AngularJS vs VueJS: Which Framework To Choose In 2022?

Till now, numerous JavaScript frameworks have been released, but the most in-demand frameworks are React, Angular, and Vue.js. Angular and Vue.js, both are front-end development JavaScript frameworks having similar syntax, intricate web pages, mobile apps, and software. Having so many similarities in both frameworks turns out to be a complicated decision for developers to choose the most suitable one in their respective circumstances.

We have already done a detailed comparison of ReactJS and VueJS. Now, in this article, we will perform a detailed analysis of Angular.JS vs Vue.JS and understand which could be a better framework to choose in 2022.

Like React.JS and Angular.JS; Vue.JS is another popular framework that is worth debating to make the choice. Thus, to brush off this confusion, let’s analyze AngularJS vs VueJS to propose an easy-going decision. So, keep reading.

What is Angular.JS?

Angular.JS is an open-source JavaScript framework, introduced by Google. It is considered one of the most demanding web frameworks of modern days. Mostly, Angular.JS is used to build Single Page Applications and dynamic websites and apps.

Angular is one of the tools that fall under the MEAN stack, and it supports a wide range of code editors. It supports multiple platform project development and deployment through its reusable codes. It has dynamic object UI bindings and two-way data binding which is essential to its architecture. Initially, AngularJS development was based on the Model-View-Controller framework, however, after a period of time, it shifted to Model-View-View-Model which is based on components.

Features of Angular.JS

1. Data Model Binding- No, specific binding codes are needed to write to bind data to the HTML controls. Angular does this, just by adding a few code snippets.
2. Less Code Writing- To carry out DOM manipulation in designing an application, requires less code writing with Angular.
3. Unit Testing Ready- Along with the Angular framework, the Google developers also developed “Karma”- a testing framework that helps in Unit Testing for Angular.JS Applications.
4. MVC- It is a modern-day’s design pattern used for the web application. It is based on the separation of the business logic layer, data layer, and presentation layer, to ease the management of each section/layer.

What is Vue.JS?

Vue.JS is a progressive JavaScript framework for developing User Interfaces (UIs) and Single-Page Applications (SPAs). Based on development requirements, it can work as a library and framework at a time. It is based on an MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) architectural pattern which supports a business model or logic, differentiated from a graphical view or User Interface.

Basically, Vue.JS is an amalgamation of Angular.JS and React.JS, where the best ingredients of both are presented together, such as two-way data binding. This turns into the Vue.JS development and introduces a better version of both the Angular and React frameworks.

Features of Vue.JS

1. Adaptability: JS ensures stress-free migration and efficient structure.
2. Components: JS framework can design custom elements that are reusable in HTML.
3. Transition: Vue development follows multiple strategies to implement customization in HTML components whenever it is included or excluded from the DOM (Document Object Model).
4. Detailed Documentation: It promotes easy and quick learning which represents an overall simple learning curve through the availability of a variety of learning documents.

Angular vs Vue: Key Differences To Focus On

1. Performance Comparison

Angular.JS: When you aim for web and mobile app development, the performance of Angular is directly influenced by DOM (Document Object Model). DOM influences the entire web page performance. Angular.JS uses real DOM in which the entire app/web page is rendered just by changing a single component or more. For rendering, it uses the ‘Ivy’ renderer to make the application compact and fast for an unmatchable performance and compiles components really quickly to minimize the Angular.JS Web Development time.

The advanced update detection process and quick compilation minimize the count of DOM manipulation. It also pre-compiles the HTML and app components prior browser starting downloading and using it. This could be the major reason for Angular to gain much-needed popularity to develop high-performing apps.

Vue.JS: In contrast to Angular.JS, Vue.JS works on Virtual DOM but the updates are reflected on the actual DOM, and only on the modified components. It ultimately improves the loading time and accelerates the overall performance of the application.

Lazy Loading is one of the elite features of Vue, which helps in improving the load time. Asynchronously, Vue manages a third-party library that automatically handles the critical dependencies. This becomes possible by categorizing the libraries that are required to be integrated into the application bundle and are left from the core bundle.

2. Application Architecture

Angular.JS: Angular implements MVC (Model View Controller) and MVVM (Model-view-ViewModel) to develop dynamic web applications and websites. MVC pattern supports Angular to differentiate the HTML interface with the logic and helps to organize components with logic and codes both. Hence, the two-way data binding feature of Angular ensures straightforward development by following the MVC pattern. It allows Angular.JS developers to create a simple and clean design by including MVC patterns and two-way data binding at the same time.

Vue.JS: Vue primarily focuses on the ViewModel only and shows/releases limited data. ViewModel works as a link between the view and model through data binding. Thus, ViewModel shows the changes that are carried out in the model to the view. The MVVM architecture helps to develop robust and quality web applications while integrating them with relevant plugins and tools.

3. Learning Curve

Angular.JS: The Angular.JS web development curve is quite typical as compared to Vue. The Angular.JS developers need to gain expertise in concepts like MVC, and TypeScript to take the front-end development ahead. Angular is quite a typical technology for developers to gain expertise over it, after working with it for years. Thus, it has a limited developers and users community.

Vue.JS: Vue.JS framework offers inbuilt app templates and fierce customization ability, which makes Vue.JS more preferred framework than React.JS and Angular.JS. As we learned in the previous post on React.JS vs Vue.JS, Vue.JS is a combination of Angular and React, which makes it easier to develop React or Angular-based app solutions on the Vue.JS framework.

4. Scalability

Angular.JS: Angular is been in the market for quite a long time, thus ultimately it has gained continuous support from many established organizations, including Google. Angular can arrange components as folders and modules based on the features. This depicts it had a well-formed framework that enables Angular.JS developers to build an enterprise-level application. It is a highly scalable framework because of its fierce command-line interface and feature designs.

Vue.JS: In contrast to Angular, Vue.JS uses a template-based syntax which reduces code reusability in the application development. This generates complications in developing a large size application on the Vue.JS framework. In contrast to this, it is a lightweight framework and is preferred to develop lightweight applications that are not highly scalable.

5. Ease of Testing

Angular.JS: Testing is an integral component of the Angular framework, likewise all the JavaScript codes had to go through a series of detailed testing. It comes with advanced debugging and refactoring options that support developers to carry out testing and maintenance. Angular extends the opportunity to test the complete project codes with a single testing tool, like Protractor, Jasmine, and Karma. All these tools are highly effective in minimizing the Angular.JS developers’ hustle to ensure efficient results.

Such, a convenient testing process allows developers to build the projects from scratch and seamlessly test the components. The dependency injection in Angular effectively manages all the controllers and scopes.

Vue.JS: For ease of testing, Angular turns out to be a better-performing framework than Vue. Its testing abilities are simple and ordinary, yet quite efficient. It is not equipped with quality tools, despite that does not compromise with the testing ability of it as well. Unit Testing in the Vue framework usually uses Mocha, Jest, or Chai testing tools. Apart from that, some of the official testing libraries of Vue are Vue Testing Library and Vue Test Utils. These libraries allow access to the app and the user-specific APIs and make code debugging and refactoring quite an easy task.

6. App Size & Loading Time

Angular.JS: Angular is a suitable framework to develop large enterprise-scale applications, so it is quite common for the app size to be slightly bigger than expected. As compared to other front-end frameworks, the small and medium-sized Angular.JS web applications usually range between 250 to 500 Kb. In contrast to that, the large and complex applications will be bigger than this range, however, it can be considerably handled by using a compiler to compress the bundle size. As the app or site loading time relies on its size, it requires comparatively more loading time than Vue.

Vue.JS: Vue.JS is a lightweight framework, which ultimately indicates that the app size will not be heavy as compared to the other frameworks. A simple Vue app usually has a size between 50 to 100 Kb, which is quite nominal. The Command Line Interface of Vue makes the app size appear heavier when the code loads for the first time. Even so, implementing lazy loading components allows the breaking of codes into smaller chunks which ultimately enhances the loading time performance. The Vue.JS developers can avoid writing codes from scratch by using tools like Vuex, Bit, Vue-router, and NuxJS, which allows effective state management by predicting codes, and unnecessary functions to eliminate them. As, the loading time majorly relies on the app size, and the small size of Vue.JS web app development ensures faster app loading.

7. User Experience

Angular.JS: Angular is a very effective front-end framework for designing interactive and straightforward user interfaces. It manages user interaction through templates which are divided into classes, components, and segments to build a clean coding architecture. The well-defined way of presenting data to the users ensures data updates instantly and the feature of SPA routing between pages without affecting the whole page. It makes Angular popular among developers with built-in libraries that ensure a hassle-free development experience.

Vue.JS: Vue.JS could be an ideal choice for designing an innovative and interactive web app user interface. Virtual DOM allows Vue.JS developers to carry out experiments while designing the user interface. As a result, the developers can create simple, interactive, and attractive applications. The data binding nature of the Vue.JS framework allows developers to build HTML values and attributes which can be easily modified without hampering the existing code by using the v-bind feature.

Angular vs Vue: Comparative Analysis

Criteria	Angular.JS	Vue.JS
Developer & Author	Google	Evan You
Known as	Full-Featured JavaScript Framework	Progressive JavaScript Framework
Size	563 KB (compressed & minified)	33.5 KB (gzipped & minified)
Source Language	TypeScript	JavaScript (also supports TypeScript)
Performance	Fast	Comparatively Faster
Learning Curve	Steep	Easier as compared to Angular
Browser Rendering	Shadow DOM	Virtual DOM
Error Handling	Compile-Time	Run-Time
Developers Community	More Popular than Vue	Comparatively Small
License	MIT	MIT

Web Apps Built with Angular and Vue

Angular and Vue are the widely used JavaScript frameworks that deliver high performance, robust features, and ready-to-use components. So, it could be very helpful to be aware of which companies use these tools for their customized web app development.

Popular Platform Developed on Angular.JS are:

• Google
• Microsoft Xbox
• Forbes
• Paypal
• Deutsche Bank
• WikiWand
• UpWork
• The Guardian
• com

Popular Platforms Developed on Vue.JS are;

• Trivago
• Apple
• Nintendo
• 9GAG
• Statista
• Gitlab
• Trustpilot
• Behance
• Alibaba, etc.

Angular vs Vue: When to Choose?

When to choose the Angular framework?

Angular is a decades-old framework equipped with excessive libraries, mobile-friendly features, reusable templates, and easy-to-use. We suggest you can choose the Angular framework when:

• You are planning to develop a real-time, dynamic, and large-scale web application.
• If you like to work with Object-Oriented Programming concepts.
• You are having a handsome size of well-versed Angular.JS developers, as it allows easy data flow and delivers a structural architecture.
• You require a trustworthy and easy to scalable application.
• If you can learn TypeScript before starting the app development.

Note: If your app is small in size and has multiple static pages then the Angular framework won’t be the best web app development framework.

When to choose the Vue framework?

Vue is fast, flexible, lightweight, and sleek, and allows easy integration of external features, which makes Vue the leading choice among a lot of front-end developers. We suggest you can choose the Vue framework when:

• You like to develop a dynamic high high-performing application.
• You want to design lightweight and Single-Page Applications (SPAs).
• You are aiming for high performance and speed.
• You need a lightweight web development framework.
• You prefer clear codes.

Note: If the application is heavy in size and has too much dynamic data, then prefer another front-end development framework that seems more suitable for your application.

Which Framework To Choose In 2022: AngularJS or VueJS?

In 2022, choosing between AngularJS and VueJS depends on project specifics and developer preferences. AngularJS, with its robust architecture and support from Google, suits large-scale applications. VueJS, known for its simplicity and speed, is ideal for dynamic, high-performing applications requiring agility and clear code.

Summing Up

It is quite a challenging task to consider any of the two frameworks as not good. Well, both frameworks are good in their aspects as the front-end development framework. It is just about selecting the right framework that fits your business needs. In case, you still struggle to deduce which framework is suitable for your digital solution, they prefer connecting with a web development company.

Codiant is a proficient web development company that has expertise in multiple domains and technologies including Angular.JS and Vue.JS web development services.