Which is more popular angular or react

Javascript is one of the most popular languages among developers nowadays. There are a lot of developers, freshers, and experienced love to build their application or project using Javascript but still, there is confusion when they have to pick up right framework or library for their project.
Angular and ReactJs is their topmost priority but still, most of them are unable to decide which one would be good for their project. Freshers want to know which one is easy to learn and which one has more demand in the market for job purposes.

Let’s have a quick introduction of Angular and ReactJs.

AngularJS was developed by Google and was initially released in 2010. Until 2016 it used to be called as AngularJS. In 2016 Angular team released Angular 2 which was a complete rewrite of AngularJS and it was actually a completely new framework, so to reduce confusion from the previous one, the angular team decided to drop JS from the original name and they called this new framework Angular.

React is developed and maintained by Facebook. It was released in 2013.



We need to keep in mind ReactJS is a library to build interactive user-interfaces, on the other hand Angular is a complete framework. Before we move on let’s see what StackOverflow survey says about Angular and React.

Which is more popular angular or react

Image Courtesy: StackOverflow

Now let’s see what Google Trends says about Angular and React.

Which is more popular angular or react

Image Courtesy: Google Trends

From the above two images, it’s clearly mentioned that ReactJS has higher priority than Angular and Google Trends also says ReactJS is the most popular library. Now we will compare both of them based on certain factors to decide which one would be better to choose.

Learning Curve: Angular is a complete full-blown framework so if somebody wants to make an application or project on Angular they need to learn a lot of things like Typescript in-depth, MVC also there are so many other concepts to learn such as directives, modules, decorators, components, services, dependency injection, pipes, and templates. In advance topic, it requires learning change detection, zones, AOT(Ahead-of-Time) compilation, and Rx.js. Angular provides a lot of stuff “out of the box”. It has strict coding which gives a clear structuring but there are so many things to learn if somebody wants to enter Angular.
On the other hand, ReactJs is just a library and so it has fewer concepts to learn in comparison to Angular. React uses JSX (Javascript XML) which is a way of writing HTML into JavaScript. So we need to know the syntax of JSX, how to write components, manage internal state, props for configuration, routing, state management using Redux. React won’t provide anything “out of the box” functions. React provides flexibility and it gives too many options to developers to do the same task in a different way. In the comparison of Angular, it’s easy to learn quickly.

Components and Size: Angular works on Real DOM and it follows MVC pattern. Angular follows bidirectional data flow also it is large in size(92KB approx, it might change) in comparison to React. React on the other hand works on Virtual DOM which is a lightweight copy of a Real DOM or we can say JS representation of actual DOM. React follows unidirectional data flow and the size(46KB approx, it might change) of React is smaller than Angular.

Migration and Community Support: Angular releases it’s newer version or make updates every six months. So in a year, there are two major releases or updates to make necessary changes. Developers have experienced so many breaking changes since it has been released. Angular is supported by huge and active communities of Google and its current version is 7.0. React is maintained by Facebook and its current version is 16.0. Upgrades in React is easier than in Angular also for facebook stability is a major concern when it comes to releasing it’s newer version because big companies like Twitter and Airbnb uses React. It has also good community support.

Popularity: Below is the open source community involvement and popularity for both of these frameworks.

React Angular
GitHub Stars 129K 48K
Contributors 1296 935
Weekly Downloads 5M 440K

Application: Angular is most widely used for large applications like video streaming app or music instrument app because of it’s full-blown framework nature. On the other hand, ReactJS is just a library so it’s good for SPA (Single page application) or where it doesn’t require much formatting.

Angular is used by companies Google, Forbes, Youtube, Wix, telegram and React is used by companies Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Airbnb, Netflix, Paypal, Uber.

Market Trend or Jobs: If we try to search for the jobs on StackOverflow and Upwork for Angular and React we find the below results.

Angular Jobs

React Jobs

From the above two results, it’s clear that React developers are more available than Angular and its demand is high.

Conclusion: Before we come to any conclusion we need to keep in mind that there is no best framework or library. Choosing a framework or library completely depends on your project level, requirements, and your goals. Every framework or library has some pros and cons, same with React and Angular. From the above all factors if you are a beginner or have less coding practice also if you want stability for your project you can go with React because its learning curve is fast and easier also job in the market is higher than Angular. It might be frustrating if you are choosing Angular because after every 6 months you will experience major upgrades for Angular. Another thing is if you want a full-blown framework to build a large scale project and love to follow straight forward coding strategy then go with Angular.

Article Tags :

Which is more popular angular or react
Photo by Filiberto Santillán on Unsplash

Nowadays, the market for frontend development frameworks and libraries is very competitive. Angular and React can be said to be the most popular among developers out of all JavaScript frameworks and libraries.

This is why there is always a debate regarding which one to choose between the two and when. Well, let’s start.

A brief history

Angular is a TypeScript-based open-source JavaScript framework. It was created and is powered by Google. The first version was called “AngularJS,” and it was released in 2010. In 2016, “Angular,” the second version and a complete rewrite of AngularJS, was released.

React is an open-source JavaScript library that was developed by Facebook. It is based on JSX (an extension of PHP) and JavaScript. React was developed in the year 2012 when managing Facebook ads became difficult with simple HTML coding. It was open-sourced in the year 2013, and since then, it has been used by millions of developers.

Popularity

Stack Overflow

Angular was popular until 2016, while since then, React has been gaining popularity at a rapid pace. According to Stack Overflow, both Angular and React were equally popular among developers in 2018. Since then, React has surpassed Angular in terms of user base, becoming the most popular open-source JavaScript library. In 2021, React is ranked first, and Angular is ranked third on the list of most wanted frameworks. According to the Stack Overflow survey, more developers said they would prefer React over Angular, which is one of the reasons for React’s popularity.

Which is more popular angular or react

Google Trends does not show usage, but it does show which frameworks are the most discussed. It demonstrates which frameworks people are interested in. Right now, React is the most talked-about framework, while Angular’s popularity has not seen much growth.

Which is more popular angular or react

Frameworks Maturity

The Maturity of these frameworks can be judged by the GitHub community’s response. According to the statistics, the number of stars for Angular is around 59k, while the number of stars for React is around 146k.

This demonstrates that both React and Angular are well-developed. Both frameworks have a sizable user community. Skilled developers have adapted to both of these frameworks over time, and any issues are easily resolved with the help of community support.

Learning Curve

The learning curve of any framework takes into account more than just coding ease. It also considers the ease of debugging and testing. This is especially important for projects that require a significant amount of coding.

The learning curve for Angular is steeper than for React. It is necessary to learn fundamental concepts such as modules, directives, decorators, services, and templates. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you can move on to more advanced concepts like AoT compilation, Rx.Js, and so on. Angular is a popular framework because it provides a clear error message and assists developers in quickly fixing bugs.

To begin working with React, you must first learn how to use JS. You must also be skilled at writing components, handling internal states, and configuring props. You should also be familiar with state management frameworks such as Redux.

Development Speed and Productivity

The CLI of the Angular framework allows a great development experience. It creates a brilliant workspace and allows the designing of components swiftly with just a few lines of code. There are a lot of built-in processes that can solve your problems with ease.

The use of third-party libraries affects the speed of React development and productivity. There are various tools in React. The use of the tools varies from project to project, which means more time has to be invested if the app is given to a new developer for an update.

Flexibility and Performance

In terms of flexibility, there is a significant difference between Angular and React. Developers can select from a variety of tools, libraries, and architectures while working with React. A skilled React team may pick and choose the tools they’ll need from the start, resulting in a highly customised app.

Angular does not offer the same level of flexibility as React. Only other frameworks can use Angular components, and the codes must be inserted in an HTML application. This rigidity is inconvenient for apps that require near-real-time updates. Moreover, the most exciting thing that you will notice in Angular is that each and every component has a lifecycle

Angular uses real DOM for its applications. For single pages that get updated occasionally, real DOM is perfect. Also, the size of the library is huge, which makes the apps using Angular slower. For example, UpWork is one of the most popular apps that use Angular, as the need for the frequent update of the user feed is low.

React uses a virtual DOM and is best suited for pages that need regular content updates. The size of the library is small too, which makes it more lightweight and dynamic. For example, Instagram uses React as it needs the user feed to update frequently.

Which is more popular angular or react

Conclusion

Now coming to the conclusion — when to choose what?

Angular

When creating a large-scale application with a variety of features, you should use the Angular framework. It provides you with a secure and scalable platform. The Angular framework simplifies the creation of real-time messaging apps. Also, teams well-versed in TypeScript find Angular easier to work with.

Which is more popular angular or react

React

React makes it simple to create single-page and cross-platform applications. They can be used to enhance an app’s current functionality. React has enabled developers to create lightweight applications with current features in a short amount of time. One of the many benefits of React is the availability of tools that can be used to easily personalize your webpage.

Which is more popular angular or react

Hope this has helped, thank you for reading!

More content at plainenglish.io