VueJs 2 with Vuex vs React with Redux

Question

I've spent the past few days looking at VueJs 2 with Vuex and i really like it.

Having only had a brief introduction to React, I've found vue js 2 has been easier to pick up.

React seems to be growing in popularity, but I can't see the benefits of React over Vue 2.

Both are component based frameworks with routing and state management tools.

So can someone explain which are the main differences between those frameworks?

Answer 1

This is an opinionated and subjective question. And it often starts holy-wars than really answering anything and thus it is not really suitable for StackOverflow. However, I will try to answer this in an objective manner as possible. (Note: I am purely comparing Vue with React and deliberately avoiding Vuex vs Redux)

Why Vue.js?

1. It is designed to be an approachable framework. It is suitable for beginners and advanced users alike. When you are starting with Vue.js, it is as simple as adding a script tag to your page. For the advanced developer, the possibilities are endless. You can start with any sophisticated build tools - TypeScript, Babel, Webpack, etc.
2. Vue.js is developed much after Angular and React. It has learned from both and managed to pick many best things from them into Vue. For a beginner, Angular's idea of components, services, dependency injection, bootstrapping application, etc can feel overwhelming. Same is applicable to React; JSX can feel odd (Even after years, I still find it weird.). Now, Vue.js is a cross-path. You can use angular like templates or you have the freedom to choose React like JSX.
3. Vue.js reactivity is very well abstracted. With Angular (digest cycle in v1 and zones in v2) or React, it is bit different. It takes time to learn these concepts.

There are tons of other reasons why Vue.js should be your choice. Sometime back, I had written an article explaining why Vue.js: https://blog.webf.zone/vue-js-answering-the-why-after-15-months-62db797f75cc

Why React?

1. React is a pioneering library (It is not a framework) just like Angular. It introduced the ideas of uni-directional architecture, virtual-dom, components (stateful and stateless), etc.
2. React Native is another reason why you may want to consider React. It allows you to take the same code that you wrote for Web and build native mobile applications. Now solutions do exist in the Vue.js world. But definitely not as mature as React Native.
3. Functional programming: No way React is a library based on functional programming. But doing React right way means you need to use immutability, explicit state management and all these allied concepts stemming from functional world.
4. Redux: Redux is the darling of React world. It has unlocked wonderful architectural patterns for front-end world like time-travel debugging, explicit side-effects, functional components, etc.
5. Innovation: React has some crazy ideas like Relay, Next.js (Vue.js has Nuxt.js). I also heard about some Drap-n-drop editor for React; first class TypeScript and Flow support (You just cannot get TypeScript + Vue.js + JSX working together even in 2018).

Why not React?

1. Using only React is not enough. Very soon, you will end up with using Redux, Redux middleware, Immutable.js, etc. Doing all of that at once can be intimidating.
2. Redux. It is wonderful but it is verbose.
3. Most important: Using React without any sophisticated build system is cumbersome. To do anything serious, you will need Babel, Webpack, etc.

Again, which one is better?

There is no better solution. I will choose Vue.js if I need to accommodate a vast array of developers (beginners-advanced). I will choose React if my team is versed with all the extra overload that comes with React and team loves everything JavaScript approach to web development (Even CSS is JS).

Finally, there is one another angle to it. Programming in React needs discipline and hence, there is a good chance that you will find it easier to bring homogeneity to your codebase. With Vue.js, there is often more than one solution to a problem. That makes it good and bad at the same time.

You will not go wrong with either of them.