Angular vs. React: Back-To-Back Comparison

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Angular vs React are two popular JS frameworks that are being trusted as the best choice for front-end development!

Needless to say that everything counts on a first impression. This aptly applies to websites as they are the face of any business – adding up the ethos + pathos + logos. Use of technology and tools either adds up or takes business away from the credibility and your capacity to influence the audience. So it is definitely the first impression or the front-end development that says everything.

Front-end development is the creation of an intuitive and business concentric user experiences for websites. Set of skills that a front end developer use is: HTML/CSS, JavaScript/jQuery, CSS and JavaScript Frameworks, CSS Preprocessing, Version Control/Git, Responsive Design, Testing/Debugging, Browser Developer Tools, Building and Automation Tools/Web Performance and Command Line. Besides these, website navigation, the coding, layout with design are as well important to decide which web technology is suitable for development. Keeping above factors plus some more like user-interaction, site-efficiency, interactivity and basic outlook of the website, the list of top JavaScript frameworks for front end development in 2018-19 were: Vue.JS, Angular, Chrome Developer Tool, Ionic 2, NPM, Tensorflow, Grid Guide, Grunt, Meteor, GIT Extensions, SASS, Sublime Text, Backbone, CodePen, Foundation. Statista reported most used libraries and frameworks in 2018-19 within the web development scenario.

most used libraries, frameworks, and tools

The statistic shows the most used libraries, frameworks, and tools among software developers worldwide, as of early 2018.

The increasing usage of JavaScript tools has turned the selection of appropriate technology into a challenge. AngularJS and ReactJS top all the discussions concerned with Front-end development as both are high performing, advanced and widely adopted for developing cross-platform applications. Let’s discuss:

Why use Angular for web development?

AngularJS is a JavaScript-based framework that is used to create dynamic single page websites. It reuses underlying JS and HTML code, thus removes redundancy completely. Giving developers more control over their web applications, AngularJS features:

  • MVC Architecture
  • Two Way Data Binding
  • Templates
  • Directives
  • Expressions
  • Modules
  • Scope
  • Filters
  • Templating
  • RESTful API handling
  • Modularization
  • AJAX Handling
  • Dependency Injection

The Idea Behind AngularJS

AngularJS was developed so that all the components, design patterns, and development practices can be combined into a single framework and all the challenges faced while creating single-page applications can be addressed. Support community standardized models, views, controllers, and services. This resulted in Angular making use of MVC and dependency injection.

Why use React for web development?

Here is why ReactJS is better:

  • Components replace the templates here
  • Functional programming ideas can be applied to the view layer
  • It gives the flexibility to select tools of choice
  • React has a CLI (Command-line Interface)
  • It makes use of new ES2015 Syntax or Older JavaScript Syntax
  • It is easy to use WebPack with React
  • React gives you the full power of JavaScript in all aspects of your application instead of giving you a watered-down way to control interactions
  • React uses one-way data-binding

The Idea Behind React

React is popular in parallel to Angular as a web development framework. This makes use of reusable components, encourages writing loosely coupled codes that are modular and composable. It does not have any standard structure, therefore it doesn’t let programmers create applications on its own.

Comparison: React vs Angular

JavaScript has clubbed all the advancements and customization to develop advanced web applications by Reactjs Development Companies and Angular Development Companies.

Technology

ReactJS

AngularJS

AuthorJordan WalkeMisko Hevery
DeveloperFacebookGoogle
Type of TechnologyOpen Source JS library and is therefore JS-Centric.  As it is not a full-scale framework, it is difficult to integrate the UI library into a common MVC frameworkFully-featured MVC framework written in JavaScript. It is HTML-Centric
Concept of OperationBrings HTML into JavaScript works with virtual DOMBrings JavaScript into HTML works with real DOM
Tool Chain(Libraries)HighLow
Programming LanguagesJavaScript + JSXJavaScript + HTML
Learning CurveIt is relatively easy to learn, can be combined with other frameworks like angular and Backbone to ease developmentHas a steep learning curve with high complexity
PackagingStrongWeak
RenderingServer Side (Prompt)Client Side
DependenciesRequires additional tools to manage dependenciesManages dependencies automatically
App ArchitectureNone, combined with FluxMVC, component-based
Data BindingUni-DirectionalBi-Directional
Community SupportIt is still newGlobal community support
Applicable forBest for single page applications that update single view at a timeBest for single page applications that update many views at a time
DOMVirtual DOM helps in handling large databasesRegular DOM
SecurityProgrammers need to focus more on this point.Programmers need to focus more on this point.
DocumentationComprehensive
Latest Version16.12.0 (November 2019)9.0.0 (Nov 2019)- stable release
Initial Release20132010
Official SiteReactjs.orgAngular.io
Approximate Size (KB)100500
Major ApplicationsFacebook, UberGoogle, Wix

Analyzing the popularity and growth of two premier Front-end Frameworks: React vs Angular

Consider these:

  • Why is it important to look at the popularity of a programming language, a framework or a library?
  • What should be the selection criteria for choosing a development framework /library/programming paradigm?

In short, it is the popularity and community size, philosophy, sustainability, support, technique, security and documentation, license, availability and the practical implementation itself are the basic factors that help in decision making while starting with a development project.

Looking at the fact that various digital platforms, automation, and other similar innovations are changing the fundamental nature of the work. These shifts help policymakers, workers and business leaders move forward.

The development of JS enabled by technologies like Angular and react brings the promise of higher productivity (plus economic growth), increased efficiencies, safety, and convenience. But these technologies also raise some difficult questions about the broader impact on jobs, skills, wages and the nature of the work itself.

Popularity and Growth Trajectory

Viewing the popularity, React enjoys 140K stars on GitHub and 1341 contributors. Angular enjoys 54.4K stars on GitHub and 1055 contributors.

angular daily trends

Source: bestofjs.org/projects/angular

It is evident from the GitHub statistics that React has double the number of stars and contributors (being the elder sibling on the block). It is as well growing faster than Angular with an average of 97-100 stars/day.

react daily trends

Source: bestofjs.org/projects/react

Crawling all of these user pages for statistical and demographical purposes takes relentless effort and acute observation. Let’s look at the repository averages:

Angular (as of November 2019)React (as of November 2019)
Watchers3.2K107
Stars54.4K4.1K
Forks15.1K3.5K
Commits in last Month8,97112,619+
Contributors1,5791,342

However, we believe that making decisions based solely on GitHub stars is not always the best idea, though – and you should put your framework features, requirements, and architecture first.

Downloads and Google Trends Search statistics are other points to be considered while deciding for the next app development platform (especially JS framework for frontend development).

Download comparison react vs angular

Source: www.npmtrends.com/angular-vs-react

As evident from the Google Trends Graph over a couple of months, it is evident that React follows a faster growth pace compared to Angular.

google trends comparison for angular vs react

Source: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?cat=31&date=today%205-y&q=React,Angular

On average, both these technologies will be on frontend development space and various other factors (time, budget, size of project, demographics, available skillsets, years of experience and client requirements can be considered while making a selection).

React and Angular Trial Phrase

Factors that play a major role in selecting app development platforms can be: Popularity, architecture, learning curve, development speed and productivity, flexibility and freedom, App performance and user experience, mobile solutions, testability and ease of updating.

App development companies can decide to make use of Angular or React depending upon the app’s goals, system constraints and the size of business for which the app is being built. Angular can be relied on to create the structure of the front-end app but React can as well be applied to improve its specific parts by integrating with other frameworks like Backbone or Angular.

More reasons to use ReactJS

  • If the functionality of the application is to be expanded
  • If there is a need to update the look of the app periodically
  • If the initial development phase can be slow

Result: Overall, React is flexible and simple, gives better user experience, saves time, speeds up development, is easily testable, gives stability to code. Popular examples of React Apps: Instagram, whatsapp, Facebook, AirBnB, Uber, Dropbox and Netflix.

More reasons to use AngularJS

  • If a quick development is required
  • Best applicable for project range of any size.

Result: Angular is more efficient front-end development framework, suitable for structured with quick development. Has a clean code, higher performance, better error handling, seamless updates using Angular CLI.

Companies Using: Angular vs React

Top companies are using both Angular and React . I’m talking some of the top in the world. Here are some popular examples:

Angular:

  • Google
  • Forbes
  • HBO
  • Nike
  • Sony
  • Upwork
  • General Motors

React:

  • Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • Airbnb
  • Instagram
  • Netflix
  • Uber
  • Dropbox

Looking for a constructive solution for your problem? Get in touch with our AngularJS and ReactJS experts and get customized and ready to use solutions!

Angular vs. React_ Back-To-Back Comparison

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About Author
Neeti Kotia

Neeti Kotia

Neeti Kotia is a technology journalist who seeks to analyze the advancements and developments in technology that affect our everyday lives. Her articles primarily focus upon the business, social, cultural, and entertainment side of the technology sector.

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