React vs Vue: Comparison Guide of Leading JavaScript Frameworks

React and Vue.js are both most popular javascript frameworks which are used for building user interfaces. Both these frameworks have garnered significant popularity and adoption, but they definitely differ in multiple aspects- whether it is approach or learning curves, ecosystems, performance, and community support.

The comprehensive comparison in this blog aims to delve into the nuances of React and Vue.js.

What is React?

React is a free and open source Javascript framework for building interfaces based on components. React allows developers to create dynamic and interactive UI components. These components efficients update when the data changes.

React follows a component-based architecture, in this, UIs are broken down into reusable pieces, which further makes it easier to handle complex applications.

  React is widely used for building web and mobile applications. 

 

 Pros of Using React:

1. Flexibility
2. Large ecosystems
3. Performance
4. Community support

 

 Cons of using React:

1. Learning Curve
2. Boilerplate
3. State Management

 

Famous Mobile app developed using React Framework:-

 

1) Facebook	2) Vivaldi Browser
3) Instagram	4) Codecademy
5) WhatsApp Web	6) React-Native
7) Pinterest	8) Node.js
9) Netflix	10) Reddit
11) Cloudflare	12) Flipboard
13) Dropbox	14) Product Hunt
15) Paypal	16) WolframAlpha
17) Twitter	18) Imgur
19) Asana	20) Wappalyzer
21) Kissmetrics	22) Discord
23) New York Times	24) Shopify - Ecommerce business
25) Yahoo mail

Example of Component Structure React.js

Also Read: A Complete Guide to React Components

What is Vue.js?

Vue.js is a progressive Javascript framework for building frameworks and single-page applications. It is designed to be adoptable, which basically means that you can start using it for smaller parts of your project and then further incorporate it into larger applications. 

This framework emphasizes more on flexibility and simplicity, offering features like reactive data binding, component based architecture, and a straightforward syntax. 

 Vue.js is well known for its ease of integration, so developers can use it alongside other libraries and frameworks. 

 Pros of using Vue.js: 

1. Easy to Learn

2. Opinionated Approach

3. Performance

4. Integration

 Cons of using Vue.js:

1. Smaller ecosystem

2. Community size

3. Less flexibility

List of Mobile app developed using Vue.js

1) GitLab	2) Wizzair
3) Alibaba	4) Font Awesome
5) Behance	6) Laravel
7) Trivago	8) Laracasts
9) Grammarly	10) Webpack
11) Xiaomi	12) Github
13) Upwork	14) 9GAG
15) BMW	16) Behance
17) Statista	18) EuroNews
19) Adobe Portfolio	20) WizzAir
21) Codesendbox	22) Payone
23) Nintendo	24) Hostinger
25) Chess

Example of Component Structure Vue.js

Key Features of React and Vue.js:

Learning Curve:

REACT - React is known to have a steeper learning curve, especially for beginners due to its reliance on JSX (javascript XML) syntax and its opinionated nature. This requires developers to make more detailed decisions about how to structure their application.

VUE.js - Vue is often seen as an easy to learn framework specifically by those who are familiar with HTML, CSS, Javascript. This is mainly because of its straightforward syntax and clear documentation.

 

Approach:

REACT - React follows a component based architecture, wherein UIs are built using reusable components. It is more focused on providing a library for the view layer and state management further leaving routing and other functionalities to third-party libraries.

VUE.js - Vue also follows a component based architecture but it provides more out of the box solutions for tasks like state management, routing. Vue is often described as more opinionated- which basically means that it offers more guidance on how to structure and build the application.

 

Ecosystems:

REACT - React takes its pride in a large ecosystem of third-party libraries and tools, including state management solutions like MobX and Redux and Routing libraries like React-Router and testing frameworks like Jest.

VUE.js - Vue’s ecosystem is now growing rapidly and includes libraries like Vuex for state management and Vue Router for Routing. While not as extensive as React’s ecosystem, Vue’s ecosystem is well-integrated and provides solutions for most common development tasks.

 

Performance:

REACT - React is renowned for its performance. All the credits goes to its use of virtual DOM, which allows it to efficiently update the UI by only re-rendering components when necessary.

VUE.js - Vue, too, utilises a Virtual DOM for efficient rendering and update, and the performance is often comparable to React.

 

Community and Support:

REACT - React has a large and active community, with many resources, tutorials and community-driven initiatives available for developers.

VUE.js - Vue community is comparatively smaller than React's but is rapidly growing with strong and active supporters.

Similarities of React and Vue.js:

React and Vue have several similarities, and these similarities are often highlighted even in the Vue.js official documentation. 

Component-Based Architecture

Both React and Vue follow Component-Based architecture, Where UI are built using reusable components. Components encapsulate the structure, behavior and style of UI components, promoting code reusability and maintainability. 

Virtual Dom 

React and Vue both utilize the Virtual Dom to efficiently update the UI. The Virtual Dom is a lightweight representation of the actual DOM, allowing the framework to minimize the DOM manipulations and optimize rendering performance.

Reactivity:

React and Vue enable automatic UI updates based on changes in  the application state. React uitilize one-way data flow and state management, while Vue employs a reactive data model with getters and setters.

JSX/Template Syntax

React uses JSX for component templates, Vue uses HTML based syntax. Both are declarative syntax similar to HTML for building UI’s.

Single File Components:

React and Vue both use a single file component, building template, script, style for better modularity.

State Management:

React and Vue provide built-in and external options for managing components and global state. React commonly uses Redux and Context API, while Vue includes VueX for global state management. 

Vue vs React Performance

Duration in milliseconds ± 95% confidence interval.

React and Vue Performance Comparison

Name	React (ms)	Vue.js (ms)
Create Rows [ Duration for creating 1000 rows after the page loaded ]	49.7 ± 0.5	46.0 ± 0.4
Replace All Rows [ Duration for updating all 1000 rows of the table (with 5 warm up iterations) ]	50.5 ± 0.5	47.3 ± 0.6
Partial Update [ Time to update the text of every 10th row (with 5 warm up iterations) for a table with 10k rows ]	26.0 ± 0.5	25.0 ± 0
Select Row [ Duration to highlight a row in response to a click on the row (with 5 warm up iterations) ]	6.6 ± 0.2	4.6 ± 0.2
Swap Rows [ Time to swap 2 rows on a 1K table (with 5 warm up iterations) ]	163.0 ± 1.3	26.0 ± 0.4
Remove Row [ Duration to remove a row (with 5 warm up iterations) ]	21.5 ± 0.7	21.8 ± 0.6
Create Many Rows [ Duration to create 10,000 rows ]	640.1 ± 2.9	470.5 ± 2.1
Append Rows to Large Table [ Duration for adding 1000 rows on a table of 10,000 rows ]	51.8 ± 0	47.9 ± 0.7
Clear Rows [ Duration to clear the table filled with 10.000 rows ]	17.1 ± 0.3	16.4 ± 0.4
Startup Time [ Time for loading, parsing and starting up ]	2,551.8 ± 0.0	2,101.7 ± 0.0

Difference Between React and Vue.js

If we talk about the core differences, we should mention the differences in terms. Vue is a progressive Javascript framework while React is an open source Javascript library. And both of these technologies have their own use cases.

Another difference lies in the approach. React and Vue, both employ different approaches when it comes to rendering content to the DOM. React utilizes JSX, a JS extension which is primarily used for building DOM trees and creating components while Vue relies on HTML templates in addition to JSX.

In fact, React and Vue differ in their handling of pre-built data and third party tools. React provides you with a robust architecture, virtual DOM manipulation, and component state management, with the added advantage of a large community.

In contrast to that, Vue offers a well-rounded selection of tools and libraries which has been developed by both its core team and community.

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Decision Making Factors for Choosing Right JavaScript Framework:-

Project Requirements and Scalability: React and Vue, both offer scalability, but the choice is dependent on specific project requirements.

Developer Expertise and Preferences: Developers may choose to go towards React if they prefer JSX. However, if they prefer HTML templates, they can choose Vue.

Community and Support: While React relies heavily on community-driven tools, Vue provides a carefully balanced mix of core and community support.

Performance Considerations: React’s Virtual DOM Manipulation and Vue’s efficient reactivity cater to distinctive performance needs. 

Integration Capabilities: Both the systems possess strong integration capabilities. However, the choice for a developer may be based on tech stacks or preferences.

To conclude, React and Vue offer unique approaches to building web or mobile applications, with a slight difference in rendering methods, tooling ecosystems and community support. Despite these differences, both the frameworks keep empowering developers to create powerful and robust applications.

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Frequently Asked Question:-

Does Netflix use Vue or React?

Netflix uses React for its web interface.

Why do developer prefer Vue over React?

Developers prefer Vue for its simplicity, flexibility and balanced ecosystem of tools and libraries.

Will Vue takeover React?

The future dominance of Vue overpowering React is uncertain and depends on multiple factors, including the developer preferences, industry trends, and tech advancements.

Which is better- Vue, React or Angular?

Such a choice is typically dependent on project requirements, developer expertise, and the use cases. Each of these frameworks comes with its own set of pros and cons, these are important to evaluate while making the choice.