Until a couple of years ago, developers were only supposed to choose between Angular and React for their projects. But since its release in 2014, we’ve seen a third player called Vue.js in this interesting battle of which framework to use.

Sure, Vue is the new kid in town but, as shown by Statista, the most common options for developers in 2020 were still React and Angular. Stack Overflow data is pretty similar too. React leads among the most used web frameworks with 36% of developers using it. Angular has 25%, while Vue is utilized by slightly fewer developers: 17%. 

On the other hand, NPM trends have estimated the downloads of all three web development frameworks in the past 1 year and the results are different with Angular and Vue. React remains in the leading position but Vue downloads prevail over Angular. So, maybe we will see a new era coming up. 

To make the decision which solution would fit you better, we analyze the main differences between Angular, React, and Vue. We take a look at their advantages and disadvantages. And, finally, we are offering you a way to use all this knowledge inside the Ventivo family (stay until the end of this article to find out more information). 

But first, a brief history of Vue vs React vs Angular

Let’s first talk about the history behind these frameworks:

What is Angular?

AngularJS was developed in 2009 by Google and first released one year later, making it the first player in this game of frameworks. It is a TypeScript-based JavaScript framework that in 2016 released its second version and also dropped the “JS” from the original name. Obviously, all significant Google projects have been developed with Angular. This framework allows MVC architecture and provides a basic framework for developing web applications and you can manage them without additional libraries. But a major disadvantage of Angular is that it uses a regular DOM, and thus, the entire tree structure of the HTML tags is updated, which massively impacts the loading time.

What is React?

React was developed by Facebook in 2013 and is extensively used in its products – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. One of its biggest advantages is that it uses a virtual DOM that only compares the previous HTML code differences and only loads the different parts which positively impacts the loading times. On the other hand, React is just a JavaScript library, plus there is no possibility to implement MVC architecture.

What is Vue?

The new kid on the block, Vue was developed by ex-Google employee Evan You in 2014. It combines the useful principles of the Angular and React frameworks and presents them in a minimalistic modern style. Speeding up mobile and web app development with Vue means using the most popular open-source projects within the ecosystem so you can take advantage of input components. It is flexible and really easy to use, has a thorough documentation and the possibility of Component-Based Architecture (CBA). On the other hand, because of its flexibility, Vue allows poor code, making it difficult to debug and test. Plus, there is a limitation on the number of available plugins. Vue is driven entirely by the open source community, whereas Angular and React have a significant share of Google and Facebook employees contributing to the repositories.

Read also: Scrum vs Kanban: What are the most important differences between these Agile Methodologies

How to choose and which one is better

Angular has everything you need to build a web app from development to testing, this is a reason why big companies (besides Google, of course) like Upwork, Samsung, The Guardian or PayPal are using it. It allows development teams to move quickly to implementation without the need to define structures or look for additional libraries. However, it is often too overloaded for small projects and brings unnecessary ballast. Plus, mastering Angular requires you to learn associated concepts like TypeScript and MVC, so learning to use this framework is not an easy job. 

Speaking of the learning curve, React can slow you down too. It is a versatile library but if you want to use some advanced features, you will need to access some third-party libraries. This makes the learning curve of the core framework not so steep especially if you want to add some additional functionality. React is recommended for projects with front-end-heavy results. Plus, huge companies like Twitter and Airbnb use React and one good argument is because upgrades through versions are generally the easiest with this framework. React has stronger server-side rendering support, making the library more SEO-friendly.

And finally, Vue.js is a revolutionary framework for creating user interfaces, single page applications and parts of a page in the form of widgets that load automatically without refresh as well as a quick learning curve. Big companies like Netflix, Adobe, Xiaomi or Trivago are using it. Plus due to its interoperability with other JavaScript frameworks and its ability to add more complicated logic to current programs, Vue can be a great solution for virtually every project.

Go for Angular if you want:

  • Reliable and scalable framework.
  • A framework that will help your development teams to move quickly to implementation.

Choose React if you want:

  • Lightweight modern apps in a short time.
  • Secure mobile solutions for web development.

Decide on Vue.js if you want:

  • Single-page applications or creating parts of a page in the form of widgets that load automatically without refresh
  • And a framework with a quick learning curve.

But, to be honest there is no correct answer to “which one is better” question. There is no absolute best when it comes to UI development since all three are under a very active development. What we can advise you to do is to make your choice based on both the projects you want to work on and the team you’re going to be a part of.

In conclusion, if you think FrontEnd is your future, then JOIN OUR TEAM. Because, good news, we are looking for the best Developer.

Do you like to build software applications from scratch? Then Ventivo is the perfect team for you. We are looking for Developers who can change the future with us. Are you the one? Drop us a line and let’s meet! Check our Careers page and apply now.