Angular vs React vs Vue: Which Is the Best Choice for 2021? — (Latest Updated)
When beginning a new web development project, the choices for front-end frameworks and libraries have become incredibly powerful.
JavaScript is the backbone of web apps, but still, most software developers are in a dilemma about which JavaScript front-end framework is best suited for their next big project. If you are still chasing with a debate about whether React, Vue, or Angular is the best choice, then it’s time to know the stats and where things stand in 2021.
In this blog, we have figured out the most relevant answer to the common queries of the software developers regarding:
Which Javascript Framework is Leading among Angular, React, and Vue in 2021?
What Do They Need to Learn Next in Javascript?
Which Framework is Widely Used by the Small Enterprises and SMEs?
Which Will Be The Best Performing Javascript Framework for Your Next Web Development Project?
According to the State of Javascript Survey 2019, we find React as one of the top choices of Javascript Framework and received the overwhelmed response from developers.
As compared to the previous survey, Vue has surprisingly caught up on the second position, leaving behind the Angular at the third position.
Every software developer has different knowledge and skill level, unique project requirement, deadlines, complexities, and so on. Therefore, it is not mandatory that if React is the top choice of 20,000 developers, then it will also fit your project needs.
Let’s dive deep into the trends and compare these top three Javascript programing libraries in detail to make the best choice of framework.
1. Overview of Background Of React, Angular, and Vue
To make an informed decision for your next web development project, we’ll compare the features of these three top frameworks. But before that, you need to dig deep in the background of each framework and know the baseline.
Overview
Developed by Facebook, React is a popular framework used to create and operate the dynamic User Interface of the web pages. On the other side, Angular is Google’s most potent, efficient, and open-source Javascript framework that is used for developing a Single Page Application (SPA). However, Evan You has created Vue with the support of massive community members and developers to support libraries that help you tackle complexities in large single-page-applications. It won’t be wrong to say that Vue has all the ethical aspects of React and Angular. And due to this reason, Vue has gained popularity in just a short period without showing any signal of downwards.
History of React, Angular, and Vue
React
Launched in 2013, React had a simple aim to divide the UI into a collection of components to simplify the development process of visual interfaces. React is used to build a single page applications by implementing a new extraordinary feature, the virtual DOM.
Facebook launched the first sign of React in 2010 in the form of Syntax, which is also open-source. However, when Facebook ads were becoming hard to manage with the simple HTML code, they started to look for the right solution, and Jordan Walke worked on its prototype and came up with a React in 2012.
In the year of 2013, React was not only open-sourced but also adopted by approx 3 million front-end developers. After that, the coding problems have gradually resolved and React has gained a strong reputation in the year of 2014. Facebook and Instagram are the big companies using this framework.
Angular:
Let’s rewind the history of Angular to AngularJS. The first version of the AngularJS was launched in 2010 as a front-end application. But fast-forward to 2016, the core team of Google has come up with the Angular that is purely based on the three major pillars — TypeScript, RxJS, and Zone.js.
Today, Angular has dropped the suffix of JS after the last release of Angular 2+ on 28 May 2019. Google and Wix are the two most popular companies using Angular today.
Vue:
Vue is the youngest yet most potent member of the Javascript Framework community which was released by the ex-engineer of Google — Evan You.
In March 2019, Vue came out with version 2.6.10 to practically remove all the drawbacks of the other frameworks and offer you the flexibility to create the next level of web applications without any hassle.
Today, GitLab and Alibaba are the most significant users of Vue.
2. Angular vs React vs Vue: Popularity in 2021
(Considering the NPM trends, Stack Overflow Trends, and GitHub to locate the market position of each framework)
a) NPM Trends: React is the most lovable and downloaded framework followed by Vue.
According to NPM trends, React is the most downloaded framework. However, it doesn’t mean that they are best. To conclude the best option, you need to look at further for more surveys.
b) Stack Overflow Trends: React is at the top leaving behind the Angular at second position.
When we compare Angular vs React vs Vue’s popularity in 2020, Stack Overflow Trends reveals that React receives the largest percentage followed by Angular. But, Vue’s popularity is continually growing from the past few years.
c) GitHub Trends: Vue is the highly-rated framework followed by React
Github Repositories have some surprising yet exciting stats. On the one hand, React has the most Fork and view rates, but Vue has the most stars.
3. Angular vs React vs Vue: Performance
Overview
Performance is one of the most important aspects to be considered for a frontend application. And when it comes to evaluating the performance of Angular, React and Vue, keep in mind that DOM is considered as the UI of any application. Both React and Angular take different approaches to update HTML files, but Vue has the best of both React and Angular frameworks. Let’s get deep into Angular vs React vs Vue comparison:
Angular
Angular is the popular framework of Javascript that uses real DOM and is best suited for the single-page-applications where content is occasionally updated.
Secondly, Angular uses a Two-Way Data binding process that replicates all the changes made in the Model into the views in a secure, efficient and intuitive way.
Downside: Due to many features of this framework, while translating your project into heavy applications, it will slow down the performance as compared to React and Vue.
React
React is a front-end library that uses the Virtual DOM and enhances the performance of any size of application which needs regular content updates. For example, Instagram.
React is based on single-direction data flow. This will provide better control over the entire project.
Downside: As React constantly changes, developers working with the React need to update their skills regularly to go with the new things flawlessly. Everything keeps evolving, so sometimes the tech giants will not find them in a comfortable position to work with it.
Vue
Vue is the youngest JS framework, developed with incredible features to overcome the hurdles that developers face with Angular and React. It consists of all the good things of React and Angular; therefore, it utilizes the virtual DOM to deliver high performance and memory allocation.
Downside: Being a new member of a family, Vue has the smallest community support as compared to React and Angular.
Note: Comparing to other Javascript frameworks, Angular, React, and Vue are the three fastest frameworks to build web applications.
4. Angular vs React vs Vue: Migration
Overview
Sometimes migrating from one version to another can be a trouble for the developers. If comparing the migration process of Angular vs React vs Vue in 2021, you will be surprised to know that Vue has the most straightforward and quickest for upgrading. Let’s understand how complex and time-consuming they are.
Angular
Angular usually releases major updates every six months. Also, there is a period of another six months before any major APIs are deprecated. It ultimately means, developers have two release cycles of six months to make necessary changes.
React
When it comes to Vue vs Angular vs React in 2021, upgrades through versions are generally far more accessible than Angular and Vue. The scripts like React codemod ensure you seamless migration from one version to another and provide stability.
In addition, Facebook also believes that stability is the biggest concern as some of the renowned companies like Twitter and Airbnb are using React.
Vue:
Vue has the smartest migration options for the developers. If you hire web developers, then they just need to use a migration helper tool to make changes in the site as 90% of APIs remain the same if you choose to migrate from 1.x to 2.
5. Angular vs React vs Vue: Learning Curve
So which framework has a modest learning curve? According to the below mentioned graph, it is clear that the largest segment of developers have “heard of it and would like to learn” Vue whereas, React is the most preferred choice of developers and Angular has a sinking percentage of popularity.
The learning curve of any framework is not just limited to coding. In fact, how easy it is debugging and testing are also a real issue, especially when web app development company is handling the massive project and involves a significant amount of code.
On one spectrum, Angular and React requires a deep level of Javascript knowledge and experience to hand decision making regarding third-party libraries. On the other side, many companies are rapidly switching to Vue as it has the most straightforward learning curve as compared to Angular and React.
Still, the large section of developers fall for React as it enables you to build an application in the latest modern ways, unlike Vue that is still following the old-fashioned JavaScript web application development style.
Despite the sinking popularity of Angular, it lies in top three JS frameworks as it provides a clear, informative message to the developers to quickly fix the issues in app development.
6. Angular Vs React Vs Vue: Framework Size
Conclusion:
Considering the below mentioned size of each framework and library, Vue and React are suitable for the light-weight application, whereas Angular is a good fit for complex and heavyweight applications.
- Angular (approximately of 500 KB size)
- React (approximately 100 KB size)
- Vue (approximately 80 Kb size)
Let’s find out how these sizes can affect the software development projects of your business.
Angular
Angular comes with a wide range of features and empowering developers from templates to testing utilities. If you are considering developing a large scale feature-rich application, then Angular is the ideal choice for your next project.
React
React is not a framework like Angular and does not provide you a big spectrum of libraries as Angular does. Therefore, React is a suitable framework for modern web development.
Vue
Vue is the smallest of other frameworks and libraries, as mentioned above, an ideal option for lightweight web development and single-page applications. If you want to choose a library that is simple to access and smaller in size, then Vue is the best option to go with.
7. Angular Vs React Vs Vue: Deployment Speed
Overview
The speed of configuration solely depends upon the number of libraries which are accessible by the developer. Therefore, it is also concluded that developing a web app is faster and easier in Angular than React, whereas React’s architecture is more straightforward to scale than Angular.
Angular
As Angular is the broad framework that handles everything from project creation to code optimization, it is the most challenging framework for the overall deployment. However, as Angular provides you with a broad choice of features, developers can get a fully optimized bundled app to deploy to any static host by using a single command.
React
While React doesn’t come with the same tooling as Angular or Vue, it makes the tradeoff for flexibility. You can mix and match any library you want with React. With the growth of the ecosystem, we now have CLI tools like Create React App and Next.js.
Vue
As compared to Angular and React, Vue’s pre-coding structure enables you to quickly deploy the application without compromising with the performance of the application. With a simple command, you can use exactly what you need in development. Developing an app is quick and easy with Vue; therefore, it is an ideal option for startups.
8. Angular vs React vs Vue: Community Support
Overview
We are now familiar with the backgrounds of these top three JS frameworks, and Angular and React has strong community support of big companies like Google and Facebook, whereas Vue is still in an open-source community. Since React has been the most popular for years, it has built up the support of developers and most of your issues can be solved easily through Stackoverflow.
Angular
Since the launch of Angular in 2010, it has been continuously maintained and supported by Google and came out with frequent updates every six months. Moreover, according to the Medium’s report, Angular is the framework that has been used by such renowned companies including Microsoft, Autodesk, Apple, Adobe, Freelancer, Upwork, Telegram, and so on.
React
It was introduced by Facebook in 2013 as a Javascript library that provides you with rich framework functionalities. The major companies that use React are Instagram, Netflix, New York Times, Yahoo, Whatsapp, Microsoft, Airbnb, Dropbox, and so on.
Vue
It might be a new member and didn’t have such an active community back like Angular and React, but still, is it used by leading companies including EuroNews, Alibaba, WizzAir, Xiaomi, Gitlab, Grammarly and more.
9. Angular Vs React Vs Vue: Tips For Choosing
Overview
Angular is a complete package that offers you all the tools right from development to testing while developing a web application, whereas React is a flexible library that requires the support of other libraries for the development. Vue is the mix package of Angular and React, that adds speed, efficiency, and simplicity to web app development.
Choose Angular When you need:
- To develop a large-scale and feature-rich application.
- Reliable and scalable framework.
- To develop a real-time application like chat apps or message apps.
- To develop native apps, hybrid apps or web apps which are long-term and substantial investment projects.
- Coding in TypeScript.
- Object-oriented programming.
Choose React When you need:
- To develop light-weight enterprise-grade modern applications in a quick time frame.
- A flexible framework that ensures you a secure website development solutions.
- To develop cross-platform applications or single page applications.
- To expand the existing app’s functionality.
- Strong community support and solution.
Choose Vue When you need:
- Smart, quick, and high performance apps.
- To choose a framework that ensures early entry to the market.
- To develop a small and lightweight application like Grammarly.
- To migrate from the existing project to the modern framework but have limited resources.
- To use one supported by the community instead of a company.
Take Away
As you know that there are a bundle of frameworks of JavaScript including Ember, Node, Polymer, Meteor, and more, but Angular, React and Vue are the real titans of the rapidly advancing ecosystem. We tried to compare the different parameters of each framework without getting biased. The only aim is to provide this comparison guide to help you understand the background and functionality of these frameworks, so you can pick the right framework for your next web development project.
The comparisons are based on facts, surveys and case studies of leading organizations. Still, we suggest you do your research before making any decision when you are going to be working on a business project.
