Choosing a tech stack for a website may be a daunting task. You need to take into consideration budget, time, app size, project objectives, and resources. However, most web developers choose between these JavaScript frameworks: Angular, React, and Vue.js.

Read till the end, and you’ll get a better understanding of each framework.

Angular

Angular is a TypeScript-based JavaScript framework backed by Google. It is an open-source software engineering framework used for building single-page web apps and creating animated menus for HTML web pages.

AngularJS uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture where the model is the framework, the view is HTML, and the control is JavaScript.

Advantages of Angular

  • Two-way data binding. The codes for JavaScript and HTML are already in sync. 
  • Directives. The framework extends HTML files’ functionality with directives.
  • Code Structure. Templates allow producing apps with clean code. 
  • Testing. Angular supports unit and integration testing.
  • Mobile and Desktop Compatibility. The framework can run on most web browsers.

React

React is a JavaScript library maintained by Facebook for building UI components for web applications. Components are at the heart of all React applications. A component is a self-contained module that renders some output. Coding React apps, you write React components that correspond to various interface elements and organize these components inside higher-level components that define the structure of the application.

Advantages of React

  • Easy to use. JavaScript developers will find it easy to understand the basics of React. You can even start developing web applications in a couple of days.
  • Reusable components in Java. The library allows reusing components that have been integrated into other applications to realize the same functions.
  • Simple component writing due to the use of  JSX, an optional syntax extension for JavaScript. It allows combining HTML with JavaScript.
  • Good performance with Virtual DOM (Document Object Model). React uses virtual DOMs to avoid the problem of DOM updating. So, every time there is a change in the actual DOM, the virtual one changes immediately, and the speed of your application will not be interrupted.
  • SEO-friendly development. React allows creating a user interface that can be accessed via various search engines. 

Vue.js

Vue.js is a JavaScript framework with various optional tools for building user interfaces. This is one of the most rapidly growing and widely used frameworks for its ability to build attractive UIs using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Advantages of Vue.js

  • Small size. The size of this framework is 18–21KB, and it takes no time for a developer to download and start using it. 
  • Ease of use. Developers can quickly add Vue.js to their web project because of its simple structure. If there’s any problem, developers can also trace the blocks with errors.
  • Simple integration. Vue.js allows integration with the existing applications. So it can be used to build new applications as well as alter the existing ones.
  • Flexibility. Developers can write templates in HTML files, JavaScript files, and pure JavaScript files using virtual nodes. 
  • Two-Way Communication due to MVVM (Model–View–ViewModel) architecture, which makes it quite easy to handle HTML blocks.

React vs Angular vs Vue.js

Each of these frameworks and libraries has a stack of advantages. Is there a winner in the React vs Angular vs Vue.js battle? No, each framework is suitable for particular projects.

Angular is the most mature of the frameworks, has good backing in terms of contributors. It offers the whole package of advantages that any full-fledged framework possesses. Angular is your choice when:

  • You don’t have time to find technologies to combine.
  • The application you intend to build is large-scale with a lot of features.
  • Your team is familiar with Java and C#.
  • The development team prefers to use out-of-the-box solutions.

React can integrate with other frameworks seamlessly, which gives a great advantage to those who need flexibility in their coding. However, this is just a JavaScript library. This means that it cannot do everything by itself. You’ll have to use additional libraries for state management, routing, and interaction purposes.

React is your choice when:

  • You need to create a unique application with a high level of customization.
  • The development team is used to work with HTML and JavaScript.
  • You don’t have time limits and can spend some time on tool selection prior to starting the development process.
  • Your app will have a lot of dynamic, data-intensive, and constantly changing content.

Vue.js is the newest framework of the three and, therefore, lacks resources. It means that knowledge sharing in this framework is still in the beginning phase.

Vue.js is your choice when:

  • Your development team has relatively little experience. Vue.js has very detailed documentation, which can save a lot of time to build an app using only the basic knowledge of HTML and JavaScript.
  • Your new app will be integrated into another application.
  • Your team develops a large-scale solution.

On a final note

If you are still uncertain which framework or library is better for your application development, we’ll help you to choose the one depending on your project’s needs.