In 2020, front end development is dominated by 3 technologies – Angular, React, and Vue. Few years ago, developers had not many options for frameworks to develop websites. But, as technology is evolving every day, new JavaScript frameworks are being introduced with more advanced features.
Last year, React.js emerged as the frontrunner in the front end frameworks competition leaving Angular.js behind. And meanwhile, Vue is on the rise with the largest advantages due to its growing share in the market and a great number of downloads.
There is always a debate among developers on choosing the best JavaScript framework with common questions –
- Which is the best front end development framework?
- Is Vue.js faster than React.js?
- What is the best choice for framework in 2021?
- Should I learn Vue or React in 2021?
- Will Vue.js take over React.js?
- Why React is better than Vue?
- Which one to choose among Angular vs React vs Vue?
- Which JavaScript framework is best for web app development?
Because developers want a tech stack that can help them to deliver their projects efficiently and don’t waste their valuable time additionally in learning and developing.
So to help you on this, eSearch Logix conducted thorough research and a survey for obtaining the key factors to make the choice selection easy- based on various features and technical aspects.
We will here compare Angular vs React vs Vue to figure out which one is hot to choose now and what is likely to be trending in 2021 and why?
Table of Content
8. Conclusion
1. Overview of Angular – Mature and Professional
Developed by Google in 2010, Angular is an open source JavaScript framework that is oldest in the market right now and is considered the best platform when it comes to front end development.
Based on TypeScript, Angular is considered a heavy framework and used for both mobile and desktop PC. It was developed with MVC (Model-View-Controller) carrying some powerful features that allow developers to build rich and single-page applications.
When Angular.js was launched in 2010, it needed several essential features due to the changing trends in the market. But now, there have been made various modifications in Angular.
From major changes in 2016 with the release of Angular 2 (dropping the suffix “JS” from its initial name) to Angular 8 in 2019, the latest stable version of Angular available is Angular 10, released in June 2020- which has reduced the lag and the bundle size, and prompted the faster compilation to channelize smooth development.
The Latest Features of Angular 10:
· New Data Range Picker
It allows you to use mat-dat-range-input and mat-date-range-picker components.
· Optional Stricter Settings
When you need to create a workspace, this helps in improving maintainability and catching up with bugs, and allow advanced optimization on your app.
· Update in the Ecosystem
In the latest version of Angular, users will get to see new tsconfig.base.json, which backs in building tooling resolve type.
2. Overview of React – Breaking Traditions
React is a JavaScript library built by Facebook and launched in 2013. React is known for its efficient and dynamic property, along with backward compatibility, seamless integration with other frameworks. It is maintained by a large community of users and developers.
React is constantly giving tough competition to Angular, and the emerging point came in Nov 2019 when it recorded the highest number of downloads.
Many organizations use React as their primary framework tool. Virtual Document Object Model (DOM) – a basic representation of nodes in terms of HTML, which uses an extension as JSX (JavaScript XML). This feature allows the user to write HTML in React-making easy to write applications.
React is easy to code if you know the fundamentals of JavaScript and the alternate version-React Native, which is used to build mobile applications. These JavaScript libraries enhance the performance by the implementation of reusable code.
The latest version of React is 17.0.1 released in Oct 2020 which includes the new features as below:
- It allows Gradual React Upgrades.
- In the latest version, event root will no longer be document.documentElement.
- Clean up in useEffect() will swap to Synchronous to Asynchronous.
- No Event Pooling.
- New changes made in the Event system.
Well, the old React Native Web version will not be compatible with React 17 but will work with the latest versions.
3. Overview of Vue – The Game Changer
Vue is the youngest and rapidly rising JavaScript framework built by Evan You – an ex-developer at Google.
While working on Angular, Evan noticed how heavy Angular was as it takes a lot of effort to write. So he came up with an idea to build a lightweight framework yet delivers high performance.
Vue.js is among top front end frameworks for JavaScript development which is used for improving web page interfaces. It is an open source, frond end JavaScript framework that is dynamic, simple, and lightweight with total backward compatibility.
In recent years, Vue has seen a boom in popularity, without any big company support and comparatively lesser guidelines.
Back in March 2019, Vue came out with version 2.6.10 to remove all the drawbacks of other frameworks while providing flexibility to create superior web applications flawlessly.
With the available current stable version2.6, Vue has been recently launched in its updated version Vue 3.0 in Sep 2020.
The latest Vue version is faster and equipped with better TypeScript and new API, allowing you to compress logic into composition functions and reusing across components.
New features of Vue 3.0:
- Built-in Composition API
- Multiple Root Elements (Template Syntax)
- Portals
- Better Reactivity
- Improved TypeScript
- Global Mounting
- Conditional Suspending of Component Rendering
- Virtual DOM (For Powerful Performance)
Technology is never perfect but always evolves for perfection. Similarly, not every framework has all the solutions and comes with its own pros and cons. Depending on your need, you can choose the right framework that has good pros, and then cons for development.
Pros and Cons of Angular
Pros of Angular
- Angular is used alongside TypeScript and offers good support.
- Angular language services autocomplete inside of component external HTML files.
- It helps in detailed documentation.
- Structure and architecture specially created for better project scalability.
- One-way data binding feature allows singular behavior for app development which minimizes the risk of possible errors.
- Being the oldest framework available, Angular enjoys large community support.
Cons of Angular
- Angular has a steep learning curve.
- It has different structures like components, pipes, injectable and complex syntax, which requires a lot to learn and study-making it difficult to learn for new developers.
- It gives slow performance as compared to the other two (React and Vue) frameworks.
Pros and Cons of React
Pros of React:
- This is easy to learn and simple design.
- Developers use React JSX for creating highly detailed documentation and template creation.
- React is faster than Angular and Vue due to its Virtual DOM implementation.
- The feature-‘Create React App’ allows developers to build first-class Progressive Web App (PWA).
- It helps in implementing functional programming (FP) concepts for developing reusable code.
Cons of React:
- React community is divided on writing CSS between traditional style sheets and CSS-in-JS.
- React is shifting from class-based components, causing a barrier for developers who are comfortable with Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).
Pros and Cons of Vue
Pros of Vue:
- js is backed by HTML having similar characteristics with Angular, which can support to optimize HTML block handling.
- It comes with detailed documentation improving the learning curve for developers.
- Vue users enjoy its adaptability features to switch from one framework to another framework which is similar to Angular and React in design.
- Vue allows developers to create both single-page applications and high-quality web interface in apps.
- One of the best features of Vue.js is that developers can integrate smaller interactive parts into existing infrastructure.
Cons of Vue:
- Since it is not backed by a brand specific like React is supported by Facebook and Angular by Google, its market share is small comparatively.
- Developers often face issues during integrating huge projects and difficulty in getting solutions.
- It comes with limited features.
- It has a small community of users, unlike Angular and React.
Why Choose Angular
Let’s see what the survey of Stack Overflow says about Angular.
Image source: https://2019.stateofjs.com/front-end-frameworks/angular/
The developers who said they have used it before and would use again were 13.6% in 2016, which is 21.9% in 2019 (closest to 2020). This shows how Angular has remained ineffective to enhance its market.
The developers who said they have used it before and would not use again were 6.4% in 2016, which is 35.8% in 2019. This is a significant change and shows how Angular is failing to meet the developer’s expectations.
The developers who said they have heard of it and would like to learn were 39.7% in 2016, which is 9.7% in 2019.
From the above data, we can deduce how Angular’s reputation has fallen in the last 4 years and have no huge influence on new developers.
Angular.js has remained the first choice for a long time among developers for the development of the user interface.
But with the recent rise of its competitors such as React and Vue, and the emergence of new web development trends, Angular.js lost its popularity in the past few years.
Angular’s team has been very slow in adopting the needed functionality; it is sometimes inferior to other frameworks (Svelte and Vue).
Being a heavyweight framework, with limited SEO support, not meeting users’ expectations with new updates, and learning difficulties, developers are looking for the best alternative due to these flaws.
However, Angular is still prevalent among a large number of developers and is used to support many famous websites and web apps that include – Upwork, PayPal, The Guardian, and Sony.
Despite the decline in its popularity, the usage of Angular.js is still at the same level. Here are the major cases when you should pay high attention to Angular.
- Development of large-scale apps.
- Coding with TypeScript.
- Creation of messengers and other real-time apps.
- For building high scalable architecture.
Why Choose React
The developers who said they have used it before and would use again were 48.7% in 2016, which is 71.7% in 2019. That shows how fast React expanded its hands in the market.
The developers who said they have used it before and would not use again were 3.9% in 2016, which is 8.6% in 2019.
The developers who said they have heard of it and would like to learn were 35.3% in 2016, which is 12% in 2019.
Through this Survey, we can conclude how React’s popularity has increased till now.
As per the data of Sate of JavaScript, React has remained on the first place in all ratings for the third consecutive year. React was created by Facebook with the objective of the division of user interface into a set of components to ease the development process.
React is mostly famous for its use for native development using React Native. Additionally, it is a robust ecosystem offering reusable components, SEO friendliness, and better performance.
But, Facebook has released too many updates recently, making some tools outdated. This is creating uneasiness among some of the developers forcing them to learn constantly new techniques.
One of the key factors for React’s reputation is the support of a brand – Facebook. Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter are using this framework today, and we find all of them are very fast and seamless experience.
Apart from its pros and cons, there are some highly important cases when using this framework can be a boon:
- Rapid development of small enterprise-scale apps.
- Building SPA or cross-platform apps.
- Extension of the features of the existing app.
Why Choose Vue
The developers who said they have used it before and would use again were 8.7% in 2016, which is 40.5% in 2019. It shows how rapidly Vue came out in the market.
The developers who said they have used before and would not use it again were almost negligible number in 2016, which got no big change, 6% in 2019. This is important as it tells there are a few numbers of developers who are less interested in Vue.
The developers who said they have heard of it and would like to learn were 32.2% in 2016, which is 34.2% in 2019.
The survey clearly speaks for Vue as the majority of developers fined this one easy and liked to reuse.
Vue has emerged as a game changer and is in heavy demand specifically in the Asian market today. Through its lightweight stack and high power performance, it has become one of the most loved frameworks among professional developers.
What needs to say when Vue stands third place in strong opposition of Angular and React.
Several market giants like WizzAir, EuroNews, and Gitlab have used this framework. Grammarly is also created on the basis of Vue, Xiaomi and Alibaba have already announced a full transition to Vue in 2018.
As we have already discussed its pros and cons, Vue.js offers its use in some major cases to make the best out of it:
- Developing smart and high performing apps.
- For app’s fastest entry into the market.
- Creating small and lightweight apps like Grammarly.
Time for Climax!
Angular vs React vs Vue
In terms of popularity – On the basis of the reviews of developers.
At first, we analyzed the thematic surveys of The State of JavaScript and Stack overflow, which annually provide the most authenticate information on the market status of several frameworks.
Despite the sudden emergence of Vue.js, this framework occupies the 7th position in the rating (including all respondents and professionals). Whereas, Angular and React gained third and second places respectively.
In terms of downloads
What NPM Trends Say
To measure the reputation of any technology stack or framework is to check the number of downloads. NPM trends showcase the accurate data for each tool including the data of GitHub.
As you can see here, React is tremendously far ahead of its rivals. Angular has lost a significant number of downloads comparing to the past times. And Vue is rising gradually.
In terms of job opportunities
According to the data of Stack Overflow, job opportunities on these frameworks have changed in the past few years.
Based on the job search results on the two popular job sites- LinkedIn and Indeed in the United States of America, React is giving the highest number of job opportunities in the current market leaving behind Angular and Vue.
Brief Comparison between Angular vs React vs Vue
Conclusion
Angular vs React vs Vue – Who wins?
By analyzing the surveys, statistics, Google trends, and other various observations, it is clearly visible that the most trending JavaScript framework in 2021 is going to be React.js.
But there is a high chance of Angular securing its second place since it already has a strong market for a long duration of time than Vue, and of Course 2021 is not the end of that.
Besides all of this, as we all understand that every framework comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. You can choose your ideal framework depending on your project requirements and resource capacity.
Finally, React is best, but the choice should be yours.
