ReactJS and AngularJS have long been in the race for developing mobile and web applications. Both the JavaScript frameworks often offer up to date forms and offer a developing library and dynamic network. Choosing the right framework for a new JavaScript system, website or application is of prime importance for developers. The durability, scalability and code maintainability of the application or software is dependent on the framework being selected.

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To build versatile and flexible web applications, developers have long debated if AngularJS is a better choice or ReactJS. In terms of live websites, AngularJS seems to be a preferred choice compared to ReactJS. Google is the author of AngularJS and Angular 2 while Facebook possess ReactJS, which is one of the main factors for the growing popularity of ReactJS.

ReactJS is an Open Source JS library while AngularJS is a fully-featured MVC framework. ReactJS is built on JSX language while AngularJS is built on JavaScript and HTML language. The data binding in case of ReactJS in uni-directional while in case of AngularJS and Angular 2 is bi-directional.

I have drawn some of the comparison points between AngularJS and ReactJS that can lend some clarity on the better choice between the two.

AngularJS and its benefits

• AngularJS offer a global community support where designers are constantly collaborating and contributing to the community with a reliable and credible framework
• AngularJS is a full-fledged framework that can be run from any platform or browser. It has a host of ready-made tools; ng components are sturdy and mature (in comparison to ReactJS)
• The best feature of AngularJS is two-way data bind is the top feature (as it minimizes the impact of small data changes and eliminates the need for more effort for data sync in view and model
• It is easy to learn AngularJS as there’s a lot of documentation available around it

However, the disadvantage of AngularJS is the complexity involved with it. It has a steep learning curve due to that. It is believed that with the introduction of Angular Universal and pre-rendering option in ng2 the challenge was taken care of.

Some of the popular users of AngularJS are Upwork, Nike, Google, Crunchbase and AWS.

ReactJS and its benefits

• React is JS-centric and ng2 is HTML-centric. JavaScript is much more robust than HTML and that makes React simpler, more consistent and focused compared to HTML
• JSX is a JS syntax that helps with the HTML quotes and use of HTML tag syntax for the rendering of subcomponents. It helps in machine-readable code and gives ability to compound components in one compile-time verified file
• The best feature of ReactJS is prompt rendering. It helps with smart methods to migrate the optimum amount of DOM operations, optimize and hasten updates process
• js can embed HTML into JavaScript. There are others that are putting JS into HTML

In case of React.JS, it is not a full-fledged framework. It makes UI library integration into a common MVC framework to have deeper programming knowledge. One of the most common criticism of ReactJS is that it doesn’t come with ample documentation. There are too many developers that contribute to it and there is no systematic approach to manage their contribution. The learning curve of ReactJS is steep and one requires a thorough knowledge to integrate user interface into the MVC framework.

Some of the popular companies that use ReactJS are Facebook, New York Times, Yahoo, Dropbox, Asana, Microsoft, etc.

The long-term success of your project depends on choosing the right framework as it renders scalability, adaptability and flexibility. It is a critical decision and in case you’re not sure which way to go, one of our technology experts can clear your doubts. Let’s talk.