Vue vs React: Is Vue Up Next?

Introduction

Vue and React were released about a year apart from each other, and both have built strong communities over the years. When it comes to deciding between the two to build the front end of a web application, it’s hard to go wrong here.

On a technical level, both are going to do what you need them to do, and we will explore those technical differences in this article.

If you are an engineering leader or non-technical executive that is looking to make a decision between Vue and React, then this article is for you. 

When it comes to choosing between Angular and React, there are several important factors to consider:

• Your web and/or mobile app's back-end
• Your existing development team, if you have one
• Current and future hiring needs
• Budget considerations
• Project roadmap and timeline
• Project requirements in terms of scale and complexity
• Performance requirements

Taking a careful analysis of these details will help you make a well-informed decision regarding whether Angular or React is the right choice for your specific circumstances.

Similarities: Vue vs React

Here are some key similarities between Vue and React:

• Virtual DOM (Document Object Model) - React uses a special technique called the Virtual DOM, which helps improve the performance of web applications.
• Reactive and component-based structure - React follows a reactive and component-based approach, making it easier to manage and organize the user interface.
• JavaScript-based - React is built using JavaScript, a popular programming language used for web development.
• TypeScript support - React has built-in support for TypeScript, a typed superset of JavaScript that offers additional benefits for code quality and maintainability.
• Core library and supporting libraries - React has a main library that provides essential functionality, along with a wide range of supporting libraries that extend its capabilities.
• Seamless version migration - Upgrading to newer versions of React is relatively straightforward, ensuring a smooth transition without major disruptions to existing code.
• Backward compatibility - React strives to maintain backward compatibility, meaning that applications built with older versions of React can still work with newer versions.
• Variety of libraries and tools - React has a vibrant ecosystem with numerous libraries and tools available, allowing developers to enhance their applications with additional features and functionalities.
• PWA support - React supports Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), enabling the development of web applications that provide a native-like experience.
• Flexibility, performance, and speed - React offers flexibility in terms of project structure and architectural choices, while also delivering excellent performance and fast rendering of user interfaces.
• Active communities - React has large and active communities of developers, which means there are plenty of resources, tutorials, and support available to help you throughout your React journey.

Differences: Vue vs React

When comparing React and Vue, there are a few key differences to consider. First, Vue is a progressive JavaScript framework, while React is a JavaScript library. Each technology has its own specific uses.

Vue and React also render content to the DOM differently. React uses JSX, while Vue uses HTML templates alongside JSX.

React relies heavily on the community for additional functionality, such as Virtual DOM manipulation, and state management. On the other hand, Vue offers a balance between tools and libraries developed by its core team and those created by the community.

Overall, Vue offers a well-rounded combination of tools and libraries, making it suitable for a wide range of developers. 

What is React?

React, developed by Meta and released in 2013, is an open-source library that uses a component-based architecture to simplify the creation of intricate and interactive user interfaces. 

By breaking them down into smaller, reusable components, React makes developing user interfaces much easier.

Although component-based architecture is not exclusive to React, the implementation of this concept feels very lightweight, providing a lot of flexibility to structure your application.

React revolves around the concept of unidirectional data flow. It ensures that changes in data cascade down through the component hierarchy, triggering updates and re-renders. 

Consequently, this approach mitigates common issues associated with two-way data binding, such as performance problems and hard-to-debug code.

"React" is derived from Reactive programming, a declarative programming paradigm. React's core functionality lies in its ability to dynamically "react" or respond to changes in data. 

Given that Facebook (Meta) is a social media network with many dynamic elements, they needed an efficient approach to handle this complexity.

React is based on JavaScript ES6 and is complemented by JSX, a syntax extension that enables the writing of HTML-like markup within a JavaScript file.

Several distinctive features set React apart from Vue:

• Declarative views
• JSX
• One-way data binding
• VirtualDOM

It is important to note that React is not a comprehensive framework, but rather a lightweight and minimalist library for UI development.

Benefits of React

React has been the most popular library for front-end developers looking to create user interfaces. 

Here are some of the prime benefits of ReactJS:

• Large talent pool
• Easy learning curve
• Reusable code via components
• Easier debugging
• Faster development time
• Enhanced developer productivity
• Server-side rendering
• Integration with third-party libraries
• Easy version upgrades
• Mobile app development with React Native

Large talent pool

React has the largest talent pool among all front-end technologies available today. Finding React developers, regardless of their level of experience, is pretty straightforward, and initiating a hiring cycle will bury you in resumes.

React’s popularity has made it easier to find seasoned senior React developers. Since 2013, developers transitioned to React, resulting in a large pool of experienced developers who have honed their skills with this technology for nearly a decade. This influx of mature talent contributes to the availability of skilled developers in the field.

Easy learning curve

React is a JavaScript-based library, which means that developers only need to know ES6 to get started. This means less time spent learning specific framework code and more time focused on creating UI components.

React is designed to be a minimalistic library, free from complex features like dependency injection or templates. It offers great flexibility when it comes to structuring your project, allowing you to organize it in a way that suits your needs.

There is one small thing to keep in mind: setting up a React project properly may take some time to learn. Luckily, there are plenty of helpful resources available to learn the best practices.

Experienced React developers are typically up to date with the latest updates and best practices, ensuring they can make the most of React's capabilities.

Reusable code via components

React uses a component-based architecture that lets developers split user interfaces into smaller parts called components. These components can then be reused in different sections of an application. By doing this, it becomes easier to clean up and manage front-end codebases, making them more organized and simpler to maintain.

Easier debugging

React offers a set of useful tools for developers, including browser extensions and developer tools like React Developer Tools and Redux DevTools (if using Redux).

These tools provide extra capabilities for debugging, such as inspecting components, visualizing states, and even time-travel debugging. They allow developers to explore component hierarchies, check properties and states, and track updates, which helps identify issues and understand how the application works.

Furthermore, React presents meaningful error messages and warnings that provide information about the component, the source of the error, and the stack trace.

React also supports PropTypes, a built-in mechanism for checking types that works well with TypeScript. Developers can define the types and structure of component properties, states, and function parameters. This helps catch potential issues during development and provides warnings or errors related to types, which enhances the quality of the code and reduces the need for extensive debugging.

Faster development time

React's modular structure enables developers to divide the user interface into smaller and more manageable parts. This breakdown of code into smaller pieces makes the development, testing, and maintenance processes simpler and more straightforward.

React also utilizes a declarative syntax that aids in planning and managing the state of the application. This means that developers can express how the application should behave without explicitly stating the steps to achieve that behavior. This declarative approach simplifies the process of managing and updating the application's state.

Enhanced developer productivity

React offers some technical advantages that boost productivity. For instance, it includes a feature called hot reloading, which allows developers to instantly see the effects of their changes without delay. This immediate feedback helps speed up the development process.

Another advantage of React is its extensive ecosystem and supportive community. Developers can take advantage of existing solutions and established best practices, saving time that would otherwise be spent reinventing the wheel.

Server-side rendering

By default, React does not include server-side rendering capabilities. In their official documentation, they recommend using frameworks like Next.js instead of solely relying on React. However, developers still have the option to configure server-side rendering using ReactDOMServer.

One of the key advantages of server-side rendering is its positive impact on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). When the HTML is generated on the server side, it becomes easier for search crawlers to index a page. This is especially important for websites that heavily rely on organic search traffic.

Additionally, server-side rendering offers performance benefits, such as faster initial page load times. Since the server generates the HTML content, users can view the content more quickly compared to client-side rendering. In client-side rendering, the entire page is rendered on the client-side after downloading the JavaScript bundle, which can take longer to load.

Integration with third-party libraries

React developers have access to a range of third-party libraries, from UI components to state management, data fetching, and testing frameworks. The variety of choices gives developers everything they need to make clean and performant front-ends.

These third-party integrations bring specialized functionality that may not be found in the core React library. For instance, there are charting libraries, mapping libraries, and authentication services designed specifically for those particular needs.

Another noteworthy example is React Router, a third-party library that enhances routing and navigation capabilities. Similarly, state management libraries like Redux or MobX provide efficient ways to handle complex application states.

Third-party libraries also simplify rapid prototyping by offering pre-built functionalities that can be quickly incorporated into projects, saving time and effort.

With React, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. With plenty of developers contributing to the community, there’s a solution to almost any UI challenge developers face. 

Easy version upgrades

React regularly releases new versions that bring fresh features, performance improvements, and fixes for any issues or bugs. Fortunately, implementing these upgrades is relatively straightforward and comes with minimal risk of disrupting the existing code.

Mobile app development with React Native

The React Library also supports React Native, which is an open-source framework for creating mobile applications that work on multiple platforms. With React Native, developers can use JavaScript to build mobile apps. React Native also shares the same fundamental concepts as React and utilizes JSX for creating components.

Disadvantages of React

While React offers many advantages, it also has a downside like tooling complexity. React provides developers with a wide range of tools, libraries, and build configurations, which offers great flexibility. However, this flexibility can make the setup and configuration of these tools more complex.

For new developers, setting up the development environment, selecting the right tools, and managing the build process can be challenging. On the other hand, experienced React developers will find this less daunting.

Additionally, unlike some other frameworks, React doesn't impose strict rules on project structure or architectural patterns. Senior React developers are comfortable establishing their own structures and keeping up with the latest community best practices, so this aspect is not a problem for them.

Hard to find and validate great talent

As mentioned earlier, one of the major advantages of React is the abundance of talent available in the developer community. However, due to the large number of developers out there, it can be challenging to find truly skilled individuals.

While searching for senior React developers may not be as difficult as with other frameworks, assessing their skills and matching them with their experience can be a challenge.

Developers come from diverse backgrounds and teams, and their growth paths may differ. It's important to note that having six years of on-and-off experience with React is not the same as consistently using the library for four years.

Senior developers are often not actively seeking new opportunities, so attracting them to your project may require some effort on your part.

What is Vue?

Vue is a “progressive” JavaScript framework for building user interfaces that champions the belief that frameworks should come as minimal as possible, giving you full control over its complexity. It was created by Evan You in 2014 and is supported by a community of developers who actively maintain it.

The main goal of Vue is to be lightweight, flexible, and uses a component-based structure, which makes it easier to create dynamic user interfaces. One of its strengths is a data binding system that keeps data and the user interface in sync, making it simpler to update and manage.

Getting started with Vue is straightforward. It's also great for mobile applications or single-page applications because it has a small size of around 20KB. 

The term "progressive" means that Vue doesn't automatically include unnecessary features. Instead, you can begin with the basics and add more functionality as the project grows. This approach helps avoid repetitive code and large file sizes.

Benefits of Vue

Vue’s progressive approach to web applications is a refreshing take on front-end development. 

Here are some of the prime benefits of Vue.js:

• Gaining popularity
• Excellent tooling
• Amazing developer experience
• Reactive data binding
• Rich ecosystem of plugins and extensions
• Server-side rendering
• Community and documentation
• Performance optimizations
• Incremental adoption

Gaining popularity 

Though Vue has been around since 2014, it only recently has been gaining popularity. According to JetBrains Dev Ecosystem 2021 poll, Vue users increased from 34% in 2020 to 43% in 2021, while React users decreased from 64% to 49%. 

But that’s just one statistic, according to BuiltWith, almost 1 million sites use Vue.js for their front-end in the United States alone! The driving force behind Vue.js meteoric rise starting in 2019 is its intuitive approach to front-end development. 

At this time, Vue, and specifically Vue 3 is lauded for being a side-project favorite. One thing is for sure, Vue is cementing itself as a formidable alternative to React. 

Excellent tooling

Vue provides a number of tooling options for project scaffolding, IDE support, dev tools, testing, linting, and more!

Vite is a lightweight build tool that puts performance first to quickly scaffold projects and get to work. Vue also has a webpack-based toolchain called Vue CLI, however, the official Vue docs recommend starting new projects with Vite unless you need specific webpack-only features. 

In more recent versions of Vue, TypeScript is now supported! Which adds a layer of type safety that previously was non-existent. Vue also supports a number of testing tools like Cypress for E2E test, Vitest (Vue’s test runner), and Jest to test your applications. 

Vue also comes with its own linter plugin that supports SFC-specific linting rules.

Amazing developer experience

Developers who already have a solid foundation in building web applications will find Vue to be much more simple and easier to use than React. This is by design, as Vue takes its favorite ideas from Angular and React.

In other technologies, they often give tools to get the job done but they are typically a pain to work with. With Vue, developers enjoy the tools that are offered are actually fun to use!

Reactive data binding

The way Vue handles two-way data binding has been considered a breath of fresh air among the front-end developer community. 

Vue provides both two-way and one-way data binding. Developers can choose whichever style of data binding works best for them. The framework uses a directive called v-model that abstracts away the logic required to handle data binding. 

Rich ecosystem of plugins and extensions

Vue has a number of tools available to developers to build robust apps such as:

• Vue CLI (project scaffolding)
• Nuxt.js (Server-side rendering, Static Site Generation, and SEO)
• Pinia (State Management)
• Vuex (State Management)
• Vitest (Test Framework)
• Vuetify (UI Library)
• Vue.js devtools (Tool to inspect Vue apps in the browser)

Server-side rendering

Vue.js has built-in support for server-side rendering however, frameworks like Nuxt.js make server-side rendering and static site generation much easier. Developers looking to reap the SEO and performance benefits of SSR and static site generation generally 

Community and documentation

Vue.js has been celebrated for its superb documentation by the front-end development community. As an open-source framework, they’ve built a strong community of passionate developers who care about the experience of the framework.

Some highlights of their documentation worth mentioning are their take on deployment, performance, accessibility, and security. It’s clear they’ve given some thought to the best practices and show how Vue can be used to build better front-end interfaces. 

Performance optimizations

Vue uses a Virtual DOM, which unlocks some important performance benefits since data is only re-rendered when changes happen. Also, its built-in support for server-side rendering is a big plus. 

The Vue team is very conscious about performance. Their documentation even addresses all the ways in which developers can go about squeezing every bit of performance out of the framework.

When looking at bundle sizes, Vue is already pretty small, and can even build a 6kb bundle using petite-vue.

Incremental adoption

The web is full of different types and sizes of projects. Vue understands this and is built to be flexible, allowing you to use it in different ways depending on what you need for your specific project.

Vue can be used in a number of different ways:

• Standalone script
• Embedded web components
• Single page applications
• Fullstack / server-side rendering
• Static-site generation

Disadvantages of Vue

Vue is a framework that’s competing against giants (React & Angular). What they’ve built in the past decade is remarkable, and it goes to show that frameworks can take the slow route to popularity. 

One of the most glaring disadvantages of Vue is the lack of resources it has to break into the enterprise software development world. Because their development team and community are smaller than React, it takes longer to build external libraries that handle detailed use cases. 

From a hiring perspective, there are far fewer Vue experts than React experts. Hiring senior Vue.js developers is definitely going to take a little longer and most likely you will find developers who have used it for side-projects. That’s not to say that there aren’t well-known applications out there using Vue.js, it’s just less common.

In addition, the Vue framework does not extend to mobile quite yet and does not appear to be a priority for the Vue team. There was once a Vue Native library that has been deprecated and is not supported officially. 

Vue vs React: At-a-glance

Detailed comparison: React vs Vue

Popularity: Vue vs React

React and Vue are both popular JavaScript libraries used for building user interfaces. 

In terms of popularity, React has gained a significant following and is widely used in the industry. Many large companies, including Facebook, Instagram, and Netflix, rely on React to handle front-end complexity. React's popularity is due to its robust ecosystem, strong community support, and the availability of numerous resources, tutorials, and libraries.

While Vue initially had a slower adoption rate, it has gained popularity steadily over the years. Vue's simplicity and ease of use have attracted developers seeking an intuitive framework. It has gained traction among smaller companies, startups, and individual developers. Vue's rising popularity can be attributed to its clear documentation, gentle learning curve, and flexibility.

Overall, React has a larger and more established user base, which means there is more extensive community support, a broader talent pool of React developers, and a wider range of available resources. However, Vue has been catching up and has a growing community of developers who appreciate its simplicity and versatility.

Performance and scalability: Vue vs React

Both Vue and React are designed to be efficient and performant, but they have different approaches to achieve these goals.

React utilizes a virtual DOM (Document Object Model) to optimize rendering performance. It updates only the parts of the user interface that have changed, minimizing the number of actual DOM manipulations and improving overall performance.

Vue, on the other hand, uses a reactive rendering model. It leverages a reactivity system that tracks dependencies between data properties and updates the relevant components when changes occur. This reactive approach allows Vue to achieve excellent performance, especially in scenarios with complex component hierarchies.

When it comes to scalability, both React and Vue can handle large-scale applications. React's component-based architecture provides a solid foundation for building scalable applications, and it offers features like code splitting and lazy loading to optimize performance when dealing with a large codebase.

Vue's component-based architecture also promotes modularity and reusability, making it easier to manage larger projects. 

Overall, React and Vue are comparable in terms of performance and scalability. React's virtual DOM approach is well-suited for complex UI updates, while Vue's reactivity system excels in handling data changes within components.

If you’re considering Vue for performance reasons, you’ll most likely find that many articles point to Vue being faster. In our professional experience here at Trio, they are pretty evenly matched. 

Data Binding: Vue vs React

Vue offers a two-way data binding system by default, which means changes in the user interface automatically update the data model, and vice versa. This simplifies the process of keeping the UI in sync with the underlying data and reduces the amount of boilerplate code needed.

React, on the other hand, uses a one-way data flow. It follows a unidirectional data flow pattern, where data flows from parent components to child components through props. Child components can modify the data by invoking callback functions passed as props, but the changes do not propagate automatically to the parent component.

To achieve two-way data binding in React, additional libraries or patterns, such as state management solutions like Redux or MobX are needed.

Overall, Vue provides a more straightforward and intuitive approach to data binding, especially for beginners or developers who prefer a more declarative style. React's one-way data flow offers more control and predictability, but it may require additional tools or patterns to achieve two-way binding.

Code quality and maintainability: Vue vs React

Both Vue and React promote code quality and maintainability through their component-based architecture and the ability to write reusable code.

React emphasizes a JavaScript-first approach, allowing developers to write components using JSX. JSX enables seamless integration of HTML-like syntax within JavaScript, making it easier to reason about and maintain the codebase. React also encourages the use of functional programming concepts, which can improve code modularity and reusability.

Vue offers a template-based syntax that combines HTML templates with JavaScript logic. Vue's single-file components encapsulate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript within a single file, promoting modularity and making it easier to understand and maintain each component.

Ultimately, both React and Vue can facilitate code quality and maintainability, but the choice between them depends on the preferences of your team and the project's requirements.

Testing: Vue vs React

React has a rich testing ecosystem with tools like Jest, Enzyme, and React Testing Library. 

Jest is a popular JavaScript testing framework that simplifies unit testing and provides features like snapshot testing. Enzyme is a testing utility specific to React that allows developers to traverse and manipulate React components' output. React Testing Library focuses on testing the user interface from the user's perspective, promoting good testing practices.

Vue also offers a comprehensive testing ecosystem. It provides its own testing utility called Vue Test Utils, which enables unit testing of Vue components. Vue Test Utils integrates seamlessly with popular testing frameworks like Jest and Mocha. 

There’s also Vitest which is Vue’s unit testing framework that allows developers to write blazingly fast tests and automate them. 

Vue's single-file components and clear separation of concerns make it easier to test individual components in isolation.

Both React and Vue support various testing approaches, including unit testing, component testing, and end-to-end testing. The choice between them depends on your team's familiarity with the tools and the specific testing requirements of the project.

Optimizing bundle size: Vue vs React

Optimizing bundle size is crucial for improving web application performance, especially for projects with limited bandwidth or mobile devices. Both Vue and React offer solutions to address this concern.

React's default bundle size tends to be larger compared to Vue. However, React provides code splitting, which allows developers to split the application code into smaller chunks. 

These chunks can be loaded on-demand, reducing the initial bundle size and improving performance. React also supports lazy loading of components, enabling developers to load components asynchronously when needed.

Vue has a smaller default bundle size compared to React. Vue's underlying design philosophy focuses on progressive enhancement, allowing developers to use only the features they need. 

Vue also provides built-in support for asynchronous component loading and code splitting through features like async components and dynamic imports.

Both React and Vue provide options to optimize bundle size, but Vue has an advantage in terms of default bundle size. However, with proper configuration and code-splitting techniques, React can achieve similar optimization results.

Learning curve: Vue vs React

React' isn’t that hard for experienced developers to pick up, and by virtue of Vue’s focus on the developer experience, it’s just as easy if not even easier. 

Vue's simplicity does not sacrifice its capabilities, as it offers advanced features for more complex scenarios when needed.

Both React and Vue have extensive documentation and vibrant communities that provide resources and support for learning. 

Ultimately, the choice between React and Vue depends on the team's existing skills, project requirements, and the desired learning curve for the development team.

So which one should you use?

When it comes to building web applications, React and Vue are both powerful options. While React is still the most popular library, with backing from Meta, Vue has gained popularity because of its simplicity and performance.

When building an engineering team around a particular technology, it’s important to take into consideration the longevity of each technology. In React’s case, the fact that it’s backed by Meta is important and offers an amazing experience to front-end developers looking to build user interfaces, which means it won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Vue, on the other hand, faces the challenge of being independent. It needs to gain adoption from businesses and receive support from the open-source community to continue growing and solidify itself even more.Beyond longevity, it’s important to consider how long it will take to find developers that know React and Vue. As React is more popular, the hiring cycle for developers will be shorter than for Vue. Still, the challenge remains to match expertise with skill and maturity when it comes to senior React developers and senior Vue developers.