Vue Vs React Vs Angular: Differences, Features, Cons

Beginners’s Guide to Vue, React and Angular

In this ever-changing world of technology, web development is something that will always require the latest technology stack to keep up with the trends and market demands. Modern websites are so advanced that it sometimes becomes difficult to develop using the old methods. There are currently more than 1 billion websites and all are created using various languages and frameworks. At the heart of dynamic websites is Javascript and its frameworks. However, there are more than 83 libraries and 23 different frameworks. But there are 3 most popular frameworks; Vue, Angular, and React. In this article, we will dive deep into knowing these frameworks more effectively.

Framework: The tool that makes development easy

A framework is the most used tool in web development. A framework is like a function or a code that performs a certain task irrespective of the program it is implemented into. They are like a blueprint for developing applications. Framework allows the developers to just drag and drop pieces of code rather than write the code from scratch. The developer can also modify the code as per the requirements. A framework makes development faster and easier.

Library: The Collection of Codes and Snippets

A library is a collection of prewritten codes that the developers can use to add functionalities to the program. It allows reusability of the code and makes the development process easier. For example, the developer can use a library to implement a calendar and clock features in an application. Some examples of famous libraries are React and jQuery.

Both libraries and frameworks are used by developers in a similar way. They use some libraries and frameworks, modify their code as required, and develop the application accordingly.

What is Angular JS?

Angular is a free and open-sourced Typescript-based web framework that uses a regular Data Object Model and was developed by Google in 2010. Angular is aimed at creating single-page applications (SPAs) and can do various operations like routing, state management, PWA, testing, and building.

Features and Pros of Angular

[1] Free and Open Source
Although Google developed it, Angular is now completely free and can be used by anyone to develop amazing web projects with the trust of Google.

[2] High Performance at a lesser cost
Angular is known for its high-performance capabilities and has all the necessary features in its library for developing web applications. It has high-end security features and requires fewer third-party libraries, which reduces the development costs.

[3] Easy Maintenance
Since Angular is based on Typescript, its simplicity enables developers to find errors easily and fix them. Angular also imports external code repositories (dependencies) to help developers in testing, making the whole testing process easy.

[4] Reusable
Due to having the base of typescript, an object-oriented language, Angular has clean and consistent code that enables developers to reuse the code as much as they need.

[5] MVC Architecture

Angular uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture which helps the developers organize and manage the code efficiently.

Cons of Angular

[1] Steep learning curve

Angular has a steeper learning curve and learning efficiency totally depends upon the developer’s knowledge and proficiency of Typescript.

[2] Limited SEO capabilities
Since Angular is used to develop single-page applications, it offers limited SEO capabilities and search engine crawlers cannot crawl the whole structure of the website.

[3] The Large size of the project
Angular’s diverse features restrict its use to developing small applications. It can only be used to create large web applications.

What is React js?

React is another open-sourced framework of javascript that was created by Facebook in 2011 but the initial version was released in July 2013. It is also used to create single-page applications and develop reusable UI components. One of the main features of React is that it is highly customizable, and developers can use it as they like.

Features and Pros of React

[1] Component-Based
React uses component-based architecture, which allows the UIs to split into independent and reusable components.

[2] SEO Friendly
React is used to build SEO-friendly websites due to its diverse SEO capabilities, which allows search engine crawlers to index the website easily and efficiently. React also enables the website to load much faster.

[3] One-way Data Binding
React is used to incorporate one-way data binding, which allows the data to flow in one direction which helps the code to be more predictive.

[4] JSX Extension
React allows the use of JSX (Javascript XML) extension to be used in web projects to enable mixing of HTML-like code within the javascript.

[5] React Native

React can be used to develop full-fledged native applications with diverse functionalities to run on multiple platforms.

Cons of React

[1] Fast Pace of Development
React is constantly evolving at a fast pace, which is why developers have to regularly learn new things to keep up with the development speed.

[2] No standard development approach
Since React is a UI library, it does not have any standard or recommended approach to developing applications.

[3] Compatibility Issues
React is a new technology, so it might have some compatibility issues when used with the latest technologies and platforms.

What is Vue js?
Vue was developed by a former Google employee in the year 2024. It is used to develop high-quality and single-page web applications. It allows the developers to extend directives (HTML with HTML attributes) and also provides built-in directives and other user-defined directives. It is a lightweight framework and easy for beginners to learn and use.

Features and Pros of Vue

[1] Small size and easy to use
Vue is a small-sized framework, which is 21Kb. The code of Vue is also short and simple, which enables time-efficient development of web applications and websites and is very easy to learn and use for beginners.

[2] Visualized error reporting
The debugging in Vue runs parallel to the development, which can be visualized, enabling the developers to quickly find out the bug and fix it.

[3] Flexibility
Vue is a very flexible framework, which the developers can either use as a library for some features or use as a full framework for developing large applications.

[4] Reactivity
Vue uses a reactivity system, that automatically updates the data object model whenever there is a change in the data.

[5] Single File Components
Vue allows for defining different components in a single file, which includes the template, script, styles, etc making it much easier to manage components.

Cons of Vue

[1] Narrow Ecosystem
Vue has a very narrow ecosystem, which does not allow it to run on older versions of some browsers and operating systems.

[2] Optimization issues
While Vue can be used to develop large applications, the code might not be as optimized as other popular frameworks.

[3] Smaller Community
Vue has a smaller community, which means fewer plugins, libraries, and tutorials.

Vue vs React vs Angular Comparison

Here is the comparison between these three popular frameworks

Basis of Comparison	Vue js	React js	Angular js
Release Year	2014, February	2013, May	2016, September
Created By	Evan You	Facebook	Google
Architecture Used	MVVM	View	MVC
Language Used	Javascript and Typescript	Javascript and JSX	Typescript
Difficulty	Easy to Medium	Medium	High
Type of Data Binding	Two Way	One Way	Two Way
DOM	Virtual	Virtual	Real
Speed	High Speed	High Speed	Slow Speed
Size	20-21 Kb	30-40 Kb	500 Kb
Community	Large but Smaller than React	Large	Large and Backed by Google
Used in	Small to Large Apps	UI Focused, mainly SPAs	Large Enterprise Apps
Flexibility	High	High	Limited
State Management	Vuex	Redux, MobX	NgRx
Mobile Development	NativeScript and Vue Native	React Native	NativeScript
Tooling	Vue Devtools	React Devtools	Angular Devtools
Testing	Vue Test Utils, Mocha and Jest	Jest and Enzyme	Jasmine and Karma
Ecosystem	Moderate	Large	It is comprehensive and includes everything
Popular Examples	9GAG, Behance, GitLab	Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp	Next Olive Technologies, Forbes, Wix

Job Market for Vue, React, and Angular Developers

Following is a quick comparison of the job market on different aspects for Vue, React, and Angular Developers

Basis of Comparison	Vue js	React js	Angular js
Demand	Moderate	Very High	High
Average Salary Per Year	$70,000-$110,000	$80,000-$130,000	$80,000-$120,000
Popularity	Growing in Asia and Europe	Most popular globally	Popular among large companies
Mostly Preferred By	Startups to Medium Sized Companies	All company sizes	Large Enterprises and Government
Market Saturation	Lower	High	Moderate
Freelancing Opportunities	Moderate	High	Moderate to High
Used in	Small to Medium Projects	UI and SPAs	Complex enterprise-level web applications
Framework Usage in Companies	Limited	Widely Used	Used Widely

Mobile Development with Vue, React, and Angular

Let us get a detailed comparison of mobile app development with the three popular frameworks

Basis of Comparison	Vue js	React js	Angular js
Mobile Development Solutions	Vue Native	React Native	NativeScript and Ionic
Development Approach	Cross-Platform Native Applications	Cross-Platform Native Applications	Hybrid Applications and Cross-Platform Native Apps
Performance Level	Near-Native	Near-Native	Good with Ionic and Near-Native with NativeScript
Reusability of Code	High	High	High with Ionic and Lower with NativeScript
Difficulty of Usage	Easy to use	Moderate	Moderate with Ionic and More Complex with NativeScript
Popular Tools	NativeScript, Vue Native, and Quasar Framework	React Native, Expo and Next.js	Ionic Framework and NativeScript
Learning Curve	Easy	Moderate	Moderate to High
Develop Ecosystem	Limited official tools	Strong	Strong with Ionic and Moderate with NativeScript
Access to Native APIs	NativeScript provides deep access to APIs	Strong Native Modules Support	Ionic uses Cordova for Plugins and NativeScript has direct access
Deployment	It needs more setup with NativeScript	Easy with React Native	Easy with Ionic and more set up for NativeScript

Vue vs React vs Angular Performance

Following is a side-by-side comparison of the top 3 widely used frameworks

Basis of Comparison	Vue js	React js	Angular js
Rendering Performance	Fast with virtual DOM	Fast with virtual DOM	Slower
Bundle Size	20-30Kb	30-40Kb	>500Kb
Memory Usage	Efficient for small projects	Efficient and scalable with good memory management	More memory consumption
DOM Manipulation	Virtual DOM ensures fast updates	Virtual DOM ensures fast updates	Real DOM is slower and offers much slower updates
Framework Size	Lightweight and focuses on the view layer	Lightweight and needs additional libraries for routing	Heavyweight and it is a complete framework
State Management	Uses Vuex	Uses Redux or Context API	Uses built-in dependencies injection
Performance in Larger Apps	Good for medium-sized applications	Good for large-sized applications	Best for large enterprise applications

Vue vs React vs Angular Market Share

Market share determines the popularity of a framework on several factors. Let us observe the comparison of the market share of these frameworks.

Key Metrics	Vue js	React js	Angular js
Overall Market Share	20%	60%	20%
Total Github Stars	211k+	213k+	90k+
Weekly NPM Downloads	4M+	22M+	2.5M+
GitHub Users	3.8M+	13.8M+	2.3M+
Developer Popularity	Popular among 20-25% developers	Most Popular 70-75%	Least popular 15-20%
Company Adoption	Medium to High	High	High
Demand in the Job Market	Medium	High	High

Web Development Comparison with Vue, React, or Angular

Basis of Comparison	Vue js	React js	Angular js
Learning Difficulty	Easy to Medium	Medium	Hard
Development Speed	Fast for small to medium projects	Fast, but requires additional libraries	Slower at setup, but fast for large applications due to built-in features
Level of Flexibility	Highly Flexible	Moderately flexible as it requires additional libraries	Less Flexible as it is a full framework
Tooling Support	Good CLI support and many community-offered tools	Good tooling and a large ecosystem of community tools of additional libraries	Best tooling with a reliable CLI and various built-in tools
Rendering	Supports both CSR and SSR	Supports both CSR and SSR	Supports both CSR and SSR natively
Backend Integration	Easy integration with any backend or API	Easy integration with RESTful APIs or GraphQL	Best suited for backend integration
Data Binding	Two-way	One-way	Two-way
Community Size	Growing Community	Huge Community with active contributors	Large Community size within enterprise environments
SEO Optimization	SEO friendly with server-side rendering	SEO support with server-side rendering	Good SEO support with built-in support for server-side rendering

Trends in Vue vs React vs Angular 2024

Criteria	Vue js	React js	Angular js
Popularity	Popular among startups in Asia	Popular framework globally	Stable popularity among enterprises
Growth of Community	Growing community and adaptation in the open-source realm	Active and large community with increasing new tools and libraries	Stable community and is popular among enterprise environments
Market Demand	Moderate demand in startups and medium-sized companies	High among large companies	Stable demand among very large enterprises
Framework Maturity	Continuously evolving and updating	A mature framework and strong ecosystem	A strong and mature ecosystem
Enterprise Adoption	Increasing in startups and medium-sized companies	Widely used in startups and large companies	Particularly used in the government sector and large-scale enterprises.
New Features	Vue 3 has better performance with Composition API and is well-optimized for small to medium-sized applications	Virtual DOM and hooks offer highly optimized rendering for dynamic applications	Well-optimized for very large applications using Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation.
Learning Curve	Easy learning curve	Moderate learning curve	Steep learning curve

Vue vs React vs Angular: Which to learn first?

[1] Vue js

Vue is considered easy to learn for beginners due to its smooth learning curve and offers flexibility for both small and medium-sized projects. Vue enables creating different components in a single file, which includes the template, script, styles, etc making it much easier to manage components.

[2] React js

React is the most popular in the market among the other frameworks because it has a strong ecosystem of libraries and components which makes it the primary choice of anyone who wants to get into web development. It is also good for developing medium to large-scale web development solutions and offers one-way data binding.

[3] Angular js

Angular is best suited for large-scale enterprises and complex web development projects due to its vast libraries and plugins needed to develop any sized app without any issues. Since Angular has a steeper learning curve, having a good grasp on it will require significant time and effort and the code is highly reusable, eliminating the need of writing everything from scratch.

Conclusion

For Beginners, Vue js is the best option.

For the job demand and flexibility, React is a good option.
For enterprise-level development, Angular is the best choice

Vue Vs React Vs Angular: Which Platform to Choose?

Vue Vs React Vs Angular: Differences, Features, Cons

Beginners’s Guide to Vue, React and Angular

Framework: The tool that makes development easy