Vue vs React: Which Is Winning the Battle of The Two Most Popular JS Frameworks?

Progressive JavaScript frameworks continue to offer more advanced and versatile features every day. While there are many different frameworks, the most popular JS frameworks for the past few years have been Vue.js and React.js. 

In this article, we will review the basic approaches and structures that distinguish these two frameworks.

What is Vue.js?

Vue.js is an open-source JavaScript framework designed to help developers build web user interfaces. It was created in 2014 and has quickly become one of the most popular frontend frameworks used today. 

Vue.js makes it easy to create single-page applications and user interfaces with its component-based architecture. It also offers a wide range of features that make it a great choice for any project, such as virtual DOM (Document Object Model), reactivity, data binding, and more. 

With its simple learning curve and wide range of features, Vue.js is a great choice for developers looking for a fast and efficient way to create great user interfaces.

What is React.js?

React.js is a JavaScript library created by Facebook for building user interfaces. It is designed to make the process of creating interactive UIs more efficient and straightforward. 

React.js is used to create dynamic and responsive user interfaces, enabling developers to create a single page application (SPA) quickly and easily. React.js is also excellent for creating mobile applications, as it allows developers to create mobile-friendly components in a much simpler way than with traditional web technologies. 

Additionally, React.js is also great for creating data-driven applications that require frequent updates, as it efficiently updates data without reloading the entire page.

Why do developers use Vue.js?

Developers have been using Vue.js as an alternative for React.js for some time now. They appreciate the benefits of Vue's large library and easy-to-use interface, which make it easier to build apps than with other JS frameworks. Vue.js offers higher performance speed, and many programmers say it is easier to learn than React.js. Its multiple customization features are also a factor that draws developers to Vue.js.

Among the highlights of Vue.js are:

Efficient original plugins: Vue.js offers a collection of plugins available in its original JavaScript library for many processes.

Intuitive interface: Vue's interface design is simple, straightforward, and logical.

One syntax: Vue.js uses the same component logic throughout an entire UI design process. You don't need to learn any different syntax to write a new function in your software. You can easily understand the codes in the project because the syntax of each project is the same.

Not supported by specific centers: TheVue.js framework is not directly supported by any big company. This means that the core team can continue to thrive without anyone's influence or authority. 

Teams developing small and medium projects often prefer to use Vue.js.  Due to its good performance, it's fast and easy to learn, and it also delivers a lightweight application.

Many developers prefer Vue.js over React.js because it offers an easier and faster development process. Vue.js is known for its straightforward approach to coding, providing developers with a simpler syntax and a less complex structure. 

Also, Vue.js is very easy to add to, which makes it easy for developers to use existing tools and libraries in their projects. Vue developers extend the web functionality of their applications with visual components in addition to the parent component and child component. 

Vue also has a wide range of ready-made components that can be added to projects quickly. Lastly, Vue.js makes state management easier to understand, which is important for bigger projects. 

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Why do developers use React?

React.js is the number-one JS front-end library for the vast majority of developers. Developers often choose to start their JS learning curve with React.js. This library has many advantages, such as:

Mobile development: React Native, a JS-based framework created by React.js for hybrid mobile development, uses the same syntax and patterns as React.js. A React learner can easily keep up with React Native as well. React Native has many use cases, such as increasing application speed, improving application development, and providing a functionality framework.

JSX: React's JSX syntax extension makes it easy to write your own custom UI components in HTML. When the solutions that come with React.js aren't enough, JSX can be used to make web apps with a lot of features and user interfaces.

SEO friendly: Google's search engine bots often cannot crawl the content and text on JS-based web pages correctly. It is difficult to correctly index web applications developed with JavaScript. This makes it harder for search engines to give the web application a good ranking. Web applications encoded with React.js, however, can be correctly indexed by Google and other search engines.

Fast React Developer Tools: When you install the React.js framework, you also get React Developer Tools extensions that work in Chrome and Firefox browsers. With these development tools, you can make good hierarchies, organize code, look at how features connect to each other, and design software.

React.js is much more popular among developers than other JS frameworks because it can be used in many different situations. Having the opportunity to improve application performance, work with rich third-party libraries, build broad functionalities, adapt the application to multiple devices and browsers with a single framework are all positive aspects that draw developers to using it. These are the details that make React stand out in the Vue.js vs React.js comparison.

Vue.js vs React.js: Similarities

Both Vue.js and React.js frameworks have the same goal of creating a fast, interactive and reactive user experience. They both use a component-based architecture to divide the user interface into small, self-contained components that can be reused in other applications.

Both JS frameworks also provide a virtual DOM, which is a lightweight representation of the actual DOM and serves as an intermediary between the application and the browser. This allows for faster rendering of changes in the user interface. 

Additionally, both Vue.js and React.js rely on the same set of principles to build user interfaces, such as components, data binding, and event handling.

• Because JavaScript is used throughout development, it should be relatively easy to find capable individuals who are familiar with JS frameworks such as React.js and Vue.js. Programmers who are already fluent in this language will be able to pick up the other easily.

• It's important to remember when talking about JavaScript programming languages that both React.js and Vue.js support TypeScript and Flow.

• Both make use of Virtual DOM, a collection of technologies and methods that may boost frontend speed by eliminating the need to handle large DOM documents. It provides a lightweight JavaScript object that behaves similarly to the DOM tree and may be used in its place.

• Vue.js and React.js have a wealth of comprehensive development tools, resources, and standards accessible to help programmers be more efficient.

Vue.js vs React.js comparison: Differences

If you are a JS developer and are hesitant about which framework to use, we can guide you with an objective comparison. We will evaluate Vue.js vs React.js under many categories and review the pros and cons of both.

Core library and application size

Although application size is not a very important issue during development, the file size is an important factor for performance. It is possible to compress the same code in Vue.js so that it takes up significantly less space than the same code written in React.js. A complete App size can vary because of the dependencies and the application code as it is written. Vue applications could perform in a very similar way to a React app, but be 10- 30% smaller in size. This usually means that it is quicker to code, since less input is required, although there are exceptions.

The performance of an application will slow down the more JavaScript code it has. Vue testing library allows the application to run more efficiently and quickly. Actually, Vue's strongest point in the Vue vs React comparison is its speed and performance.

Because there are so many features in Vue's official default library, 80 KB is enough to build most applications. However, React.js often requires downloading additional libraries. This means the size will continue to increase as new features are installed. 

Scaling: data flow

Both Vue.js and React.js have good scaling solutions. In both cases, state changes can be organized into independent functions and separate conditions can be set for each state. React.js's smart components provide state management library functions, while dumb functions are used to determine what actions to take in certain situations.

Dumb components execute simple functions. Such elements, which allow smart components to be executed in the virtual DOM (Document Object Model), enable the application developed with React.js to perform faster.

Vue.js has also developed an infrastructure similar to React.js. The native unidirectional data flow system is called Vuex and is used for state management. 

Vue.js has a two-way reactive data binding system. This allows users to focus only on the data instead of managing data objects like a micro.

Both JS frameworks offer multiple templates to their users, provide a comfortable working environment, and allow personalized features to be saved. Compared to Vue.js, React.js has more templates, a larger developer ecosystem, and more additional tools, while Vue.js scales projects better and offers more efficient performance. That's why React.js is the first choice when developing large and complex apps, and Vue.js is preferred when developing small, simple and fast web applications.

Performance

There are several factors that determine the web application performance. If the virtual DOM render functions and development process can proceed intuitively and quickly, we can consider that the framework is performing well. 

Both technologies use a browser-independent virtual DOM. Vue.js and React.js, whose infrastructures are similar, are very close to each other in terms of performance and speed, although in many applications Vue.js’s smaller file footprint allows these files to run quicker and more efficiently. The performance of the two JS frameworks diverges when it comes to component creation.

Child components need to be optimized following every change you make in React.js. Component codes should be defined with commands like "PureComponent" and "shouldComponentUpdate."

Vue.js, on the other hand, identifies updates much faster. Vue.js automatically tracks components and self-identifies updated reusable components. When working with Vue.js, you don't need different optimization methods to get high performance.

Mobile application development process

Even though the main purpose of both technologies is to make web apps, less experienced developers may want to use the same or similar syntax to make mobile apps. In response to this request, React.js created React Native, a framework that enables the creation of iOS and Android native apps with their own component structure.

With React.js, developers can build the frontends of mobile apps without having to use different JS frameworks. React Native is an industry-adopted and heavily used solution.

Vue.js does not have a self-developed solution for mobile app development. Weex, the mobile user interface framework developed by Alibaba, works using Vue.js components. Weex can be used to make apps for both Android and iOS, but this is not common.

React Native is a proven mobile framework that has been used for a long time. Developers learning React.js can also simply use React Native. Weex, on the other hand, is preferred by far fewer developers. Since the Vue developers community is relatively small, there is less collaborative action and Weex's educational resources are rather limited. However, eCommerce vendors who want to have web apps and mobile apps can provide important business capabilities with PWA .

Popularity & new developers

React.js and Vue.js, both well-established JS frameworks, have achieved varying degrees of popularity in different time periods. The popularity is mostly determined by the new trends of web applications and the environments where the software developers feel more comfortable. 

When we take a look at Stack Overflow’s survey of JS frameworks, we see that the most popular framework is React.js, and the second most popular framework is Vue.js. While React.js is used by 1.8 million websites, Vue.js is preferred by about 1 million websites. There is almost twice the difference. 

Vue.js is a great option for new developers because it's a progressive framework that is easy to learn and use. It also has a great library of tools and external libraries to help with development. Vue.js is great for quickly creating interactive web applications, and it is also flexible enough to be used for large and complex applications. 

Becoming a pro by learning Vue.js is a shorter process compared to React.js. React is a more difficult framework to learn. You should also consider this in the Vue.js vs React.js comparison.

Community support

One of the most popular aspects of coding in either React or Vue is the community that has built up around these JS frameworks. Both the Vue.js and the React community are huge, as they are the world's two largest frameworks for JavaScript development. These communities of thousands of developers eager to help each other are ready to support you for free on the projects you are working on.

Vue.js vs React.js: Usage areas

Both JS frameworks have a wide variety of use cases and can be used to develop web applications in many categories, as they become more efficient day by day by constantly receiving official updates, with growing communities and developer bases. As we've mentioned several times throughout the article, React.js is more likely to be preferred when developing larger and more comprehensive web applications.

Vue Usage Areas

Vue.js is the best framework for creating single-page web applications. However, many large companies have chosen Vue.js for their JavaScript implementations on their websites. Trivago, GitLab, Nintendo, Behance, Google, Apple, Oval, Trustpilot, Adobe Portfolio, Laravel Spark, and Grammarly are all examples of apps that use Vue.js.

• If a platform needs to support simultaneous transactions of multiple users, then the efficiency, speed and performance of Vue.js is suitable for this platform.

• Vue.js can be used when designing web applications that need to be simple and fast.

• For magazines, blogs, news apps, video blogs, and simple social media platforms, Vue.js is a good choice. Running fast and with very low latency, Vue.js has enough basic functionality for most platforms.

React usage areas

We mentioned that React.js was developed by Meta. This means that React.js's most important use case is social media platforms. Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are applications developed with React.js. Many of the libraries that come with React.js help social networks meet their needs. Especially for communication, community-based interaction, and content-based platforms, React.js is an indispensable choice. If you have an idea for a social networking project, you can get started quickly with a ready-made React.js template.

Vue CLI is a tool for saving properties and making templates available directly. With this tool, data binding can be easily accessed. Vue CLI plugins that can be installed at any stage of the project can be found in Vue Test Utils.

React apps include Atlassian, Yahoo, Facebook, Dropbox, Netflix, BBC, PayPal, Twitter, and Khan Academy. Mobile applications such as AirBnB, Skype, WhatsApp, Instagram, Wix, Tesla and Walmart are also developed with React Native.

• Using React.js is a good option when developing social networks, messaging apps and content-based social media platforms.

• React.js can be used when developing a community-based platform such as forums or marketplaces.

• React.js can be used when developing complex and functional web and mobile applications.

Vue.js vs React.js: Pros and Cons

Vue Pros

• Additional API features
• Framework gets faster with every new version and update
• It is simple to learn
• Vue.js integrations are easily manageable
• Makes the web application creation process fast and simple

Vue Cons

• It can sometimes complicate the project as it offers a lot of flexibility to the developer
• Although it has a wide network of users, it cannot provide plugins and tools that are compatible with most tool resources and frameworks.

React Pros

• React components can be simply nested to develop complex functionality
• Increases the efficiency of web pages
• Code readability is simple
• User experience and loading speed is high
• It has a large and active community

React Cons

• High code complexity
• Gets a lot of updates. Although it is an advantage that it is always up to date, you cannot continue to work while the update is being installed.
• JSX syntax is confusing

Vue.js vs React.js comparison: Summary

In this article, we learned that both Vue.js and React.js are industry-leading JavaScript-based technologies, which are flexible and run quickly because both use JavaScript to reduce tasks on server side and manage the browsers features and resources more efficiently. Another plus is that they reduce the time to deliver content to users by only fetching what they need.

Both Vue.js and React.js allow using templates to build complex apps and functions. Many types of projects can be developed with both JS frameworks without category restrictions. React.js has more library and template possibilities compared to Vue.js, and the React.js developer community is also larger. 

Considering what we reviewed in the framework comparison, we can say that Vue.js being smaller and faster makes it run more efficiently on a wide range of browsers and hardware.