Sep 05, 2022
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The choice of the technology stack is an essential step any organization investing in software development needs to pass. If you make a mistake at this point, the consequences will be long-lasting. Switching from one technology to another is time-consuming and costly.
This article compares Angular vs. React for web development giving clear guidance on their pros and cons. Both are top solutions to create web applications across industries. Learn what Angular vs. React is suitable for and when to pick each.
Table of Contents
Angular is a software development platform based on TypeScript. As a platform, it includes a component-based framework for designing scalable web apps, a collection of integrated libraries and features, and developer tools to create, test, and update your code.
Due to such robust resources, Angular is mainly used to build complex enterprise-grade apps that require scalability. It makes updating as easy as possible, allowing engineers to implement the latest developments.
Some popular Angular apps include Gmail, Upwork, and Paypal.
React is an open-source JS library software developers use for frontend tasks. Supported by Meta and a community of individual developers, this technology is predominantly applied for building user interfaces and UI components.
Even though many call React a framework, it’s still a library. Why? React has more limited capabilities than a full-fledged framework. Still, since a robust library ecosystem has developed around it, React lets you build a complete framework by adding a few libraries.
React is used in renowned apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp.
Angular is suitable for large-scale applications due to the following capabilities:
Leobit team will evaluate your case to recommend the most suitable tech stack and assist you with any engineering task.
Just like Angular, React continuously evolves to meet the needs of software developers with new features and tools. Here are the most powerful React features:
This section covers the main differences between Angular and React to help you understand what you need. These solutions are equally good but for different reasons, so you must know what they can and can’t do.
We recommend choosing Angular for big and mid-level projects that don’t require many additional integrations. In particular, you should consider Angular for:
On the other hand, it’s not the best option for apps designed in a microservice style. You also shouldn’t use Angular for pages with static content that don’t need user-based customization. In this case, it will only overload app pages without providing tangible benefits.
As of React, this technology works well if you need to create:
At the same time, React is not an optimum option for overly simple apps. For example, these may be apps with a few pages with no dynamic elements. It’s also not suitable for enterprise-level apps since Angular has more to offer in these cases.
Being a full-fledged framework, Angular rarely requires the use of additional libraries. Its original package has everything you need to implement data binding, project generation, form validation, component-based routing, and dependency injection.
Since React is primarily intended for UI development, apps written with it require additional libraries and modules installed.
With the introduction of virtual DOM, the performance of React apps has significantly improved. Thus, Angular usually shows worse performance compared to React, especially for dynamic web apps.
React is a library and, therefore, has better backward compatibility than Angular. You can add different library releases to the developed app to update it.
With Angular, you cannot jump from one version to another without installing updates between versions.
Here’s a table summarizing other critical details:
Angular | React | |
---|---|---|
Best for | Enterprise apps | Apps with custom UI and frequently variable data |
Language | JS, TypeScript | JS ES 6+, JSX Script |
Cost | Open-source | Open-source |
App structure | Fixed and complex Component-based MVC |
Flexible Component-based View only |
UI components | Built-in | External |
Dependency injection | Supported | Not supported |
Data binding | Two-way | One-way |
Testing | Unit and integration testing | Unit Testing |
Change rendering | Real DOM and change detection | Virtual DOM |
Tools | Visual Studio, Aptana, Sublime Text, Angular CLI, Angular Universal |
Visual Studio, Atom, Sublime Text, Create React App, Next.js |
Learning | Long and difficult | Easy |
Angular can do many things React doesn’t and vice versa. Check out the pros and cons of these solutions below to better understand their powers.
The fundamental difference is that while Angular is suitable for large enterprise-level applications, React is better for custom UI development.
For personalized consulting based on your tech and business needs, ask Leobit for help. We will evaluate your case to recommend the most suitable tech stack and can assist you with any engineering task, both for Angular and React.
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