Difference Between React.js and Angular.js

When it comes to building modern web applications, React.js and Angular.js are two of the most popular choices. Both are used in front-end development, but they differ significantly in terms of architecture, features, and usage.

What is React.js?

React.js is a declarative, efficient, and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It’s ‘V’ in MVC. ReactJS is an open-source, component-based front-end library responsible only for the view layer of the application. It is maintained by Facebook. React uses a declarative paradigm that makes it easier to reason about your application and aims to be both efficient and flexible. It designs simple views for each state in your application, and React will efficiently update and render just the right component when your data changes. The declarative view makes your code more predictable and easier to debug. 

Features of React.js:

• Scalability: React is well-suited for large-scale applications due to its flexible structure and scalability.
• Rich JavaScript Library: React has a vast ecosystem of tools and libraries supported by a large community.
• Code Reusability: React allows developers to reuse components across projects, improving development efficiency.

Example: This example demonstrates the simple React js syntax.

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
  
var name = "Learner";
var element = <h1>Hello, { name }.Welcome to GeeksforGeeks.</h1>;
   
ReactDOM.render(
    element, 
    document.getElementById("root")
);

Output:

What is Angular.js?

Angular is a popular open-source JavaScript framework created by Google for developing web applications. Front-end developers use frameworks like Angular or React for presenting and manipulating data efficiently. Updated Angular is much more efficient compared to the older version of Angular, especially, the core functionality was moved to different modules. That’s why it becomes so much fast and smooth compare to the older one. Newly added angular CLI. With that package, you can create a scaffolding for your Angular project. 

Features of Angular.js:

• Accessibility: Provides easier access as it holds ARIA-enabled components.
• Templates: Angular holds several templates to create UI views in a much faster manner by providing and suggesting some syntax.
• Testing: The program here is broken into several chunks which makes it easier to test. Testing is performed by the protractor in this case.

Example: This example demonstrates the simple Angular program.

app.component.html:

<hello name="{{ name }}"></hello>
<h2>
  Welcome to GeeksforGeeks Learning
</h2>

app.component.ts:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'my-app',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: [ './app.component.css' ]
})
export class AppComponent  {
  name = 'Geeks';
}

app.module.ts:

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { HelloComponent } from './hello.component';

@NgModule({
  imports:      [ BrowserModule, FormsModule ],
  declarations: [ AppComponent, HelloComponent ],
  bootstrap:    [ AppComponent ]
})
export class AppModule { }

Output:

Difference Between React.js & Angular.js

Though both react js and angular seems similar, but still there is significant contrast that differentiates both React.js and Angular, which is given below.

When to Use React.js vs. Angular.js?

Choose React.js if:

• You need a lightweight, fast, and flexible solution for dynamic content.
• You prefer simplicity and want to focus solely on the view layer.
• You are working on smaller to mid-sized applications with a focus on user interface performance.
• You prefer a component-based approach with reusable code and a vast ecosystem of third-party libraries.

Choose Angular if:

• You are building large-scale, enterprise-level applications that require complex routing, forms, and robust architecture.
• You want an all-in-one solution with built-in tools like routing, form validation, and HTTP client.
• You need a framework with strong support for two-way data binding and dependency injection.
• You prioritize a comprehensive framework that offers everything you need out-of-the-box.

Note: Angular is a great framework it has many improvements in terms of ReactJS, it is good at bigger applications. If you are a beginner or have less coding practice also if you want stability for your project you can go with ReactJS.