplify your work with JavaScript and resolve front-end issues. Secondly, although each of these tools is called universal, they are nevertheless designed for specific digital product development.

This article does not intend to determine who wins standoffs like Angular vs React or React vs Vue. Our primary goal is to help you get the most out of using these tools. Result: time savings, as well as a chance to avoid critical errors in the program code and create a high-quality and productive digital product, whether it be a mobile application, a one-page website, and an online store.

Spend a couple of minutes to find out why use React, Angular, or Vue.

Difference Between Angular, React and Vue Frameworks

History and Overview

Generally speaking, Angular, React, and Vue are JavaScript frameworks that are constantly updating. They provide you with convenient tools to build front-end elements of digital products such as websites and mobile apps.

What is React used for? React is the oldest JavaScript library compared to Angular and Vue all-in programming frameworks. In 2013, it was originally developed by Facebook as a tool to create a dynamic UI for different websites. React is based on the virtual DOM (Document Object Model) which is an in-memory representation of DOM elements generated with React components. React is used by Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Netflix, Uber, Instagram, Yahoo, Whatsapp, Dropbox, Airbnb, Slack, many others.

Angular, in its turn, is a creation of Google launched in 2010. This is an open-source JavaScript framework used mainly for SPA (Single Page Application) development. The major benefits of Angular are the MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) approach and the great scalability of projects built within this framework.

Despite the fact that the history of Angular began earlier than the history of React, the modern version of this tool is not a direct descendant of the first version of AngularJS.

In 2016, the Angular functioning model was changed by the Google team, and today the Angular algorithms are based on TypeScript, RxJS, and Zone.js only. This is an important feature of Angular 2+, the newest version of the framework used by Google, Wix, Apple, HBO, Adobe, Autodesk, Cisco Solution Partner Program, GoPro, Upwork, YouTube, Paypal, iStockphoto, AWS, and Microsoft.

Vue is ideologically different from its predecessors, as it has a “folk” origin. This framework was created by Evan You (ex-engineer of Google) and the JavaScript developers community. Their aim was to create a tool that supports various libraries and help programmers handle large SPAs. The newest version of Vue was released in 2019. It allows developers to build user interfaces and develop flawless web apps. Alibaba, WizzAir, Xiaomi, Grammarly, Adobe, Behance, and Gitlab digital products are built with Vue.

Language

Angular

At the language level, there is no leader in the Angular vs React vs Vue standoff. The Angular framework uses both JavaScript and TypeScript (a compact and easy to navigate version of JavaScript designed for large products). TypeScript (also used with React) makes typos easy to spot.

React

There is quite a huge syntax difference between React and Angular. React uses JSX (or TSX with typescript), opposite to Angular, which uses HTML The modern version of React works with JavaScript ES6+ and JSX. The second one is a JavaScript syntax extension that makes it similar to HTML. JSX is easy to read and find typos. You can also use a code translation tool called Babel.

Vue

Although the progressive JavaScript framework Vue works with JavaScript, you can apply HTML or JSX. This framework is easy-integrable, so you can work with other code translation tools inside it.

Performance

Angular

Applications created using Angular are small in size, which positively affects their performance. However, Angular loses the race for superior performance compared to React and Vue.

Early Angular versions were not well suited for dynamic web applications, as well as creating complex digital products. Bidirectional data-binding is the main reason for this, which was partially eliminated in later versions of Angular.

However, performance issues were improved in Angular 9 with the creation of Ivy. They can be also resolved with Also, performance issues can be resolved with SSR and PWA.

React

The data binding process within the React platform is unidirectional, therefore, it does not require additional processing power. And, as we already wrote, the revolutionary advantage of React lies in the virtual DOM technology. Since DOM trees are generated on cloud servers, browser resources are almost not used, which improves the performance of the product. It works if a developer enabled SSR (server-side rendering).

Vue

As the newest product, Vue has absorbed the experience of previous frameworks. The virtual DOM was taken from React and code optimization from Angular. As tests show, in the confrontation between Vue js vs React there is no single leader, both frameworks deliver extremely high performance. And both Angular and Vue work with SSR technologies that are equally good.

Universality

Angular

You can use Angular for mobile and classic web development. It works well for single-page web applications and includes an Ionic module which is an open-source SDK for hybrid mobile app development. For mobile developers, Angular offers an integrated development framework.

React

The standoff Angular vs React 2020 in terms of universality doesn’t have a leader. The frameworks are similar. Just like Angular, React can be used for mobile and web development as well as a single and multiple-page web app. Mobile development within React should be conducted with the Cordova incorporation (a mobile application development framework for cross-platform apps) and React Native is an alternative framework for mobile development. An Ionic module can be used with React as well

Vue

The Vue framework is among the most successful React alternatives. You can build mobile and web apps with their help. However, the difference is that you can apply various features and add ons to make to simplify and speed up the development process or build a specific product.

Community

Angular

If the community has a decisive role in the answer to the React or Angular question, then Angular is unlikely to get your attention. But hold on! The negative attitude towards Angular is due to the problematic version of Angular 1.0, which was difficult to learn. The modern version of Angular is simple and straightforward. Moreover, Google is constantly releasing updates for Angular and provides 24/7 support for developers.

React

The key benefit of React is that React is the most popular development framework in the world. This means that regardless of whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer who is trying to quickly get into React updates, you always have thematic forums, blogs, and communities on social networks at hand, where you can find the answer to any question.

Vue

Vue is the fastest-growing development framework. Since it was created by the community of programmers and is updated thanks to development enthusiasts, the Vue community is friendly and responsive. You can find answers to your questions on communication platforms (forums, social networks, blogs) or go to Stack Overflow, where only issues related to Vue are discussed.

Templates and Components

Angular

An important feature of Angular for developers is the availability of Material toolset, which allows you to create UI quickly. This set of tools includes a large number of pre-built material design components (layouts, buttons, pop-ups, and others) with complex directives of object setting.

There are also some other brilliant out-of-the-box features available for Angular users: Ajax requests, XSS protection, dependency injection, utilities for unit-testing components, routing, component CSS encapsulation, and other.

React

There are plenty of UI components for React developed by the huge React community. The most popular library called Material-UI Library & Dependencies could be also downloaded freely. State vs props React issues can be resolved easily as React allows developers to quickly catch the meaning of the code at the end of the component without going deeper into syntax.

Material is not bound to Angular, it's a design framework developed to be used on any platform. There are libraries that use or implement Material guidelines regardless of the framework. Use Material-UI to React to reach the same results as with Angular.

Check out in-build solutions of React: XSS protection, utilities for unit-testing components, fetch for Ajax requests (this one is not React-specific feature), JSX language built on top of JavaScript for clarity purpose. You can also use Redux and React Router to get better results.

Vue

Benefits of Vue can be listed endlessly. As the most advanced development framework, it combines flexibility, the ability to customize components at any stage, and code readability. In addition, Vue (just like React and Angular) allows you to use pre-processors instead of CSS. This approach saves time and technical resources.

Data Binding

Angular

Angular is based on mutable data and bidirectional data binding. This means that it will be convenient for the developer to monitor the state of the data and find bugs, but at the same time, the performance of the digital product is significantly reduced, since bidirectional data-binding means generating a watcher for each binding.

React

React offers an alternative approach to data binding. Great performance is one of the advantages of React, which is achieved through data synchronization between Model and View. React exploits the unidirectional data binding and the immutable data approach. Unidirectional data flow is carried out using the Redux module.

Vue

A reactive data binding system is a great advantage of Vue since it makes it possible to synchronously work with the DOM and data and make the necessary changes on the fly. According to the Vue concept, you are always provided with a data-driven view where your code is imperative and repetitive. The DOM updates automatically while you modify data so you don’t need to double-check DOM updates. The approach saves time and resources.

Dependency Injection

Angular

React does not support dependency injection and Angular does which is among the major advantages of Angular. You can have work with your stores independently and create separate life cycles for them.

React

In terms of dependency injection in general, as well as data immutability and functional programming, there is a winner in the Angular vs React competition. React programming philosophy is not about dependency injection, the programming framework is based on creating a global state for its components.

Vue

Vue works well for dependency injection considering apps components. You can use in-built or additional tools like Vue-inject to simplify the process. However, you can avoid dependency injection at all working within the Vue ecosystem. You choose.

Change Rendering

Angular

The difference between Angular and React is that Angular is based on a real DOM (Document Object Model), and React is based on a virtual DOM. What does this mean for developers?

Real DOM takes HTML elements and creates objects with a tree-structure. If you make changes, a new tree is created and the first one will be compared with the second one. This process is complex and time-consuming.

React

Why use React? As we wrote, React exploits virtual DOM technologies. It generates an in-memory data structure cache, changes it according to your instructions, and updates the DOM in your browser. This approach gives you the ability to seamlessly change data within components without affecting the entire product tree structure each time, which entails a high framework operating speed. You can also use a tool called Fiber, which speeds up rendering even more.

Vue

In general, Vue is considered to be the most responsive JavaScript development framework for UI, and you are unlikely to have problems with the speed and quality of change rendering. However, you can use one of the data rendering methods officially supported by Vue: in-built forceUpdate feature or key-changing on components.

Tools

Angular

There are many additional tools that can be integrated into your Angular framework. Among the tools that simplify code editing are Sublime Text and Aptana (it can be used to create React and Vue apps too). Convenient rendering using a third-party server is possible with the Angular Universal tool. For testing, programmers use the Karma and Jasmine platforms. Use the tips in specialized communities to find the tool you need, and the Angular CLI helps you get started with Angular easily, even if you're new.

React

What is React used for? Depending on the product which interface you are creating, a variety of tools will help you. Since React is the most popular framework ever, there are a lot of additional tools for it. There is even a browser extension called React Dev Tools which can be used with Angular as well if developers use the NgRx library (similar to React Redux).

Use for code editing Atom or Visual Studio; Create React App CLI will help to start work on the project; Jest, React-unit are most suitable for testing. That is also Enzyme which is a testing utility and needs some sort of a testing framework (most commonly Jest) to be used.

Vue

Vue is a modern software ecosystem that takes into account the experience and of its predecessors (React and Angular). Vue CLI 3 simplifies development and contains many of the necessary components of out of the box, so you do not need to additionally search and integrate them into your local system. Testing tools, installation systems, server renders, state managers, and others are available as a set in Vue CLI 3. Other popular Vue tools: Vue Starter for PWAs, Vue Design System, and Nuxt.

Pros and Cons of Angular. When to Use It?

There are a lot of benefits of Angular since it is a JavaScript framework created for building highly interactive web apps alongside Typescript. It is readable, reliable, scalable, and got lots of useful components that make the development process even easier. The most significant advantages of Angular are as follows:

• Typescript support;
• MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) approach;
• Scalability potential;
• Numerous advanced features and libraries;
• Clear and detailer tech documentation;
• Flawless one-way data binding algorithms;
• Module-based dependency injection support.

Angular is that this framework works well for object-oriented programming. Most of all, Angular is suitable for developing real-time, native, hybrid, and web apps. However, like any other software-development framework, Angular is not without specific drawbacks. Keep in mind the following facts about Angular when choosing a development framework:

• Angular is hard to read compared to React or Vue because of too many structural components like components, modules, and pipes.
• Slower performance in comparison to other frameworks and slow rendering process.

Pros and Cons of React. When to Use It?

What are the key benefits of React? The React development framework is widely used for cross-platform app development as well as single-page apps development. In addition, React offers great community support as it is the most popular ever known framework in the world. It is flexible, secure, and allows you to build lightweight applications quickly.

There are lots of advantages of React:

• Easy JSX syntax for templates;
• High processing speed due to virtual DOM;
• High-quality technical documentation;
• Wide professional community and lots of ready-made solutions;
• A chance to build a modern JavaScript avoiding framework-specific code issues;
• One-way data binding features;
• Code created with React is reusable and easy-to-test;
• Easy migration to the latest versions of the development framework.

There are not many disadvantages of React. In particular, this framework is updated so often that you cannot always find the necessary technical documentation on time. React is also so flexible and multifunctional that it has become a real problem for inexperienced developers, as well as those who work in a team as the same problem can be solved in many different ways. Other React drawbacks:

• Community split between those who adhere to traditional CSS Modules style sheets, and fans of the approach of using Emotion and Styled Components CSS-in-JS.
• React left Object-Oriented Programming, which many programmers are used to;
• JSX may seem confusing if the templates are many and they intersect.

Pros and Cons of Vue.js. When to Use It?

In brief, the Vue development framework allows you to build various high-performance adaptable apps and enter the market quicker. This tool is perfect for a small and lightweight single-page app as well as existing product scaling and updating. All advantages of Vue are closely connected to its unique nature: this programming framework was created by the community of developers with a wide experience in React and Angular. For this reason, Vue does not contain the drawbacks of these two systems and, at the same time, has similar characteristics with them.

Let us list the key benefits of Vue:

• An opportunity to optimize HTML elements applying for various components;
• The basic knowledge of HTML and JavaScript is everything you need to have to work with Vue;
• Small size which means better performance;
• You can easily switch to Vue from Angular or React as they have similar logic;
• Flexible integration on any level including small components and the whole app;
• You can scale your product easily with Vue;
• Friendly community support.

Vue.js is a recent phenomenon. That is the reason why you have very few sources of information on resolving problematic issues (compared to React and Angular) with Vue, as well as there is an insufficient number of cases for developers to learn from.

Conclusion

Who wins the Angular vs React vs Vue match? You only can answer this question by analyzing your goals and project peculiarities. Angular may seem complicated and relatively slow, but at the same time, it is very flexible which allows you to easily scale projects and spend less time on development.

There are several fundamental differences between React and Angular in aspects such as dependency injections, change rendering, and data binding. React is easy to learn and its Virtual DOM is a first-class tool for saving time. But the main advantage of React is a strong community around it as React is the most popular development framework in the world.

As for Vue, this is the most modern, multi-functional, and lightweight framework developed by the community, not a commercial company. Vue helps develop high-performance web and mobile apps that are easy to develop and maintain. But no matter how attractive React, Angular, or Vue may seem, at LANARS, we recommend you to try each of them to find the solution that fits into your project mostly. And if you need advice and assistance in starting a project, we are here to help you.