ReactJS vs AngularJS (Library vs Framework)

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JavaScript frameworks are developing at an extremely fast pace. This post is describing main points, advantages and disadvantages of ReactJS and AngularJS as Library and Framework.

ReactJS

 

1. Just a small view javascript library
2. Components: emerging web components standard/Component based architecture
3. Size: smaller than Angular, so a bit faster
4. Has a Virtual DOM, which renders updates faster than Angular’s Regular DOM
5. Uses JSX, which combines markup and logic in the same file (making components easier to read)
6. Data Binding: one-way
7. You Can use ES6/7 JavaScript, although you can use Typescript or Flow if you so choose
8. Mobile: React Native is faster than Angular’s solutions
9. Testing: Jest & Enzyme
10. Learning Curve is lower, but you only get the view. Because of this, you’re going to have to learn a slew of 3^rd party libraries. Ex. State management (Redux or MobX), Asynchronous calls (react-promise, react-thunk, or react-saga), etc.
11. Scalability: is more testable, so also easy to scale
12. Popularity: has increased exponentially
13. Open source: GitHub stars: 111,927 / Contributors: 1,242 / Issues: 287
14. Used on: Facebook, Airbnb, Uber, Netflix, Instagram, Whatsapp, Dropbox
15. React Fiber will increase the speed of React dramatically

 

Cons of ReactJS:

• In ReactJS you need more code for development then it’s counterparts.
• Not using isomorphic approach to exploit applications leads to SEO indexing problems.
• ReactJS has large size of dependencies.

 

 

 

 

AngularJS

1. Is a full framework
2. Has a Regular DOM, which renders updates slower than React’s Virtual DOM also has a virtual Dom too
3. The rendered JavaScript and HTML maintains a physical separation
4. Utilizes Components: emerging web components standard/Module + Component based architecture
5. Data Binding: two-way
6. You must use TypeScript
7. Scalability: easy to scale
8. Mobile: Ionic and Cordova are slower than React Native
9. Testing:  Jasmine & Mocha
10. Learning Curve is higher, but once you understand it you have an entire MVC framework
11. Popularity: dropped since AngularJS (Angular 1)
12. Open source: GitHub stars: 40,963 / Contributors: 732 / Issue: 2,162
13. Size: larger, resulting in longer load times and performance on mobile
14. Used on: Google, Nike, Forbes, Upwork, General Motors, HBO, Sony

Cons of AngularJS:

• Basics are quite easy , but then learning curve becomes very steep making it hard to learn.
• Scopes are easy to use, but hard to debug.
• Directives are powerful, but difficult to use.
• AngularJS has search engine indexibility.