Angular and React are two of the most popular frameworks being used today to handle large scale web development projects.

Angular is a complete client and server side, open source, JavaScript Framework. It was initially released in October 2010 and is used in a number of high profile websites like Intel, NBC, the Huffington Post, Walgreens, among others.

ReactJS, on the other hand, is a JavaScript library that provides a view for data rendered as HTML. Released by Facebook and Instagram in 2013, React is used for homepages of major websites like Imgur, AirBnB, Netflix and more.

They’re both open source, supported by active communities, with strong corporate support, and have been tested by a wide variety of high profile projects and builds. They have some similarities which has led to numerous debates and discussion on which is the better tool for web development. Is Angular better, with its strongly defined structure and adherence to traditional coding rules? Or is React better with its flexibility and speed? Is Angular too rigid and strict for its own good to the point that it doesn’t really give developers the freedom to innovate? Or will the lack of a defined structure hurt React in the long run while its freeform mix of HTML and JavaScript results in lazy coders?

Comparing these two has become even more exciting thanks to major developments to come out from both camps. Both React and Angular announced major releases for 2016. Angular just released Angular 2 while React promises major project website updates and more robust handling of animation.

So today, let’s look at where Angular and React are at now, what direction they’re expected to take in the future, and what these two can do in order to become the ultimate solution in JavaScript development.

If however, you prefer to judge Angular and React for yourselves, we have published an article called Angular JS vs React by Example which presents examples of both frameworks in practice from an objective point of view. Feel free to check that out now or after you've finished this article. 

What are the advantages of using Angular?

As a framework, Angular is best suited for websites you want to build from the ground up. One of its greatest strengths, 2 way data binding, has been a major factor in Angular being the framework of choice for websites that handle huge amounts of traffic and data, especially single page applications that require seamless UI rendering. The 2 way data binding has also made the process of model to view faster while requiring less code. The event drive ecosystem of Angular and the use of Typescript within the framework has made the coding process faster and easier to write.

The constructs, when used wisely, are smart and easy to understand, which makes the debugging process easier. The support of Google and the growing community of Angular users almost assures resolution on any issues or problems raised when using this framework.

Many users have criticized the bulkiness and unnecessary complexity of Angular 1. Angular 2, on the other hand, is more than just an upgrade but a major overhaul that promises to address those issues and more. Angular 2 has removed and replaced nearly every concept of version 1; directives, modules, scopes and more. In its place is a framework that uses ES 2015 and 2016, turning Angular 2 into a more user friendly and future ready framework.

Other problems that Angular 2 hopes to address are the performance leaks that occur in processes that handle large amounts of data. By taking a cue from React and adopting a one way data flow and immutable data, Angular 2 should also run faster since it will only update once the data changes. All these changes will hopefully make Angular 2 easier to test and debug.

Last but not the least, Angular 2 is also working on compatibility with React Native on rendering for app development. This makes Angular 2 a more versatile framework that developers can use for a wide variety of projects, from web to mobile.

What are the advantages of using React?

React is used mainly to support large build and increase rendering performance. It’s really fast. It renders UI components really well, thanks to its one way data flow, which helps reduce boilerplate code, and its virtual DOM which is created in pure JavaScript. All the data changes are done on the virtual DOM, serving as a representation of the active DOM, before it’s pushed into the real DOM. This helps speed up processes, improves server side rendering, and makes debugging easier.

Another reason developers love this library is because it’s easy to learn and doesn’t require a lot of code reading. Moreover, the library approach also gives you a lot of flexibility to pick and choose the libraries, tools and templates that you want to work with. And with a lot of React projects now being written in ES2015 and with the support of an active and growing community, developers expect React and its Flux architecture to help trivialize a lot of the challenging aspects of development.

As of the moment, React doesn’t do much MVC. It limits itself to the model-view architecture. But even with the extra libraries included to make it a full MVC, it’s still smaller than most frameworks, making projects easier to test and debug.

The biggest advantage React probably has over other libraries and frameworks out there is React Native, a platform that allows developers to create native apps with the React library. The great thing about React Native is they open sourced the Android part, helping developers launch more native apps on Android more quickly.

What are the disadvantages of using Angular?

The most common complaint developers have with Angular is that the framework is too rigid and too opinionated. This makes the learning code pretty steep for anyone who wants to try out Angular.

Angular’s event drive ecosystem does make it easy to write code, but the stack tends to increase, making debugging difficult. We also notice performance leaks, especially when rendering huge blocks of content at a time and we occasionally see fails occurring during runtime. The framework also has a limited scope of tools to package the code properly. So we end up using HTML templates, which makes the code look dated.

But the biggest issue I know some might having to do with using Angular is what would happen when you have to upgrade to Angular 2. We don’t know if the process is going to run smoothly or it’s going to be problematic. The Angular team promised that they have found a way to allow project to run on both but with documentation on Angular 2 being limited, upgrading can be worrisome.

What are the disadvantages of using React?

React is not without its problems. First and foremost, HTML debugging on React is known to be problematic. And some might say that this is due in main part to the fact that React allows you to mix your HTML with your JavaScript. This can be confusing for a lot of developers who are used to separating logic and form. The Flux architecture of React and JSX also isn’t helping React’s fans due to its convoluted nature.

But I think the biggest argument against using React as a framework is that it’s not really a framework, it’s a library. Make no mistake, it’s an amazing tool for managing and rendering UI components quickly. It doesn’t have the kind of components you would expect from a framework, like validating models or communicating with a server. It doesn’t really speed up development because you’ll still need to download other libraries or frameworks. Yes, it still comes out smaller which speeds up performance , but having a framework in place helps eliminate a lot of the standard code work that you don’t need to do. So React, in a sense, doesn’t have the capability to stand on its own.

Conclusion

In the end, maybe it’s a little unfair to compare Angular with React when it’s pretty obvious the two of them could work so well together. I've seen a lot of articles that compare Angular and React, and even though I am doing the same thing, comparing the two doesn’t really make sense because it’s like comparing oranges to pinecones.

I think a better way of imaging Angular and React is to think of it as a surf and turf dish. Meat and seafood can definitely exist without each other. On their own, they’re pretty good. But if you’re a really good cook, combining the two can make something spectacular.

Regardless of how much we want to deny it, Angular still has the limitations of a framework and React still have the limitations of a library. And the developments we expect to be released from both camps seem to be leaning on both camps finding ways to work together.

So if you’re to ask me, which framework is better, I think your best bet would be to just learn both and leverage the best of both worlds. The only way for them to reign supreme is to work together to offer developers a complete stack that offers innovative solutions, support, and speed. Angular builds can be made more powerful with React’s speed and straightforward functions. React can be made so much better when given a strong framework like Angular to work from.

If you're still unsure which to choose, take a few minutes to read our Angular JS vs React by Example article which presents an example from both frameworks in their own coding styles. Seeing practical examples of Angular JS and Example can really help you make your decision. Good luck!