Comparing Vue and React in 2023: Pros and Cons
My honest take on Vue vs React in 2023. Not a winner-takes-all post, just tradeoffs I hit on real projects.
Vue and React were still the two frameworks I reached for most in 2023. Both are fine. The choice usually comes down to team taste, hiring pool, and how much boilerplate you'll tolerate.
These are my notes, not gospel.
Vue
What I like
Vue's learning curve felt gentler when I onboarded juniors. The virtual DOM is there, but day-to-day ergonomics stay calm. You can drop Vue onto an existing page without rewriting the world. The Composition API cleaned up larger components once I stopped fighting the Options API. Docs and ecosystem are strong without feeling corporate.
What bugs me
The community is smaller than React's. Enterprise case studies are thinner on the ground, fair or not. You'll still find plenty of help, just fewer Stack Overflow duplicates.
React
What I like
React's ecosystem is enormous. Libraries exist for almost every problem. Meta's backing keeps large companies comfortable. Component thinking maps cleanly to design systems. DevTools are excellent when you're debugging gnarly state.
What bugs me
JSX and mental model take longer for some folks. You'll write more ceremony for simple UIs. State management is bring-your-own (Redux, Zustand, whatever). That freedom is power and foot-guns.
Picking one
Greenfield solo project? Either works. Existing team on React? Don't switch for sport. Greenfield with designers who love SFCs? Vue is a joy.
What's your default in 2023? I'm still mostly Vue for personal work and whatever the client already runs for paid work.