The market for JavaScript frameworks and libraries continues to evolve rapidly. As we enter 2024, three frameworks stand out from the rest Angular, React, and Vue. But which one is the best for web development today? This article examines the latest updates of each framework and compares them across key categories to help you decide.
Angular 14
Released in November 2022, Angular 14 brings a host of incremental improvements while maintaining the framework’s focus on productivity, stability, and ease of use for enterprise applications. Some highlights include:
Faster Build Speeds
The Angular team continues to optimize build and compilation times. Apps now build up to 15% faster in production mode. This improves developer experience and productivity.
Improved Accessibility
Angular Material and CDK components now meet stricter color contrast ratios for enhanced accessibility. The NgA11yModule also helps developers spot and fix common accessibility issues.
Smaller Bundle Sizes
Bundle sizes are now smaller by default, with stricter limits on what gets included. Unused modules are automatically tree shaken out.
Simplified State Management with NgRx
NgRx v14 introduces new APIs that reduce boilerplate code for cleaner, more maintainable stores. Developers have an easier path to managing state across large, complex apps.
More Routing Flexibility
Added capabilities for standalone components with routes detached from the main app router. This supports increasingly modular application structures. With Google’s backing and shift to a yearly release cadence, Angular continues to be a prime choice for large enterprise applications needing advanced capabilities out of the box.
React 18
React 18 arrived in March 2022 with a strong focus on improving server components, suspense capabilities, and streaming server rendered pages for improved user experience. Some key updates include:
Built-In Server Components
React can now render components on the server via createRoot and hydrateRoot. This improves SEO, accessibility, performance, and more without a third-party framework.
Suspense Improvements
Suspense now covers server components for handling data fetching without complex logic. Use Suspense liberally to simplify complex UIs.
Better Streaming
React 18 enables streaming of HTML content to clients sooner for faster time to interactive. Suspense helps here too.
New APIS
New developer APIs like useId, useDeferredValue, useTransition, and more unlock additional capabilities for complex components.
No More Legacy Renderers
React 18 removes legacy renderers for simpler implementation and maintenance. Code is more predictable. As an immensely popular view library backed by Meta/Facebook, React continues strong momentum with major improvements in approachable incrementalism. The ecosystem is vast and versatile.
Vue 3
Vue 3, first released in September 2020, brings long awaited features like better TypeScript support, easier integration of JSX, improved performance, and an upgrade to official tooling. Key advancements include:
Fully TypeScript Native
Vue 3 is entirely written in TypeScript. This means exceptional type support with auto completion in templates, better editor tooling, and more.
Upgraded Dev Ecosystem
Vue CLI, Vue Router, Vuex, and other core libraries are now at v4 with Vue 3 compatibility and improved capabilities. The upgrade is well established.
Faster Performance
Vue 3 includes proxy based observability for simpler change detection and optimized batched updates. This translates to faster rendering speeds.
More Flexible Syntax
From Composition API to <script setup>, new syntax options unlock more flexible component logic without complexity lock-in. JSX is now fully supported as well.
Improved Animation Support
Vue includes transition and animation support out of the box, now with more capabilities via watchEffect and other API improvements. As the scrappy upstart in the ring, Vue continues strong community momentum. The development experience balances simplicity and flexibility with an incremental upgrade.
| Category | Angular | React | Vue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning Curve | Steep | Moderate | Gentle |
| Performance | Very Good | Excellent | Great |
| State Management | Built-in with NgRx | Bring your own (Redux/MobX) | Bring your own (Vuex/Pinia) |
| Documentation Quality | Excellent | Very Good | Great |
| Corporate Backing | Meta/Facebook | Open Collective |
Comparing Angular vs React vs Vue
With the latest on each framework covered, how do you choose among Angular, React, and Vue for an upcoming web project? Let’s compare them across a few key categories.
Learning Curve
Angular: With a full MVC pattern, strong opinions about project structure, and lots of concepts to learn upfront, Angular has a rather steep learning curve. But it also codifies many best practices for you.
React: Purely a view library, React itself isn’t terribly complex to learn. But you’ll need to make decisions on state management, props vs state, project architecture, and more on your own.
Vue: Similar to React in scope, Vue offers gentler onboarding. But to build robust apps, you’ll still need to layer on routing, state management, build tools, and more yourself.
Performance
Angular: Compiling Ahead of Time (AoT) helps deliver very good performance. But change detection can get complex in huge apps.
React: React uses a virtual DOM and efficiently diffs changes for excellent rendering speed. Fewer abstractions also help. Concurrent Mode improves this further.
Vue: The Virtual DOM combined with optimized batching also enables great performance for Vue. Proxy based observation simplifies change detection.
State Management
Angular – NgRx is fully integrated for durable, complex state management out of the box. APIs continue improving.
React – Bring your own with Redux, MobX, or something else. React doesn’t offer opinions here, but the ecosystem provides plenty of choice.
Vue – Similarly brings your own solution like Vuex, Pinia, or any library. Vue is flexible to what works for your team.
Documentation Quality
Angular – Already known for outstanding official documentation, guides continue improving with the move to docs.angular.io.
React – Documentation is very good and often praised. Continually evolving across docs site, blog, and RFC process.
Vue – Great documentation has always been a Vue hallmark. Guides are clear, approachable, and thorough. Impressive for an open source project.
Corporate Backing
Angular – Developed by Google, Angular has abundant resources for continuous improvement and maintenance. Google adopted it heavily internally.
React – Meta/Facebook created and utilizes React extensively in flagship products. The team and community around it are unmatched.
Vue – After Evan You’s continued stewardship, Vue is now sponsored by Over 100 patrons via OpenCollective. The model has worked well.
The Verdict: It Depends on Your Project!
The good news is all three frameworks continue pushing forward with meaningful improvements while retaining the core philosophies users appreciate about each. There is no single “best” option. The right JavaScript framework for your next web project ultimately depends on your application’s specific needs and your team’s preferences.
Angular offers great productivity for enterprise teams but demands some initial investment. React remains beloved by countless developers and powers incredibly complex UIs at scale. And Vue brings a gentle approachability amid two relative behemoths. For large enterprise line of business apps, Angular likely makes the most sense out of the box. React tends to excel for interactive UI-heavy applications with dynamic data or aquatic metaphors. While Vue balances simplicity and practicality for projects like dashboards, tools, and CRUD apps.
But there are always exceptions where another choice may prove better. Evaluate each framework and the latest updates covered here against the reality of your project, team skills, and business needs. Only you can determine the best match. The good news? No matter which you choose, Angular, React, and Vue will all enable your team to build excellent user experiences on the modern web.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which has better TypeScript support, Angular or Vue?
Vue 3 brings fully native TypeScript support and has great editor tooling. But Angular has long had exceptional TypeScript integration as well. Either is a great choice here. React also works well with TypeScript but requires a bit more setup.
How does React handle state compared to Angular and Vue?
React: React uses a virtual DOM and a unidirectional data flow. State changes trigger re-rendering of components, and the virtual DOM efficiently updates the actual DOM. React components can manage their local state using the useState hook. For more complex applications, developers often use state management libraries like Redux to centralize and manage state.
Angular: Angular employs two way data binding, allowing automatic synchronization between the model (state) and the view. Components in Angular can have local state, and changes to the state automatically reflect in the UI. Angular services and RxJS observables are commonly used for managing more complex state that needs to be shared across components.
Vue: Vue utilizes a reactive data binding system. Components declare their data, and when the data changes, the framework automatically updates the UI. Vue also provides a convenient way to manage local state within components. For global state management, Vue offers Vuex, a centralized store pattern similar to Redux in React.
How do React, Angular, and Vue handle component communication?
React: React primarily uses props to pass data from parent to child components. For communication between non parent child components, developers often use a state management library like Redux or context API. Events and callbacks are also used for child to parent communication.
Angular: Angular facilitates communication between components using various methods. Input and Output decorators help pass data from parent to child and vice versa. Angular services can be used for cross component communication by acting as a centralized communication channel.
Vue: Vue uses props for parent child communication similar to React. However, Vue also provides custom events for child to parent communication. Additionally, for complex state management and communication between unrelated components, Vuex can be used.
How is routing handled in React, Angular, and Vue?
React: React doesn’t have built-in routing but is often used with third party libraries like React Router. React Router enables the implementation of client side routing, allowing developers to define routes and render components based on the URL.
Angular: Angular comes with built-in routing capabilities. Developers can define routes, associated components, and navigation behavior. Angular’s router supports lazy loading, allowing for efficient loading of components on demand.
Vue: Vue also has built-in routing capabilities through Vue Router. Similar to Angular, developers can define routes and associated components. Vue Router supports dynamic route matching and nested routes, providing flexibility for different application structures.
How do React, Angular, and Vue handle forms and form validation?
React: React manages forms using controlled components, where form elements are tied to the component’s state. Form validation is typically handled by writing custom validation functions and managing form state accordingly. Libraries like Formik are often used for more advanced form management in React.
Angular: Angular has a powerful form module that provides two way data binding for forms. Reactive Forms, part of the Angular Forms module, allow for declarative approach to form validation. Angular also offers built-in directives for common validation scenarios.
Vue: Vue supports both template driven forms and model driven (or Vuex driven) forms. Template driven forms are simpler and rely on Vue’s data binding for form management. For more complex scenarios, Vuex can be used to manage form state and validation logic.
What are the build and tooling ecosystems like in React, Angular, and Vue?
React: React has a flexible ecosystem and is often integrated with tools like Babel for transpiling, Webpack for bundling, and Jest for testing. Create React App is a popular tool that sets up a React project with sensible defaults, simplifying the build process.
Angular: Angular projects are typically set up using the Angular CLI (Command Line Interface), which provides commands for generating components, services, and more. The CLI also handles the build process using Webpack under the hood, making it easier for developers to manage configurations.
Vue: Vue projects can be set up using the Vue CLI, which is similar to the Angular CLI. Vue CLI provides a range of project templates and simplifies the build process. Developers can choose additional tools like Babel and Webpack based on project requirements.
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