React vs Vue: Which One To Choose in 2024?

Introduction

Welcome to the 2024 edition of our React vs Vue, a deep comparison of those popular technologies. This year, we go even deeper, bringing you the latest updates and trends that have shaped both React and Vue.

What is React.js

React is an open-source JavaScript library built to help developers with building user interfaces. React was created by Facebook (now Meta) first to cover their own needs. 

React.js is a mix of simplicity and intense concentration on UX (user experience). However, you would need third-party solutions because React is responsible for just the View layer of the MVC model. For some developers, it’s a benefit because it allows for total freedom while choosing Model and Controller libraries.

React development services follow a declarative style of programming. The component-based approach allows for the highest speed and flexibility during building complex web applications. 

The motto of React is “Learn once, write everywhere” as there is the possibility of reusing the existing code and existing React components in other projects in any way you like.

React js in 2024

In 2024 React.js continues to be a leader in UI development and is constantly updated to boost its attraction to developers worldwide. A remarkable shift in its architectural approach is the standardization of function components, which have become major to React’s design philosophy. It encourages a more modular and reusable approach to managing state and effects, aligning with modern development practices.

Hooks, a key feature in React, have been refined to offer a more intuitive and streamlined alternative to traditional class-based lifecycle methods. They simplify state management and side effects.

With React 18’s release, concurrency has become a fundamental aspect of React’s core architecture. The earlier experimental version of concurrent “mode” has evolved into a concurrent renderer. However, it’s important to note that concurrent React isn’t enabled by default and requires explicit opt-in. It’s activated only when using concurrent features.

Concurrency in React 18 represents an internal mechanism, allowing for the simultaneous rendering of multiple UI versions. This is implemented using priority queues and multiple buffering, although these details are abstracted away from the public APIs.

As the React Team states on their blog:

Concurrency is not a feature, per se. It’s a new behind-the-scenes mechanism that enables React to prepare multiple versions of your UI at the same time. You can think of concurrency as an implementation detail — it’s valuable because of the features that it unlocks. React uses sophisticated techniques in its internal implementation, like priority queues and multiple buffering. But you won’t see those concepts anywhere in our public APIs.

Pros and cons of React.js

Using React.js brings several advantages. It boosts productivity and facilitates further maintenance with its component-based architecture which can also be re-used, thus saving time and effort. Its tools offer a rich set of features to write clean and manageable code. 

If you want more detailed information on the pros and cons of React, we recommend reading our article which covers this subject in detail.

Best use cases for React 

• Large-Scale Applications: React’s efficient virtual DOM and component-based architecture make it suitable for building large-scale applications that require high performance and maintainability.

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• Complex Enterprise Applications: React’s robustness and scalability are the answer to the requirements of complex enterprise-level applications, allowing for efficient data management and dynamic user interfaces.
  
• Single Page Applications (SPA): React is ideal for SPAs where dynamic content needs to be loaded within a single page without refreshing, offering a smooth user experience.
  
• Cross-Platform Mobile Applications: With React Native, React can be used to develop cross-platform mobile applications, enabling code reuse for both iOS and Android platforms and reducing development time.

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• Web Applications Requiring Strong SEO: React’s ability to support server-side rendering (with frameworks like Next.js) makes it a good choice for web applications where search engine optimization is crucial.
• Interactive User Interfaces: React’s component-based architecture allows for the creation of highly interactive and responsive user interfaces.
• Data Visualization Applications: React’s efficient update mechanism makes it suitable for applications with complex data visualization needs, where real-time data updates are frequent.
• E-commerce Sites: React’s fast rendering and state management capabilities are beneficial for building smooth and responsive e-commerce platforms.

Companies using React.js

React.js is a popular JavaScript library that is being widely adopted by companies for building dynamic and interactive web applications. With its versatility and ability to create efficient and scalable user interfaces, many companies are turning to React.js for their app development needs. 

Let’s take a look at some of the top companies using React.js and the innovative applications they have developed.  

What is Vue.js?

Vue is a progressive JavaScript framework that developers can use to build user interfaces. Contrary to monolithic frameworks like Angular, Vue is incrementally adaptable by design.

Similarly to React, the core library is focused on the View layer only. But if you want to integrate Vue with other libraries or existing projects, there’s no problem at all.

It can be characterised simply by three adjectives:

• Approachable – if you know HTML, CSS, and JS, all you have to do is read the guide and you are ready to go!
• Performant – thanks to three things: minimum optimisation, gzipped size of 20KB and virtual DOM.
• Versatile – its ecosystem is incrementally adaptable and scales easily between a library and a full-featured framework.

Vue in 2024

Vue.js, an increasingly popular JavaScript framework, enters 2024 with pivotal changes. Last year marked the end of life for Vue 2, leading the community towards Vue 3, a more advanced version. Vue 3 brings a lot of innovative features, including the Composition API, which offers an improved approach to composing component logic.

Alongside, Pinia emerges as the recommended state management solution, providing a more intuitive and maintainable way of managing application state compared to Vuex. Composables in Vue 3 further positively change the reusability and organization of code.

A particularly intriguing development in the Vue ecosystem is ‘Vapor Mode’, an experimental compilation strategy inspired by Solid. Differing from the conventional Virtual DOM-based output, Vapor Mode offers an interesting alternative.

It reimagines the compilation of Vue Single File Components (SFCs) into JavaScript output that is more efficient, consumes less memory, and requires less runtime support code. However, as of the end of 2023, Vapor Mode hadn’o’t yet been released, with expectations for a release in 2024.

Pros and cons of Vue

Vue.js is a renowned JavaScript framework praised for its simplicity and flexibility. It offers several distinct advantages that make it a popular choice among developers.

Firstly, its small size (approximately 18-21 KB) ensures quick downloading and speed in rendering. Vue offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the integration process into projects. It also boasts detailed documentation that facilitates learning for both beginners and professionals. Furthermore, its flexibility allows for easy combination with other libraries or frameworks.

Best use cases for Vue 

• Single Page Applications (SPA): Vue.js is well-suited for developing SPAs where the content dynamically changes without the page reloading, providing a seamless user experience.
  
• Progressive Web Applications (PWA): Vue.js is ideal for creating PWAs due to its lightweight and flexible nature, boosting the performance of web apps with native-like features.
  
• Application Extensions: Vue.js is excellent for extending the functionality of existing applications, thanks to its easy integration and adaptability.
  
• Quick Project Development: Vue’s simplicity and comprehensive documentation make it a good choice for projects that require rapid development and deployment.
  
• Server-Side Rendering (SSR) Support: Vue.js, particularly with the Nuxt.js framework, provides robust support for SSR, which is beneficial for SEO and initial page load performance.
  
• Interactive and Lightweight Applications: Vue.js is effective for creating applications that are interactive and easy to manage, with a focus on a lightweight build.
  
• Easy-to-Fix Applications: The straightforward structure of Vue.js makes diagnosing and fixing issues in applications more manageable compared to more complex frameworks.

Companies using Vue.js

In recent years, many companies have begun to use Vue as their preferred JavaScript framework for web development. Vue offers a lightweight and versatile option for building user interfaces, providing companies with a flexible and efficient tool for creating dynamic and interactive websites.

Let’s explore why more and more companies are choosing to use Vue.js and the benefits it provides for their development needs. 

React vs Vue: Head-to-head comparison

Vue vs React: Business Advantages

React.js From the Businees Perpecitve

• Established and Widely Used: React.js has become one of the most widely adopted front-end frameworks and is extensively used by businesses across various industries. Its maturity and stability make it a reliable choice for enterprise-level applications.
• Large Talent Pool: React.js’s popularity has led to the growth of a large and skilled talent pool. Finding developers with React.js expertise is generally easier, which is advantageous for businesses looking to expand their development teams or find external resources.
• Reusability and Scalability: React.js’s component-based architecture promotes code reusability, making it easier to maintain and scale applications over time. This modularity helps businesses build and manage complex UIs effectively.
• React Native for Mobile Development: React.js’s compatibility with React Native allows businesses to leverage their existing React.js knowledge and codebase to build cross-platform mobile applications. This reduces development costs and time-to-market for mobile projects.
• Industry Support and Tools: React.js has robust community support and a vast ecosystem of third-party libraries, tools, and frameworks. This support ecosystem provides businesses with access to a wide range of resources and accelerates development processes.
• Recent Trends and Developments: In 2024, React.js is embracing serverless architecture, which simplifies the development process by removing the need for server management. The integration of React.js with machine learning is also a growing trend, making the user experiences better through personalized content and intelligent automation. The Redux ecosystem continues to be a robust choice for state management, with new features and performance improvements expected. Additionally, TypeScript’s growing adoption in the React ecosystem is upgrading code maintainability and error detection.

Benefits of Vue.js for Business

• Adoption and Popularity: Vue.js has gained significant traction in recent years and has seen widespread adoption by both small startups and large enterprises. Its ease of use, flexibility, and excellent documentation have contributed to its popularity.
• Rapid Development: Vue.js enables developers to build robust and scalable applications quickly. Its component-based architecture and reactive data binding system streamline development, allowing teams to iterate and deliver products faster.
• Developer Productivity: Vue.js provides developers with a productive and enjoyable development experience. Its simplicity, clear syntax, and well-documented ecosystem contribute to increased developer efficiency and satisfaction.
• Corporate Support: Vue.js is backed by a strong corporate sponsor, Vue.js Core Team, which ensures its ongoing development and maintenance. This corporate support provides stability and confidence for businesses considering Vue.js for their projects.

React and Vue: Technical Comparison

React vs Vue: Similarities

We have to remember that Evan You, the Vue creator, used React as a source of inspiration, so they have some similarities, like:

• Composable and reactive view components
• Concentration on a core library and handling routing and global state management with companion libraries
• Usage of virtual DOM
• JavaScript code
• PWA support
• Possibility of working with any existing web apps

Vue and React: Data binding

Vue.js is using two-way data binding. Whenever you change any element of the interface, your model state changes automatically too.

This sounds simple, but if you work on a large project and want to have a good data overview and debug easier, it is better to use React with one-way data binding.

It renders the change in the interface element, only after the model state is updated first. And whenever you change the UI components, the model state stays the same with no changes.

Vue vs React: Desktop and mobile development

If you use React and want to build native mobile apps working on Android and iOS, there is a platform called React Native.

It’s a massive benefit for experienced React developers because instead of learning a completely new technology, they can take advantage of existing skills to create React apps.

What’s more, with React Native it’s possible to reuse up to 99% of code between Android and iOS with React-like components.

Although Vue.js doesn’t have a dedicated platform like React Native, it doesn’t mean you can’t develop native applications.

Vue developers can use either Weex (cross-platform UI framework) to create React Native-like platform or a plugin called NativeScript, which allows them to write Vue applications and compile them to native iOS/Android apps. Another option is Vue Native, which integrates the benefits of Vue and React Native ecosystems and allows the building of cross-platform native apps.

However, React, and Vue have something in common here – during web app development, you can use Electron with both of them.

React vs Vue: JSX vs Templates

One of the reasons for newcomers to choose Vue could be templates.

They are based on HTML and are easier to read and write to anyone that has been working with HTML before, especially when you come from an Angular environment.

React, on the other hand, has JSX which gives you a huge advantage of using all the bless of JavaScript language. It is a genius component made from markup and JavaScript logic in the same file.

The choice between HTML templates and JSX depends on personal preferences. JSX can feel more flexible and powerful, especially in the biggest projects. And in the same time, with templates, Vue developers have a clear separation of concerns, which prevents them from injecting too much logic into views.

Vue vs React: Tooling

Since 2016 React provides a third-party CLI tool – create-react-app, that helps developers speed up some work aspects like app development, adding scripts etc. 

Before, React developers had to copy the files from previous apps or configure everything from scratch. It didn’t take loads of time but was a rather boring task. 

On the other hand, there’s Vue with its own tool – vue cli, which enables quick project creation. Vue cli has many benefits, like adding plugins anytime during the project or easy improvements.

Performance in React compared to Vue 

Both React and Vue excel in the performance, but in slightly different ways. React, known for its highly efficient virtual DOM, offers efficient rendering and update mechanisms, making it particularly well-suited for large-scale and complex applications. Its reconciliation algorithm minimizes the number of DOM manipulations, and as a result, present higher performance. 

On the other hand, Vue is praised for its lightweight nature and speed, especially notable in smaller to medium-sized applications. Vue’s reactivity system and efficient update mechanisms ensure minimal performance overhead, providing smooth and fast rendering. 

In terms of real-world application performance, the difference between React and Vue often comes down to the specific use case, implementation, and optimization techniques employed. Both frameworks are capable of delivering high-performance applications, with the choice often influenced by developer preference, application requirements, and existing ecosystem.

Vue vs React: Learning curve

React uses JSX, which is a syntax extension to JavaScript. It can be used to describe how the user interface should look like. It’s a relatively new approach that React developers need to learn and adapt if they want to use it daily.

Another issue is that in the case of React, using third-party components is almost inevitable. And developers need to learn how to do that.

Vue.js is easier to absorb than React. If you decide to go with Vue, you can use either standard HTML, CSS, and JavaScript or JSX as in the case of React.

The critical thing about Vue is that it adopted the best concepts of React and Angular. Because of that, experienced developers in either of the two technologies have some advantages here.

Documentations of React and Vue are both well-written, but the latter is considered slightly better.

Vue vs React: Popularity

React clearly won this battle. It’s not surprising that it has a bigger community and popularity because Facebook stands behind this technology. On Reddit, React community has over 377k users. 

Vue community is a little smaller, with fewer resources and packages, but it is maintained by the creator, Evan You and his team. On Reddit, their community is “only” about 101k.

At the same time, Vue has over 206k stars on GitHub, and React 217k. 

To back up this claim, I prepared some numbers collected from Stack Overflow, stateofjs, and Google Trends. Check them below.

In 2023, React.js stayed in second place for most commonly used frameworks and technologies but Vue dropped from sixth to eighth place.

Also according to Statista, over 40% of developers worldwide use React, while only 17% use Vue.

Google Trends: Comparison between React vs Vue in the last 12 months

Interestingly, for the day we update this article (which is the 10th of January, within our blog reader community, Vue reaches over 60% preference in our polls, asking which framework they prefer. This suggests a high level of appreciation for Vue among our audience.

Despite this, our preference leans towards React for several reasons:

Broader Ecosystem: React’s vast ecosystem provides more resources and tools.

Honestly, diving into React’s ecosystem feels like hitting the jackpot every time. Whenever I’m stuck, I find it super easy to find help or a new approach. It’s like having a bunch of expert friends ready to chip in with advice.

Marek Jakimiuk, React Developer at Pagepro

Larger Developer Community: The availability of more React developers makes it easier for companies to continue developing applications internally.

What I love about React is the community. You have a question, throw it out there, and you get so many perspectives. It’s like a brainstorming session with some of the most experienced developers.

Michal Sawicki, React Developer at Pagepro

Strong Corporate Backing: Being supported by a tech giant like Facebook, React enjoys robust growth and sustainability.

Mobile App Development: React Native is a powerful platform for building native mobile apps, offering significant benefits in this domain.

For our clients who are eager to broaden their audience, React Native is an absolute game-changer. It allows us to take their existing React applications and efficiently adapt them for mobile platforms. This migration to React Native broadens the reach of their apps and maintains a consistent user experience across web and mobile. The process of adapting web apps to mobile with React Native is streamlined and cost-effective, making it
a strategic choice for businesses looking to expand their digital footprint without reinventing the wheel.

Julia Supcarel, Client Partner at Pagepro

Suitability for Complex and Large Applications: React’s architecture is well-suited for the complex and larger applications we typically work with.

As a CTO, I’m constantly evaluating the tools we use for our projects, especially when it comes to tackling complex and large applications. React’s architecture is a major reason why we confidently dive into the challenging projects.
Its component-based structure and state management capabilities are ideal for handling the intricacies and scale we often encounter. It streamlines our development process but also ensures we can deliver robust and efficient solutions. With React, we’re not just ready to take on complex projects — we’re excited about them.

Jakub Dakowicz, CTO at Pagepro

Depth of Expertise: Our team’s deep expertise in React reinforces our belief in its long-term viability.

High User Interaction Demands: React is optimal for front-end UIs requiring extensive user interaction.

I’ve worked on some pretty interactive UIs, and every time, React is my go-to. It effectively handles user interactions. Whether it’s complex forms or real-time updates, React just makes it feel seamless.

Rafal Chojnowski, React Developer at Pagepro

Plenty of UI Libraries: React’s numerous UI libraries influence development efficiency and creativity.

React’s expansive collection of UI libraries empowers us to reach the highest levels of efficiency and creativity during the projects.

Joanna Chmiel, React Developer at Pagepro

Wrap up

Both React and Vue are powerful tools, ready to create complex apps and web solutions. It all depends on your preferences and the project you’re working on.

On the one side, we have Vue, which is smaller and faster, ready to create simpler projects anytime. On the other hand, there’s React, which offers more flexibility for more complex apps. React is also easier to test and more relevant for mobile app development. And you always have huge support behind your back. As you know, we’re a React Agency, so for us, the choice is simple. But we can’t overlook the Vue’s potential – and we don’t want to. We’re always happy to see the evolving technology world. 

Read more

React vs Svelte – Which is better for your business in 2022?

Pros and Cons of NextJS

React JS vs Angular – which one to choose?

React Native vs Flutter – what’s better for a cross-platform app?

Additional sources:

• https://react.dev/blog/2022/03/29/react-v18
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ0cG47msEk&list=PLNG_1j3cPCaZZ7etkzWA7JfdmKWT0pMsa
• https://twitter.com/vuejs
• https://blog.vuejs.org/posts/vue-3-4