When it comes to developing Single Page Applications (SPAs), there are two main contenders (at least as far as we’re concerned!) in the JavaScript world: React and Vue. Both frameworks have their pros and cons, but which one is the best for your needs? In this blog post, we will compare React and Vue by features, performance and ease of use.
React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It was created by Facebook in 2011 and is now used by many major companies, including Netflix, Airbnb, and Walmart. React is known for its high performance and flexibility.
Vue is a more lightweight framework than React, created in 2014. It is easy to learn and has a smaller learning curve. VueJS is also incredibly performant.
Both frameworks are used for developing SPAs, however they have different structures under the hood. React uses a virtual DOM whereas Vue uses an observable data model. This means that when you make changes in your app, React will create a new virtual DOM tree and compare it with the previous one. If there are differences, React will update the actual DOM. This process is called reconciliation. Vue, on the other hand, uses an observable data model. This means that when you make changes to your data, Vue will automatically update the DOM without needing to perform reconciliation.
In terms of features, both frameworks offer a lot of the same things. They both have support for components, routing, state management, and more. However, React does have some unique features that Vue doesn’t offer, such as server-side rendering and suspense. On the other hand, Vue offers better performance when it comes to smaller apps and initial load time.
Not only that, but we’re in love with Vue because of it’s single page components! In our experience, React applications can get pretty messy which means as an application grows in complexity, it can become handy to maintain. Single page components with Vue let you define your markup, your logic and your styles for a component all in one place. This makes figuring out what’s going on with different parts of an application refreshingly simple!
Which is why, when it comes to ease of use, Vue is definitely the winner for us.
So, which framework should you choose? If you need high performance and flexibility, then React may be the way to go. However, if you want something that is easier to learn and is incredibly maintainable, then Vue is the better choice. Whichever framework you choose, we hope that this blog post has helped you make your decision!
And if you’d like us to help you choose the best framework for your application, please just get in touch.
