Vue.js vs. React: A Comparison of Top JavaScript Frameworks

There are slight differences in the coding style between Vue and React. The former separates CSS, HTML, and JavaScript from one another. The components have life cycles, but overall those are much more intuitive than in React.

React, on the other hand, relies mostly on JSX, which entails adding HTML code to the JavaScript code. Everything gets the component treatment, so every little element has a life cycle of its own.

The documentation aspect of Vue—an important element of any project—has always been praised. Compared to many other JavaScript frameworks, Vue has everything documented in an excellent way, explaining each part in minute detail. With great documentation in hand, implementing Vue.js into a project becomes really easy.

At the same time, React used to be quite heavily criticized for the unclear documentation it came with. Luckily, the creators took great measures to improve this aspect. Now, the documentation of React works much better and further updates are constantly being implemented to make things as easy as possible for its users.

Both frameworks are mostly designed for creating desktop apps, but there are means of using them for mobile development. Vue utilizes Weex and NativeScript-Vue for this purpose, while React has its mobile equivalent in React Native.

Developers express their positive attitude toward using both Vue and React, and both frameworks have large, thriving communities.

Before being launched globally, Vue got substantial backing in China, so there was a lot of community support even before entering the international scene. Then the international users further contributed to what the Chinese user base had already established.

According to the State of JS 2020, however, React slightly outperforms Vue in terms of satisfaction and interest.

React has a much larger community pushing it forward: Meta (Facebook). With how wide-reaching Meta is and how intertwined React is with the platform, it’s no wonder that there’s greater support available for you in case you need any help. And you may need it, since React is a bit more challenging to use.

Coding and documentation all matter in the grand scheme of things. However, they won’t be the first thing you or the potential clients visiting your website will pay attention to. In the end, when choosing a framework, one of the most deciding factors is going to be how quickly you can deliver your original, high-quality products.

Both frameworks we’re discussing today are fast, but require slightly different approaches. React demands that your developers remember a lot of details right off the bat. You need to make sure your router system is up to standard, be able to handle some intricate configurations, and be prepared to make quick fixes as you go along.

It might seem like a high requirement at first, but the thing is, if you have a team that knows their way around a project, even to just a moderate extent, React has the potential to be the fastest framework for fundamental app and feature development on the market.

Vue is also very fast, but the difference is in the projects you’ll be undertaking. As a lightweight framework with good rendering capabilities, Vue makes it easy to build creative apps fast. What’s more, Vue allows you to implement add-on development tools, such as StoryBook, Bit, or the Wue loader, which will make it possible to create SFCs, as well.

You can have the most comprehensive technology in the world, but that won’t mean much if it requires top experts to even get the framework going. In other words, ease of use matters. An experienced development team shouldn’t have trouble working with either Vue or React, but there are still some differences between the two.

Vue is particularly easy to use for smaller applications. It comes with a whole range of templates, really speeding up the process of starting a project. You don’t even need to be intimately familiar with JavaScript to utilize Vue’s potential in this regard.

However, as projects grow and become more complex, it gets increasingly harder to rely only on templates. For this reason, React is easier to use when it comes to larger apps. While it does require some knowledge of JavaScript to get anything done, if you’re starting a larger project or the scope of your project gets out of hand, React makes it much easier to manage it.

Popularity of the framework really matters—the more people know of it, the more you can be sure there are other people out there who know aspects of it you may be new to and have ready solutions for problems you didn’t even anticipate.

But that’s not all—the more popular a framework is, the more familiar it will be to your potential clients. If they know your website or app is built using something they’ve heard of, they’ll immediately see you as more trustworthy.

It goes without saying that both Vue and React are very popular. React currently seems to be in the lead, according to StackOverflow’s data. Paradoxically, since React’s community is so big and the framework is more complex, it might actually be harder to quickly find the answers to your questions concerning React than to those on Vue.

On the other hand, however, as a slightly less popular platform, Vue carries the risk of there simply being fewer developers that can help you out with your project.

The important question you need to ask yourself when choosing a framework is: what’s the learning curve? You can have the most versatile technology in the world, but what if it’s going to take years to figure out? Luckily, neither React or Vue have a learning curve that could be considered steep.

If your developers have any experience with JavaScript, React should pose no problem. Experienced developers won’t have any difficulties with its architecture and the general workflow. This means that you can easily assemble and extend a team to handle your projects with people who will quickly learn the ropes.

Having said that, Vue actually is probably the easiest JavaScript framework out there. All you need to know beforehand are some JavaScript basics and rudimentary ES6 functions. Depending on how quickly you take in new things, learning everything there is to learn about Vue can take up to a week, but also as little as a couple of hours.

However, there are two important factors you should take into consideration here.

The first one is the language barrier. While Vue is pretty widespread around the world nowadays, it was used for several years exclusively in China, so the majority of communication might still need to be translated.

The other problem is directly connected to Vue’s simplicity—its relative lack of additional features makes it harder to work on more complex projects.