Today you are spoilt for choice with multiple JavaScript frameworks, surprisingly the list of JS frameworks available in the market is in the range of 20+. Angular(supported by Google) and React (supported by Facebook) are popular choices and is today considered the best technology frameworks to address product/system performance and revival issues. Also, when it comes to building single-page, front-end app development, they are one of the most sought after. JavaScript is most commonly preferred programming language to develop web-based applications world over. It is a swiftly growing technology and is known for its high speed and performance.

What is Angular?

Angular is a framework used for creating single page web applications. It is used to build dynamic HTML web pages. Before Angular, there were ways to create dynamic pages but they were inconvenient. Angular uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture.

What is React?

React is a JavaScript library which helps you create user interfaces. It holds not only the HTML code but also some JavaScript logic. It allows you to listen to user actions to display content dynamically to update the UI. Whenever you need to update it without having to reach out to a server and fetch a new view. React is often used as the ‘V’ in the MVC pattern.

According to research, the combined job opportunities for both these frameworks, i.e. Angular, and React are 50,000+ with React being the most sought after at 78%, and Angular the second most preferred at 22%.

Let us take notes on both of this popular framework, what is it they are good at achieving and what makes them a preferred choice.

What are the advantages of Angular?

1. Angular is one of the most beloved and used JavaScript frameworks for building single-page applications and was also the earliest to appear in the market. It is available as an open source solution with Google support.
2. It is being used today in companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Adobe, AWS, UPS, Paypal, Cisco Solution Partner Program, AT&T, Freelancer, YouTube, Nike, iStockphoto, Crunchbase, etc.
3. Scalability is greatly supported as its structure and architecture are specifically created for this purpose.
4. Angular uses TypeScript for web development which is more compact and error-free. 
5. There are a variety of different structures (Injectables, Components, Pipes, Modules, etc.) which makes Angular difficult to learn when compared with React, which is Component Only driven.
6. Angular lags behind in terms of performance. It should be ideally tackled by employing the ‘Change Detection Strategy’ to manually control the rendering components.
7.   It allows developers to work independently on the same app section using the same set of data. This is called the MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel).

What are the advantages of React?

1. Developed and open sourced by Facebook in 2013, it is the preferred choice for creating single page applications of any order.
2. React is currently being used in companies like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Yahoo, Slack, Dropbox, Airbnb, New York Times, Khan Academy, Asana, Microsoft, Netflix, among others.
3. The biggest benefit to developers is that they now don’t have to worry about the framework-specific code and can focus solely on writing modern JavaScript.
4. Due to React’s Virtual DOM implementation and optimized rendering variations, React is super fast.
5. Developers who are comfortable working with Object Oriented Programming (OOP) may find it difficult to learn React as it is doing away with class-based components.
6. Although, TypeScript is not in the default React it can be easily integrated and ensure the same level of convenience and safety.
7. It is quite simple and hands-on owing to its less complicated design and use of JSX (an HTML-like syntax) in creating templates and highly detailed documents.

Angular Vs React: How to choose between them?

You may have already noticed that both frameworks have their own set of unique features. It is also quite clear that Angular and React have their unique ecosystems. This not only allows an easier client-side app development but also offers solutions for routing, maintaining application status and communicating with the server. Angular and React comply with the latest JavaScript Standards (ES6 +). They also support the specifications of WEB components and offer the flexibility to create their HTML elements in accordance with the WEB components. To decide which is better, you might need to put them in the context of a project and answer some of the given below questions:

• What are the exposure level and strength of your team?
  
• Which type of applications are you targeting?
  
• What additional capabilities do you require? e.g., High volume data processing
  
• Are all the parameters of the project well defined, or they are expected to be flexible?
  
• What is the scope of the project that can leverage the strength of the framework in question?

One of the easiest ways to go about it is by creating a proof-of-concept (PoC). You can choose a few key features of the project and try to implement them in a simplistic way to validate the framework you want to go ahead with. It may save a lot of hassle later on and takes very little time to implement. In the event you fail, you will able to recover from it quickly and take an alternate course of action.

Conclusion

Now you may have picked up on either one of the frameworks based on the above mentioned exercise. To choose the same framework again for seemingly similar projects would be the wrong decision. Even the slightest difference of project parameters can completely change the equation. There is no other way but to repeat the same exercise before taking up a new project.

We do understand that choosing a particular framework for product development is not very simple. Each offers a unique advantage that can result in unprecedented business growth. But it also makes sense to adopt these new frameworks that can give a unique look, better performance, and an edge over the competition. Especially if you are offering SaaS products to your customers. We have created applications (Angular and React) that is compatible with every web browser and caters to different types of business needs.