Angular vs React vs Vue: Which Framework to Choose in 2023

When it comes to picking a suitable framework solution, the ongoing debate is always prominent regarding Angular vs React vs Vue.

So, if you are one of the budding developers and much confused about which JavaScript framework to use, then the most popular three names you’ll hear are Angular, React, and VUE.

While you are thinking of starting with your development, it is essential to have a precise focus on what kind of framework you are using. Often it becomes difficult to pick the right one that suits your purpose.

Hence, here is a guide on the best framework to choose in 2023 that you need to check out to acquire the best of results.

Let’s start with the history of Angular vs React vs VUE:

Before having a detailed look at the technical aspects of these three frameworks, knowing about the history behind them can give you better insight into how they have evolved. Hence have a look:

Angular

Angular started its journey with its development by Google. It was released first in 2010, making it the oldest of all in this debate of Angular vs React vs Vue. It works as a TypeScript-based JavaScript framework.

Angular first had its substantial shift in 2016 with the release of Angular 2. The Angular 2+ is known only as Angular. However, the AngularJS or the first version still gets its updates. The latest version of Angular is Angular 11, which started its journey in November 2020.

React

React was developed by Facebook, which started its journey in 2013. Facebook uses React in their products like WhatsApp and Instagram. The recent stable version for React is the 17.X which came up with its release in October 2020.

Vue

Vue, officially known as Vue.js, is one of the newest frameworks in the market. It was first developed by Evan You in 2014, who is an ex-Google employee. Since the last three years, Vue has seen a lot of significant changes in its popularity.

The recent stable version of Vue is version 3.0, which was released in September 2020. The contributors in Vue get support from Patreon. Vue 3 is currently in its GitHub repo. It has made its move to TypeScript.

What should you look for in these three frameworks?

Before you jump to the conclusion to buy the best framework as per its history and evolution, it is crucial to have a precise look at other aspects. Hence before you make any decision, here is what you should look for in the framework for you:

License:

Before you pick an open-source framework for your purpose, make sure you are going through the license. Licensing is essential to ensure the platform is legal and not supposed to give you any kind of unnecessary trouble.

However, all the three frameworks use the MIT license, which comes with limited restrictions in its reuse, even if you use it as proprietary software. Before picking the right framework for your purpose, make sure you know all the license implications.

Popularity:

So, what does the scenario look like when it comes to the popularity in Angular vs React vs VUE debate? In terms of long-time popularity in the market, “Angular” and “React” are always at the top of the list in Google Trends.

Another excellent reason behind their popularity is the number of stars their GitHub repositories earn. However, a sudden spike in the popularity of Vue occurred in the middle of 2016 due to its efficiency.

So, if you are one of those who likes to check the popularity before relying upon a product, then you can check this out.

Another very intuitive aspect of this debate is the job market it creates. It is seen from the trends of late 2018 that the number of jobs that ask for the skill set of Angular or React is near the same. On the other hand, this is only limited to 20% in the case of Vue.

Hence, if you are thinking of grabbing a job in the current market, Angular and React are the best ones to learn. However, since Vue is gaining much more popularity than before, it is also better to know about it for future jobs.

Time to learn about the community and development of these three frameworks:

To know much precisely about these frameworks, it is important to focus on its community to have a complete assessment of its development. All frameworks have their incremental releases regularly.

Each of these three platforms is having its latest release from the last half of the past year, which pretty much indicates that the developments are going on regularly to make the user experience better.

Let’s have a look at the statistics of Angular vs React vs Vue on their GitHub repositories:

Angular:

• Watchers: 3.2k
• Stars: 70.9 k
• Forks: 18. 6 K
• Contributors: 1352

React:

• Watchers: 6.7k
• Stars: 164k
• Forks: 32.9 K
• Contributors: 1533

Vue:

• Watchers: 6.3K
• Stars: 200.8K
• Forks: 31.7K
• Contributors: 382

While comparing React vs Vue, Vue steals the trophy in terms of a considerable number of watchers, stars, and forks.

This shows how popular Vue is among the users. However, the number of contributors in Vue is much lower than React and Angular.

One of the main reasons behind it is, Vue gets completely driven by the open-source community. On the other hand, Angular and React come with a significant share of Google and Facebook employees who contribute to the repositories.

From the statistics, it is quite clear that three of these frameworks have significant development in their activity, which will undoubtedly continue for the future. However, it would be a wrong step to judge their future growth based on these statistics.

Another additional metric that would be right enough to consider is GitHub’s “Used By” badge. It needs to be enabled by the repository author.

This works as a helpful way to show how many other repositories there are on GitHub, depending on that repository.
The GitHub repo of Angular shows 1.7 million. In the case of React, the GitHub repo reaches up to the mark of 5.7 million. However, Vue, in such cases, shows only 167000 for both of its combined repos.

The possible explanation behind this is, Vue is one of the newer frameworks in the market, and it does now reveal the actual picture of its overall demand.

Things you need to know about the migrations:

The migration in the Angular vs React vs VUE debate is one of the crucial areas to know about. Since you are working with your preferred framework, the need to migrate to another won’t come up until you face some problem with it.

One of the most popular scenarios is working with your preferred framework, and a new update in it messes up all your code, which can be the main reason behind migrating.

Though in most cases, you are not necessarily going to face any kind of issue shift from one version to another, it is also essential to be concerned about the ease of migrating. The reason behind this is, some cruel updates can make things troublesome.

Angular:

Angular comes with major updates every six months. There is also a period of another six months before any of the powerful APIs get deprecated. It offers you two times of two release cycles which may need some of the necessary changes.

React:

Compared to Angular, React has much stability in it, according to Facebook. Since huge companies like Twitter, Airbnb use it, it needs to have a proper kind of stability in it even if changes come.

The Upgrades through the versions are generally much easier to deal with on React. Hence it includes scripts like the react-code mod, which is helping with the migration.

Vue:

When it comes to the migration of Vue, it is much easier. It is mentioned in the Migration Section that Vue 2 and Vue 3 is almost the same in terms of functionalities. 90% of the API is quite similar if you are planning to migrate from the Vue 1.x to 2.

There is also another Vue 2 to Vue 1 migration helper tool, which works on the console. It helps in assessing the status of your application.

How is working with Angular vs React vs VUE?

Here comes the main factor that you should focus more attentively before picking the right JavaScript framework that rightly suits your need.

Hence, it is important to have an eye on the discussion about working with Angular vs React v VUE. Therefore, have a look:

What are the components to look at?

Components work as a vital part for all these three frameworks irrespective of the type you are using. Usually, a component gets the input and tends to change its behavior based on it.

This change of behavior comes up as the change in the UI in some of the parts of the page. The use of such components makes it easier to reuse the code. Hence have a look at it in respect of these three frameworks:

Angular:

In Angular, the components are usually referred to as directives. Directives work as just the markers on DOM elements. With it, Angular can also track and attach the specific behavior of it.

On the other hand, Angular separates the UI part of the components as an attribute of the HTML tags. Also, it uses their behaviors in the form of JavaScript code. This is unique about Angular compared to other frameworks.

React:

React, on the other hand, combines along with the UI and its behavior of components. The code that creates Hello World reacts; the same part of the code is responsible for creating a UI element along with dictating its behavior.

Vue:

Compared to React, in Vue, the UI and behavior work as part of the components. It is specifically high-performing in offering more intuitive results.

At the same time, Vue is highly customizable, which lets you combine the UI and behavior of its components within a script. At the same time, you can also use its preprocessors in the Vue rather than using CSS.

This is a great feature. Vue is simply fantastic when it comes to the integration of it along with other libraries.

Size and loading times:

The sizes for the libraries are not at all going to be a bigger factor as caching and minification is quite standardized these days.

Though there can be many significant differences between the sizes of the frameworks, they are still working as a small one compared to other average web page size.

In case if you are using a popular CDN to load these libraries, then there are highly probable chances that the users have the library already loaded in their local system.

Learning Curve:

Not only functionalities of these frameworks that you need to know. When it comes to Angular vs React vs VUE, you also need to think about the learning curve for each of the frameworks.

Since you are starting as a beginner developer, it matters a lot about the ease of the JavaScript framework, which decides how much convenience you’ll have in your task.

At the same time, the difficulty level to learn each of these frameworks can also help you to pick the most suitable one for your purpose. Hence here is the learning curve that you need to know about these frameworks:

Angular:

Angular comes with a much steeper learning curve. It comes as a complete solution and at the same time offers a proper help in learning everything from scratch.

Mastering the task in Angular will simply require you to learn all the associated common concepts like TypeScript and MVC.

Hence, learning Angular may come up as slightly time taking, since you have to learn each of the areas very precisely to understand the entire thing.

Though it takes a lot of time to learn Angular, the investment pays dividends when it comes to the terms of understanding how the front end is working.

React:

Apart from Angular, React may not come up as too difficult to learn for the developers. Rather it includes more possibilities to learn the framework easily.

React comes up with a Getting Started guide, which is properly helpful for anyone to set up React in one hour or so.

It comes with documentation that is thorough and complete, which is highly useful for anyone who is trying out React for the first time.

The solutions to all the common issues are already present in Stack Overflow. However, React is not a complete framework. All the advanced features in it require the usage of third-party libraries.

Thus, the learning curve or the core framework for React may not be much steep. However, it depends on the path that you are taking, along with the additional functionality. Also, learning React may not be as valuable as Angular but definitely has some benefits.

VUE:

When it comes to learning VUE, it renders much ease in learning than the other two. Vue offers a high level of customizability, which makes it much easier to learn compared to Angular and React.

Vue also comes up with an overlap on Angular and React in respect to some of the functionalities. The usage of components is definitely one of them.

Thus, the transition of Vue from Angular and React is much easier. Also, the flexibility and the simplicity of VUE adds up to its ease of working. However, Vue enables adding poor code to it, which makes it difficult for debugging and testing.

Though Angular, React, and Vue come up with a much significant learning curve and variety of difference in it, their uses in the various areas are simply limitless.

You can easily integrate Angular and React along with WordPress and WooCommerce to create highly functional and completely progressive web apps.

Angular vs React vs VUE: Who’s the winner?

When it comes to deciding the winner of the best framework for 2023, it can be a difficult task since each framework has its own characteristics and significance.

When it comes to making the decision between Angular, React, and VUE, which one will you choose? Well, let’s have a look:

Angular is much preferred one as it is the most mature type of frameworks. It comes up with a very good back-up in terms of contributors. Moreover, it comes in complete form in the package.

However, the learning curve of Angular is much steeper. Also, the concepts of development for Angular may put off other new developers.

Hence, Angular is a very good choice for companies having large teams, which wants to have a more managed solution to accomplish the entire task. At the same time, Angular is very effective for those who are already using TypeScript. Using Angular makes it easier to manage through TypeScripts.

React, on the other hand, may not be that much of a mature solution for one. However, it is already having a huge number of contributions from the various communities.

It is now gaining a lot more acceptance which sets it as a similar competitor to Angular. When it comes to the job market, React can actually open up better opportunities. You can see that directly by looking at the number of React development services that appeared in the past years..

The framework of React also looks very bright and prospective. React is definitely a good choice for those who are starting with front-end JavaScript frameworks.

Also, for startups and developers who want much flexibility in their task of developing, React offers them the best kind of solution. Moreover, React integrates with the other frameworks quite easily, which offers it better advantages for those who want some more flexibility in their coding.

Vue, on the other hand, is new to this field. There is no back-up of it with any of the major companies. However, it is still doing very well from the last three years and has proved itself as one of the strongest competitors for Angular and React.

The release of the Vue 3 version has made it way much easier. Though Vue may not reach the leading position of Angular or React, it is still performing quite great.

However, for the beginners who are looking for simplicity in their developing task, the Vue is simply suitable for them.

Angular vs React vs Vue FAQs

1. Which is better, VUE or react or angular?
Whether VUE, React, or Angular, which one is better, that is completely dependent upon what you require from your framework. Based on the needs and requirements of your project, you need to pick which one is the best for you.

React, and Angular are the old players in the arena, while VUE is the newer one. VUE is comparatively easier to learn than React and Angular.

React comes with all the essential information and guidance with it which makes it easier than Angular. However, Angular, on the other hand, is complete in its aspects and offers a very TypeScript friendly solution.

2. Is Vue better than Angular?
Vue is better than Angular in terms of building mid-sized applications. While Angular is a bulkier framework, it is useful for bigger applications.

However, for the smaller apps, you might not want to deal with this much bulkier coding. For the small apps, VUE is definitely the best one, but for bigger ones, it is better to go with Angular.

3. Which is faster: Angular react or VUE?
When it comes to speed, one can easily state that Angular is definitely much slower than the other two frameworks. React, and VUE perform very well when it comes to delivering faster performance.

4. What is the difference between React, Angular and Vue?
The main difference between React, Angular, and Vue is its way of performing and functionality. Angular usually uses TypeScript and splits HTML along with TypeScript logic apart.

React, on the other hand, works by using JavaScript and another feature called JSX, which combines HTML along with JavaScript logic. VUE uses usual JavaScript along with splitting HTML and JavaScript Logic apart.

5. Is Angular losing popularity?
During the time of inception, Angular started out as the most popular and used JavaScript framework among all developers.

However, with the development of other frameworks like React and Vue, Angular seems to lose its popularity, as people are shifting their choices to other options.

Hence, Angular is not anymore in the top position of JavaScript front-end frameworks. Also, there is much of a debate regarding the pros and cons of learning Angular.

6. Does Google use Angular?
Yes, Google does use Angular for its official website and other applications that it rolls out for users.

7. Should I learn React or Angular?

Angular is the widely used framework for large applications like music instrument apps and video streaming apps with its robust framework type. Thus, if you are thinking of building bigger applications, then Angular is definitely going to be the best choice for you.

On the other hand, ReactJS is a library that is definitely good for Single Page applications or for those areas where it does not require too much formatting.

8. Does Angular have a future?
Looking at its continuous updates, it can definitely be said that it does have a future. The team of Angular keeps releasing major features, which reduces backward compatibility issues and makes the newer version easy.

Till now, it is at the top position as the best one for larger applications.

9. Is Angular or React better in 2023?
It’s hard to make anyone the better one. Both of these have their own benefits and functions. Angular is definitely a better one than React, till now. However, React surpasses Angular in terms of delivering a suitable framework for Single Page Applications.

10. Can I learn Angular without knowing JavaScript?
No. First, you need to know JavaScript to learn Angular. Using Angular requires you to understand the fundamentals of JavaScript. Hence, learning the basics of JavaScript is very much important to learn Angular.

Conclusion:
To conclude on the debate of Angular vs React vs VUE, we must accept the fact that there is not any perfect framework.

Hence, each of the libraries has its own benefits and significance. However, while choosing the right one for you, it is important to pick one based on the project that you are working on.

Also, the individual requirements play much of an important role in such cases. Before making a decision, assess all the necessary aspects for your task and then pick the one that rightly suits your purpose.