Programmers rarely write something from scratch. App creation company says this process today would be similar to the invention of a bicycle. Frameworks are used to develop applications. There are many frameworks, and only a really experienced team can correctly select a development stack.

Developers very often use Vue and React. These are the most common development tools and have a lot of potential. But which is better: React or Vue? What exactly to choose for your project? Let's take a look at their similarities and differences.

Why React and Vue? Tool overview

When creating a web application, JavaScript libraries and frameworks that work with them are used. React and Vue are open source, which allows you to create complex interfaces and implement almost any idea. Due to the high flexibility and the use of boxed solutions and components, a developer is able to create a product with complex logic and interface.

React is a framework created with the support of Facebook. It was originally made to keep Facebook running and optimize its performance. It has also been used on Instagram.

Gradually, this framework began to gain an audience and gathered around itself a large community that still uses this technology in development. Also, with the support of a large company, the future of React is likely to be bright.

Vue.js was created in 2014 by a Google employee. It’s worth noting that it was completely created by one person whose name is Evan Yu. As a rule, frameworks get created by large teams. Therefore, some developers are wary of Vue.js and prefer the good old React. But at the same time answering the question, what is better React or Vue, not everyone can answer right away. And all because this technology has been successful and has received its benefits. It gained popularity due to the low entry threshold, clear documentation and a fairly large ready-made library.

Similarities

These frameworks are constantly being compared. But they have much more in common than differences. Evan Yu, the creator of Vue, said that he was inspired by the principles of how React works. Therefore, it’s not surprising that there are so many similar processes. Here are some of them:

Both frameworks can work with ready-made projects and applications, which allows you to expand the capabilities of previously created products;
They’re easy to learn, have clear documentation, so that a specialist is able to get to work as quickly as possible;
They’re equipped with a large number of ready-made tools and libraries, which significantly speeds up the development process;
They have large communities where problems and dilemmas are quickly resolved, so the development process is simplified and accelerated;
They provide high speed of work, productivity and opportunities;
Both tools are flexible and can be customized to meet specific client needs.

Regardless of whether you choose React or Vue, developers will figure out what tools to work with.

Differences

Speaking technically, the major difference between these frameworks is the method of rendering content. Vue uses HTML templates, as well as JSX in the DOM, while React only uses JSX. But putting aside the technical details, the differences are as follows:

React has a large number of flexible libraries, various ecosystems, with which it’s easy to create a product. And Vue allows you to make finer adjustments, abandoning template solutions, and doesn’t have strict restrictions.
React is designed to develop complex products with built-in logic and architecture, Vue is used to quickly create MVPs and small but functional products.
The market for React specialists is quite saturated, but there aren’t so many programmers who know Vue well, but in our company you’ll get an experienced team capable of working with two frameworks.
React builds applications that can be scaled, but Vue gives you the ability to start developing right away and improve the product in the future.
At the core of React, there are only the basic components, and the rest of the templates are created by the community. Although it’s large, solutions aren’t always easily selected. At that time, on Vue, the framework developers themselves offer a large selection of libraries, and the community complements them.

Depending on the tasks, you choose Vue or React. They differ in performance and other parameters. If you reduce the choice to a strict decision, then for creating complex enterprise applications and products for business, you should make a choice in favor of React. To develop small applications, reduce the cost of creating a product, or test hypotheses, Vue is suitable. Let's take a closer look at what tasks frameworks can perform.

The most popular apps built with React and Vue

To understand the possibilities of frameworks, let’s see what sites and web applications were created with their help.Here are a few examples.

Popular websites built with Vue.js:

Behance is an online portfolio for designers. The service has a multi-million collection of images, works with a lot of data and connects people from all over the world.
Gitlab is a code repository system. It’s used by developers to save written code and allows multiple specialists to work with the product in an online format. Also, this system allows you to maintain documentation.
Trivago is a web product created for the hotel search company of the same name. The tool helps to compare prices, study information and book rooms. This is a large directory that operates all over the world.
Statista is a powerful business analytics platform that has collected over 1 million data. It uses over 22,000 sources and provides statistics on 80,000 topics. That’s a service that is capable of processing a huge amount of information.
9GAG is a social network where people share content. It was originally created as an alternative to the usual social networks, having memes as the key content. It has received funding in Silicon Valley and reached a new level of development.

All these web products have 2 things in common: they have a fairly simple logic and interface, and they’re built with Vue.js.

React or Vue can be used to create social networks. But the first framework is more suitable. As an example, here are some websites built with React:

Facebook is the largest social network with 2 billion users. Now it enters the metaverse and remains in the top five most visited sites in the world.
Instagram is a popular photo and video sharing social network that belongs to the same metaverse as Facebook. The functionality, although simple, is at the same time interesting, understandable, and the possibilities are regularly updated and expanded.
Pinterest is an Internet service that works on the principle of photo hosting. Users add photo content, can create collections, share them with other users.
Netflix is a major streaming service that produces its own series and movies. Initially, it was used as a kind of social network for cinephiles, in which users could watch content, share their opinions, rate them. Now it’s the largest service that produces its own products.
Twitter is an extraordinary social network for wordsmiths. After all, in a couple of lines you need to be able to contain an idea. At the same time, Twitter is a social network of officials, news publications often refer to posts as direct statements and quotes.

Understanding which is better (React or Vue) is almost impossible, because different tools are used for each task. It all depends on the needs of the client. But it’s worth evaluating the performance of these frameworks before building a stack of technologies and giving preference to a specific tools.

Vue and React Performance

To evaluate the performance of the two frameworks, we’ll compare them according to certain criteria. So it becomes clear what they are capable of and which one to give preference to when choosing a technology stack for your product.

Architecture

React doesn't have a built-in architecture pattern. This is what makes it different from other frameworks. A component-oriented architecture is used. Functions respond to data changes, thereby there is a constant interaction between any user actions and the state of the components.

Vue has two-way data binding and a large library. Unlike React, you don’t have to look for additional libraries, and new developers can easily understand the data and easily enter the project. But this limits the possibilities of Vue. How does this affect the choice?

When choosing React or Vue, it’s important to understand a very important point. The first framework takes more time to create the application architecture, it’ll be expensive and difficult to change the team, and the functions will have to be configured manually. But the flexibility of the tool allows you to implement any project. Vue doesn’t face such problems, but most of the solutions are typical. Not all tasks can be solved using this framework.

Scalability

React clearly has a big advantage over Vue in terms of scalability. The traditional code organization is used, which allows you to create large, but not bulky products. React is good for big projects, Vue is best for small apps. They can also be scaled up later, but this will take more time and has certain limitations.

Documentation

The Vue framework has much better documentation. Since the tool was created by one person, the documentation is clearly structured and understandable. It’s presented in many languages, it has clear answers to questions, including non-standard and complex ones. Documentation is constantly updated.

But React has a much larger community. If you need to solve a non-standard question that isn’t in the official docs, the community will answer it without delay. If the application is typical and familiar to business, you can safely use Vue, and React is suitable for more creative tasks.

Community support

Both communities are active. But when choosing between Vue and React, you should remember that the latter has Facebook support. Therefore, new tools are constantly being developed, libraries are replenished, and the community itself is as active and motivated as possible.

Since Vue was created by one person, many people were not ready to accept the tool. Nevertheless, after several successful implementations, the community began to grow. The credit of trust made it possible to create a small, but very active, tube community. Here you have to wait longer for answers, but they’re formed as detailed as possible. Often, high-quality answers end up in the main documentation.

Security

Apps built with Vue are easier to secure than React products. The second framework is easier to use, but security requires deep knowledge of the technology, experience and a specialist who can implement protection.

Findings

So, which is better: React or Vue? It all depends on the tasks developers have to fulfill. Initially, you need to determine which digital tool the business needs, what task it will perform, and how it’ll be implemented.

Questions of the technological content of the project are best left to specialists. Therefore, we suggest you contact Pickvault for a consultation to discuss the details. We’ll analyze your project, discuss ideas, and decide which framework to use. Order the Discovery Phase to consider all key aspects and ensure your project's success!

Vue vs React in 2022: which framework to choose and when