JavaScript is a very important part of the web, and there are many framework and library to make the development process simpler. React and Angular are two names that you probably hear the most within the development circle. In this article, I’m going to do a simple comparison table between the two.
| React | Angular | |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | A small View library | A full MVC framework |
| DOM | Virtual DOM, updates faster since it only update the changes. | Regular DOM, updates slower as it updates the entire tree structure. |
| Files | Uses JSX, combines markup and logic in the same file. | Uses JavaScript and HTML. |
| Component-based | Yes | Yes |
| Data Binding | One way binding. Model -> UI changes only. | Two way binding. Model -> UI changes, UI -> Model changes. |
| Language | use JavaScript, Typescript, or Flow | You must use TypeScript |
| Mobile | React Native is faster | Iconic and Cordova are slower |
| Testing | Jest & Enzyme | Jasmine & Mocha |
| Learning Curve | Lower, but it is only the view. You will have to learn other 3rd party libraries for the M and C. | Higher with the entire MVC framework |
| Size | Smaller, so a bit faster to load | Larger, longer load times and performance in mobile |
| Introduced by | Facebook, 2013 | Google, 2016 |
As far as popularity, here is the latest google search trend for the past 5 years from google trends.
Which one should you use for your project? It really depends on your specific project. Best is to do a small POC with both so that you can see the pros and cons.