Angular vs React.js: Which Is Better for Your Project?

Key takeaways

• The article offers a detailed overview of React.js vs Angular Js and examines their main features and advantages.
• Get familiar with the main differences in Angular vs React.js key features.
• You will learn which projects are better to build on React and which on Angular and figure out which technology perfectly matches your future product.
• Get unique tips on how to conduct the pre-screening phase if you’re not a tech-savvy person. 
• A trusted software vendor can be a perfect option to evaluate your project requirements and select the best-fit technology for your product. Discover more about Aimprosoft and our expertise with both technologies.

When you opt for JavaScript to breathe life into your project, this decision is always followed by a difficult choice. Specifically, choosing the right framework. Angularjs vs  Reactjs are the two most common options. So, which one to choose in your case? The question is difficult to answer because they are two popular technologies primarily due to their various ready-made tools, scalability, ease of maintenance, and ability to speed the development process. 

Both technologies have their advantages and downsides, which is why it is so hard to choose. But today is your lucky day since you’ll get the answers that you’re looking for by the end of reading this piece. In this article, we’ll go through in which cases to use React vs Angular, explore how these technologies can benefit your business, how they differ, and much more. Keep reading, and we’ll provide a solid recommendation for the most suitable technology for your project.

What is Angular?

Let’s start with some clarification. In this article, we will talk about Angular and not about Angular.js, which is a so-to-say predecessor of Angular 2 and is considered an outdated framework, and not suitable for modern web applications. Many people confuse these technologies, but it’s worth clarifying that Angular is now used as a term for all Angular versions released after Angular.js. Angular features a component-based architecture, which enables quicker development, unlike AngularJS. With additional supported languages (such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and Dart) and the ability to be utilized for cross-platform app development, Angular is likely to perform more quickly. 

Angular is an open-source framework built on TypeScript. It is maintained by Google and is mostly used to develop web applications, single-page applications, and progressive web applications. Angular is a framework with undeniable benefits that also offers developers a standard structure to work with. When you use Angular, you may benefit from a platform that can help scale small projects into enterprise-level applications. By examining market trends, Angular is considered one of the most used among developers.

Key features of Angular

1. The MVC Architecture

Model-View-Controller, or MVC, is the model that handles the management of the application’s data, and the view controls how the data is displayed. In contrast, the controller serves as a link between the view and model layers.

2. TypeScript

The creation of Angular applications does not require TypeScript. However, using it is strongly advised because it improves syntactic organization and makes the code base simpler to comprehend and maintain.

3. Efficient tool for testing

In the testing documentation, advice and methods for unit and integration testing Angular applications are provided using a sample application made with the Angular CLI. The Angular CLI downloads and installs all necessary components to test an Angular application with the Jasmine testing framework. Jasmine framework has numerous functionalities to create various test case types. 

The ng test command starts the Karma test runner while building the application in watch mode. The task-runner for the tests, Karma, configures the start-up, reporters, and testing framework in a configuration file. The fact that Angular has out-of-the-box solutions makes testing much more accessible.

4. Modular structure

The Angular framework’s useful feature is how it facilitates the separation of code into various modules as you construct them. A split of overall functionality into reusable code is made possible by this feature. Additionally, this facilitates work sharing among Angular developers and enables lazy loading in web apps.

5. Angular CLI (Command Line Interface)

In order to save time installing, configuring, and wiring together all the necessary dependencies, it is advised to create Angular apps using the Angular CLI. The main benefit of Angular CLI is that it helps make Angular development workflow simpler and faster. It also simplifies the process of app customization and maintenance.

6. Comprehensive support and documentation

One of the greatest things about Angular, which helps it’s preferred by developers, is the fact that is supported by Google. The Angular community greatly benefits from Google’s documentation and tools for developing functionality and resolving difficulties. Moreover, the framework is backed by a vast dev community, which means Angular developers will never be left with unsolved issues thanks to these factors. Either in the form of written materials or online discussion groups, the solutions are easily accessible.

7. Capabilities of Ivy Renderer

Ivy is the code name for Angular’s robust compilation and rendering pipeline that replaced the old compiler View Engine and offered huge improvements to the development process. The renderer contributes to converting TypeScript and HTML code into conventional JavaScript instructions. For the browser to correctly display components and templates, the renderer makes them comprehensible. 

Advantages of Angular

Businesses expect that Angular is a strong, affordable front-end technology that will enable them to develop products capable of attracting a sizable audience and generating revenue. Hiring an offshore angular developer is, in fact, advantageous from both a commercial and development standpoint. It’s one of those frameworks that can blend business logic with the user interface while working effectively with various back-end languages.

Opportunity for cross-platform development

Due to how effectively Angular’s cross-platform solutions simulate actual native applications, more and more businesses are choosing to use them. For cross-platform development, the current most well-liked combination is Angular + NativeScript. A developer can design a native user interface by utilizing services, dependency injection, and routing functionalities of Angular with TypeScript. The programmer has access to native APIs with NativeScript. An app that works on iOS and Android is the result. 

Lots of out-of-the-box solutions

With the standard Angular setup, you have everything your project needs right out of the box. This technology contains routing tools that make it simple to obtain the data you need for your application. Testing is made simpler by the preconfigured Angular environment and assisting with development. The fundamental functionality of your app does not need to be built using third-party libraries. The Angular team’s official library is all that is required. 

Accelerated development 

Thanks to Angular modules, programmers may effectively modularise the application, creating reusable components. This facilitates the organization of program functionality and the creation of reusable code snippets, which can significantly cut down on the time and expense associated with development. Modules also make it possible for teams to split development tasks more effectively, guaranteeing clear and ordered code and making it simple to scale the application.

Improved productivity

Productivity growth is a pleasant side effect of increased consistency. Once developers have mastered developing one component, writing another using the same general standards and code structure is simple because they will save time figuring out what a specific function, utility, or component performs. Because Angular code is readable, it’s simple for new developers to join an ongoing project. These conditions drastically cut down on application development time and error risk.

Reliability and security

Cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects while developing any software product since many businesses are exposed to cyberattacks, which threaten to leak data from potential customers or your intellectual property. On the other hand, Angular can find and resolve bugs more quickly to protect your websites or apps. Furthermore, Angular treats every value as untrusted by default. Thus, Angular instantly “sanitizes” untrusted data to modify them and make them safer when developers inject a value into the DOM via a property, style, attribute, interpolation, class binding, or from the template.

Who uses Angular? 

More than 500 famous companies worldwide use Angular nowadays. Angular has risen to one of the highest positions on the popularity scale. Everyone, from the software business to the movie industry, can rely on this framework because of its versatility and flexibility. Top businesses that leverage Angular include: 

So, we discussed Angular’s main features and functions and its benefits for your project. Now let’s take a closer look at React.js.

What is React?

React.js is Facebook’s JavaScript library for easy development of the front-end, the outer part of the product with which the user interacts. React can be used to develop web and mobile applications. Today, this library powers millions of websites, and every day, new ones are being launched. According to the statistics, React is 10% more popular than Angular.

Key Features of React

1. Virtual DOM

This feature of React gives flexibility and speeds up the app development process. The approach makes it easier for a web page to be replicated in React’s virtual memory. Thus, a virtual DOM serves as a representation of the original DOM. The virtual DOM renders the entire UI again whenever the app is updated or modified by solely updating the modified components. As a result, the app’s performance is improved, and the user experience is better.

2. One-way data binding

React has a unidirectional data flow that requires developers to change components via the callback feature rather than directly. A JS architectural pattern called Flux allows data flow to be managed from a single place. It gives developers better control over the software and increases its flexibility and efficiency.

3.  JSX (JavaScript Syntax Extension)

JSX is a JavaScript and HTML mix. HTML elements can include JavaScript objects that developers can embed. Because browsers do not support JSX, the Babel compiler recompiles code into JavaScript code. Code is made easy to understand and simple with JSX.

4. Declarative user interface

React makes it painless to create interactive user interfaces. React will effectively update and render the appropriate components as your data changes. Declarative views make it simpler and more predictable to debug your code.

Advantages of React.js

Since the release of this library, React has already been powering millions of websites, and more are being launched daily. So why has it attained such a fervent following?

The simplicity

React is relatively simple to learn, develop, and maintain because of its component-based architecture, automatic rendering, and use of standard JavaScript. Also, because React.js uses a JSX file, the application is simple to code and comprehend. As a result, it prevents a lot of bugs in the code and thus does not stretch the development process.

High performance

Projects built on React show high performance. React owes this advantage to the virtual DOM. The real DOM is updated with minimal time. Due to this advantage of React.js, complex software products work quickly and cope with high loads. 

Strong community 

Many developers have been attracted to the platform by React.js’ simplicity and ease of use. The number of developers that use React as their primary coding framework has also grown as a result of Facebook’s support. Such a high popularity of the framework shows that this technology will not die soon in the nearest future, which means you will not have to rewrite the software, and your product will stay up-to-date. Additionally, the React community provides a variety of tools that streamline the development process, creating new pathways and opportunities for the seamless implementation of product functionality.

Ideal for SEO

Any web product needs to be highly ranked by search engines to succeed. Hence, fast load times and smooth rendering are both essential. If both boxes are ticked, your app will appear higher in Google search results. React’s incredibly quick rendering functionality substantially reduces page load times, allowing businesses to appear on the top page of Google search results.

Help create modern mobile-friendly web apps

One of the many advantages of utilizing React.js for project development is that it is mobile-friendly. Using this framework implies that you can create and distribute cross-platform apps without facing too many limitations. In the long term, this benefit correlates to your web application’s broader audience, which is a massive benefit for a well-rounded project.

Who uses React.js? 

React’s popularity is confirmed by numerous studies, such as Statista placing React on the second line among the most popular technologies. React has earned the love of many owners of large and small companies because of its lightweight, power, and reliability. Here are a few examples of famous products using React:

Having explored the nature of both technologies separately, let’s compare Angular vs React to see which one suits you better.

Difference between Angular and React

So we got to know more about Angular vs Reactjs, and now it’s time to compare them. To show their differences clearly, we have made for you a comparison table that will shed light on those parameters within which these two technologies outperform one another. 

And a little more comparison for better understanding.

React is a JS library for building intricate interactive user interfaces, whereas Angular is a comprehensive framework for building web applications. React has a steep learning curve than Angular because of its less complex structure and compact package size. 

Because they both handle the same issues but in different ways, choosing between Angular js vs React.js typically comes down to personal preference. Therefore, it is hard to conclude that one of these technologies is better. The most crucial thing is knowing which projects React and Angular are better suited for. Check the section below to determine when to use one technology over the other.

React.js vs Angular: which one to choose?

The requirements of your project are the decisive factor in choosing the best technology. The choice of technology is determined by what kind of project you want to develop, its size, complexity, and the richness of the features. That’s why we offer to take a detailed look at Angular usage vs React and identify which is better for your project.

What types of applications can be developed with React.js?

React.js is a completely universal library that may be used to develop real-time apps, such as chat with an excellent user experience, lifestyle applications, or e-commerce apps.  React.js is the ideal technology for creating dashboards and data visualization solutions because it allows for component reuse and quick component re-rendering, which ensures that data is updated in real-time. React is also ideal for building single-page applications like Pinterest.

In addition, this library is ideal for cross-platform programs and programs that allow users to watch movies, store photos, get notifications of other users’ updates, and share their own pictures or videos. This is one of the reasons this library was chosen to create Netflix and Instagram, for example.

• Is React.js good for website development?

If a website has a complex structure that would be challenging to handle with a traditional, strict approach, React.js is a viable option to choose. React will simplify keeping track of all the interactions as the app expands. It’s the right choice for the front-end creation of speedy, scalable, and user-friendly websites because of its many benefits. For instance, e-commerce sites can greatly profit from using such technology as it can help with client attraction and retention by providing modern UI and seamless UX.

What types of applications can be developed with Angular?

Unlike React, Angular has a lot of out-of-the-box solutions, and the modular structure of Angular helps you expand your project more easily, which is why Angular is the right choice for large and complex projects like feature-rich applications. 

Angular is ideal for corporate web applications. Larger companies, like corporations or governmental institutions, frequently require complex software. The dominant framework for major businesses is now Angular. Because it is scalable and its components can be reused in other projects. Angular is just as well suited for creating progressive web applications (PWAs). PWAs must load quickly, conform to the user’s screen, and can be accessed offline. 

Also suitable for applications with server-side rendering (SSR). Angular Universal is a practical pre-rendering solution that makes SSR creation simpler and does wonders for marketing your product and drawing in the correct audience.

• What else?

For any type of web app, including content management systems (CMS), e-commerce applications, static websites, design systems, banking websites, and more, Angular can be the ideal option. Any form of online application can benefit significantly from using Angular. The fact that Google supports it and there is a thriving community built around the framework is more essential than any functionality it delivers.

So, when you decide which of the technologies suits you best, another question arises: how to find a qualified developer with knowledge of React vs AngularJs? Let’s find out together how to test developers’ knowledge during the pre-screening phase to find the best candidate for your project.

How can you conduct pre-screening of Angular and React.js developers without a strong technical background?

Pre-screening is conducted before performing a more in-depth interview. You can uncover some basic qualifications about candidates during pre-screening and shortlist them in time and cost-savng way. It can be difficult for a non-technical person to pre-screen a technical specialist. But that’s precisely what IT recruiters do because, without engineering experience, they know how to select the right candidates who will go through step-by-step job interviewing. Our recruiters from Aimprosoft shared tips on how to pre-screen React and Angular developers without a technical background.

Check the experience

Of course, you should first look at a candidate’s commercial experience in creating front-end projects that you can find in their portfolio. Experience should always take precedence over a diverse array of tools. Why? Hundreds of tools available today for front-end development occasionally accomplish the same task while also solving related issues in various ways. Because the environment is changing so quickly, specific tools that are currently popular may become obsolete in two years.

It’s generally simple to mention a ton of well-known technologies on a resume, but problem-solving capabilities that you can explore only in the portfolio are far more crucial.

Look only for the skills you need 

It’s essential to keep in mind that you shouldn’t expect that a potential candidate will be knowledgeable in all JS-related technologies. Try to define the needs of your project clearly, and based on them, look for a developer with a specific set of technologies that relate to Angular or React.

Test a potential candidate

Finding a talented developer who can implement your concept can be challenging. Fortunately, various processes and examinations can guide your choice. For instance, tests for developers are readily available on the internet. Testing is always a way out for a non-technical business owner. You can use tools like CodinGame or DevSkiller, and many others to test developers.

What to consider when screening an Angular developer’s CV?

To hire an Angular developer who is genuinely qualified, this kind of skill set should be on the resume:

• Strong knowledge of JavaScript.
• A solid understanding of HTTP is required because almost all apps need to load external data for the client (Angular) app to process, display, and provide data to users, among other things.
• The ability to deal with CSS is necessary because applications must, after all, have a decent layout.
• An Angular developer must have extensive DOM, HTTP, and CSS knowledge.

Because Angular apps are relatively large and complicated, as was already mentioned, architecture and design patterns are equally crucial. Large apps with lousy design result in high maintenance and feature-adding expenditures, which is not ideal.

What to consider when screening a React.js developer’s CV?

To hire a React.js programmer who is truly qualified, this kind of skill set should be on the resume:

• To create visual elements, a React developer needs a solid understanding of HTML, CSS, SASS/LESS, and Stylus. An added benefit would be SVG.
• It is essential to have a strong understanding of Typescript and JavaScript.
• The following libraries: jQuery, MomentJS, Underscore, and Lodash should be familiar to a developer.
• They should be comfortable using testing tools like Jest or Enzyme and be knowledgeable about TDD, BDD, unit tests, and other related concepts. Other useful elements include Jasmine, Karma, Mocha, and Selenium.
• An advantage to have is solid management experience with cloud systems like SaaS, Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure.

Our tips and knowledge about the React and Angular developer skill sets will help you in the pre-screening phase. But there is one way to help you hire 100% qualified developers: hire React developers from an outsourced IT company. If you decide to outsource front-end development, your vendor, guided by the requirements of your project, will be able to find you the ideal candidates quickly. And we have the perfect candidate for you 一 Aimprosoft. Let’s find out together why hiring React or Angular developers from our company will be the best decision for you.

Aimprosoft experience in using React.js and Angular

More than 600 projects that we have completed have given us deep competence in creating products of varied types and complexity. Additionally, we assembled a sizable team of front-end developers with expertise in Angular, Vue.js, JS, TypeScript, React.js, and numerous other tools essential for the development of cutting-edge, competitive solutions. Hence, if you’re considering an option to outsource Angular development or React-based web app creation, explore beneficial aspect of Aimprosoft IT vendor that has prodound expertise in development of web products leveraging capabilties of both technologies:

• 17+ years in the IT industry
• 600+ released projects 
• 80% of our customers come back to us to work on new projects
• We have experience in 7 domains, including education, e-commerce, healthcare, real estate, retail, telecom, and IoT
• JavaScript is well-known to at least 80% of the engineers in our organization, and 50% of our JS developers are full-stack specialists.

Our trustworthiness

We have built a solid reputation as a trustworthy and knowledgeable software provider throughout the company’s existence, and we have successfully converted a sizable number of our clients into devoted ones who have chosen to continue working with us on an ongoing basis. Based on all customer reviews posted on Clutch, we scored 4.7 out of 5. Visit our profiles on unaffiliated websites like TechBehemoths and GoodFirms for a more thorough look at our experience.

Our Angular and React.js portfolio

At least 80% of the developers in our company are proficient with JavaScript. Our business has a big JS community and knowledge base as a result, and we provide a wide range of javascript development services. We’ve been working with Angular and React.js since the earliest versions, so we’ve built up a solid portfolio.

Conclusion

Here we are at the stage where we have more freedom to choose one of the technologies, Angular framework vs React library. The ideal choice for a small and medium-sized business that plans to build a modern and scalable web app React.js. Companies can use Angular to construct enterprise-level applications with complex logic. If you need assistance with choosing a JavaScript framework, you can always turn to Aimprosoft. Contact us, and we will find the right tech stack to create a solution perfect for your business.