React vs Vue: What’s the Best Javascript Framework in 2021?

React vs Vue: What’s the Best Javascript Framework in 2021?
Published

10 Jan 2022

Content

Tiffany Palmer

The world of JavaScript frameworks is constantly changing. React, Vue, Angular 2+, and more are all competing for your attention. It can be hard to decide which one will work best for you with so many options to choose from. In this post, we’ll compare the two most popular frameworks – React vs. Vue – to help you make an informed decision about what framework to use on your next project!

What Is the React Framework?

React was developed by Facebook in 2013, and it is used for creating user interfaces. one can run the framework on the server-side or client-side to generate HTML code that one will later send down to the web browser where users can see it.

The function of React is in the fact that it manages the rendering. It then computes which components need to be re-rendered in case what you do changes their states.

The way it handles the communication between state and view is its main benefit. This is because it allows developers to write code that will be easy to maintain.

At the same time, React doesn’t come with a ready-made solution for dealing with data fetching or routing problems. The framework can also be slow at times due to how it manages updates in your user interface components.

They’re not fully re-rendered when no changes are made.

Behind the scenes, React uses Virtual DOM (Document Object Model) to keep track of changes made in the application state. It ensures that only minimal updates are sent down to HTML elements when something needs to be changed on screen.

This feature makes React one of the fastest JS frameworks out there. Google’s AngularJS team members claim their framework can outperform it.

This is because they use many optimizations such as dirty checking or immutable data structures.

Even though AngularJS could do better than React in this regard, neither framework offers many benefits compared to Vue.

The Benefits & Disadvantages of React

React provides an efficient solution for rendering UI components on the front end.

It’s simple to use and allows you to work with JSX, a syntax extension that makes writing HTML easier in Javascript code.

Because of its modular nature, it allows developers to build complex user interfaces. They can do so by keeping each component isolated from other elements on the screen.

This way, they won’t be affected by changes made somewhere else in the app if their render() method doesn’t get called again. This is due to some updates being done on state or props.

React has gained significant popularity over recent years among web developers who want fast results. Results that require dynamic content displayed in the browser without having lag caused by rendering.

The biggest drawback of this framework is that it lacks a solution for handling data fetching and routing problems. This can be pretty challenging to deal with in most cases.
While its rendering performance is solid, developers still need to learn how

React works under the hood if they want to build large apps. There are no starter component router or server communication utilities included when working on an app.

What Is the Vue Framework?

Vue.js was created by Evan You in 2014, and it is also used for developing web interfaces. Depending on your needs, it’s a flexible framework to integrate into HTML templates or JavaScript files. Vue uses Virtual DOM to keep track of changes made in the application state.

Still, unlike React, you do not have access to its API if you decide to run it client-side. This is because all operations are performed through jQuery. This means it’s wrapped automatically when running inside a browser.

In other words, developers who want to use Vue on both server-side and client-side will need two copies of their code. One with full functionality and another without any dependencies. This is like they would have required different JS frameworks before using these two.

2-Way Binding & More

Vue also provides two-way data binding, unlike React. This feature allows you to automatically update HTML elements with the latest information available in the application state. Two-way data bindings are helpful for developers who do not want to deal with manual DOM manipulations.

Still, at the same time, they can cause problems if your code contains many nested components. This is because it’s almost impossible to keep track of changes made by each child element. It’s even harder to track where they originate from when debugging is needed.

All arguments mentioned above bring us back to AngularJS. It performs better than both React and Vue frameworks on all three fronts: speed, performance optimization, and ease of use. This is true for the development process.

However, in our humble opinion, it is not the best JavaScript framework in 2021.

That title belongs to Vue. Developers will choose it more than React because of its minimalistic design and easy-to-learn API aimed at beginners. It’s aimed at those who do not have any experience with web development or programming in general.

The Benefits & Disadvantages of Vue

Vue.js has many advantages over React and AngularJS, including the following:

It allows you to build dynamic HTML content with plain Javascript objects that any browser can read. This is because its API is easy to understand for developers who do not have experience in object-oriented programming.

This way, it doesn’t matter if your target audience uses IE or Google Chrome to access websites developed with Vue. All of them will work without issues, unlike sites built using frameworks like AngularJs. These require special rules enforced on both frontend and backend sides.

The rendering speed of pages made with this framework is second only to Riot/Blaze. These were released after Vue but still haven’t managed to beat it in this domain.

Independence & Limited Scope

Vue is an independent framework that can be used without including additional libraries or packages. This is unlike React, which requires third-party extensions and modules to work correctly.

This makes it more secure than most other JS frameworks. This is because there’s less chance for developers who use them to introduce security issues.

The main disadvantage of using Vue is that it provides fewer solutions when compared to AngularJS and React. It does not have a solution for data binding problems. Thus, you won’t find out how deep the rabbit hole goes until something breaks at runtime.

If your app needs features like routing, server communication, or handling requests from multiple AJAX calls, you’ll have to rely on third-party solutions that are not supported by Vue’s development team.

The Most Prominent Differences Between React vs. Vue

To understand which JS framework will be the best choice for your future projects, you need to know how they compare with each other. The most notable differences between React and Vue can be summarized as follows:

Learning Curve

This is by far the most significant advantage of Vue over React. This is because it’s easier to learn than any other web development tool we tested during our research. React has a high learning curve, especially if you’re new in frontend programming.

However, once you get used to their API design and start using them every day, both frameworks become easy to use. This is true even for people who had never programmed before or were starting with JavaScript. So don’t give up on them just because you don’t have any prior experience with programming or web development.

Flexibility

React is more flexible than Vue, allowing developers to choose additional modules and packages they can use while building an app. This is so they won’t have to rewrite everything from scratch if some functionality turns out not suitable.

As mentioned before, this JS framework has a more significant number of third-party extensions compared to Vue. At the same time, its modularity comes at the cost of performance optimization. This is because your site will use too many resources when loading all these dependencies.

This might slow down even high-end devices like MacBook Pros, iMacs. Also, keep in mind that extra packages require additional time to be implemented into your project.

Data Binding

Vue is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. Its main benefit over React lies in the two-way data binding feature. This allows developers to quickly solve problems related to communicating between components.

You won’t have any issues when it comes to establishing connections between parts of your upcoming website or web application. This is because this problem will be solved automatically once the framework loads onto the browser.

However, if you need something like that in AngularJS, there are no native solutions available. Feel free to rely on third-party options like ngRx.

React has one significant advantage over Vue. Its official documentation contains detailed guides about how each specific feature works. This is not the case with Vue because its documentation lacks an extensive list of examples, making it harder to choose this JavaScript library over AngularJS or React for your future projects.

Use the Framework That You Fits Your Workflow Most

If you prefer Vue over Angular or React, that is perfectly fine: this framework has a lower learning curve and allows developers to build their future web apps faster. However, keep in mind that it lacks some solutions for problems like routing and server communication.

If your app’s functionality requires such features, you should probably stick with AngularJS or React as they have more native options than Vue.

If we had to choose one of these JS frameworks based on the information provided above, our final verdict would be as follows:

If performance optimization is not an issue for you – go ahead and use Vue because its two-way data binding feature will help solve most of your everyday frontend programming issues. Comparing it with AngularJS, the latter is more suitable for beginners.

If performance optimization and flexibility are your top priorities – go ahead and pick React over Vue because it allows developers to choose additional native modules that one can use during the development process to make their future web app work faster without having any issues related to communicating between different parts of your upcoming website or application.

Pick Your Poison

Still, this JS framework has a more significant number of third-party extensions compared to Vue, which means there’s always a chance its modularity will come at the cost of reduced performance. So keep these two main factors in mind before making the final decision about what JavaScript library you should use for your next project.

What would our choice be? If you plan to build a highly performant web application, you should go with React because it will help make your next project better. Still, suppose the performance of your future website is not crucial for success, and its functionality can be achieved using different methods like Vue’s two-way data binding feature.

In that case, that’s also an acceptable solution: this JS framework has a lower learning curve. It allows developers to build their future apps faster while using less code compared to the counterpart.

Your Javascript Needs Tended To

You can use this article to see which JS framework you should choose for your following projects. We’ve compared React and Vue to help you make the right decision about what Javascript framework is best for future work.

Personal preference is of the most significant importance.

If you’re interested in full-scale website or mobile app development with these frameworks, get in touch with us and we will accommodate your needs.

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Tiffany

Tiffany comes with a unique creative ability. She is one of the quickest learners of new tools and methodology. She leads the atomic design principles within our UI & UX team that has helped us to deliver high-quality design faster.

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