We have already talked about frontend development trends and frameworks to choose from in the past. What we haven’t discussed yet is which framework out of React and Angular is best for enterprise frontend development.

By enterprises, we mean large teams that have a lot of contributions in different parts of the projects. And as we have worked with a handful of large and small enterprises, we can say most of them face similar kinds of software and product development challenges, especially when it comes to frontend development.

Generally, most enterprises will have a large number of software products to offer, which requires standardization. They want all their software products to be developed the same with the possibility to share core components and code. Such kinds of requirements are hard to incorporate no matter the tool you use.

Developing reliable enterprise applications has traditionally depended heavily on front-end development. Yet, selecting the appropriate technology for front-end development is essential because it has a direct impact on the effectiveness and productivity of the application. React and Angular are two of the most well-liked front-end development tools on the market right now. Even though each technology has advantages and disadvantages.

Further, fulfilling these trends isn’t and won’t be possible in the near future. However, one trend that we have noticed is the use of Angular for most enterprise software development, making it the best frontend development technology. Here’s why we say so:

React Vs Angular: The Raging War

Launched in 2013, React quickly rose to fame as it was beginner-friendly with a not-too-steep learning curve. Since it was easy to learn, most beginners who started their journey in development chose Facebook’s open-source UI library.

However, being famous and easy to learn doesn’t necessarily mean React is a superior tool for frontend development. Yes, it is one of the great tools but not as much as it is hyped to be ,and surely not for enterprise software and application development.

Google first released Angular, formerly known as AngularJS, as an open-source JavaScript framework in 2010. It soon exploded in popularity and moved to the top of the frontend development tool list in the business. The most recent edition, Angular 15, was made available in November 2022, and it is still the version of choice for highly innovative enterprise apps.

The greatest tool for business frontend development is Angular since it can handle complex applications with ease, which is one of the main reasons for this. TypeScript, a superset of JavaScript, is used by Angular to assist in developing more scalable and secure code. Additionally, it has a large range of integrated tools and capabilities that help developers create and maintain complex applications.

However, Angular races ahead when it comes to developing software with high complexity usually required for enterprise applications. React is way better when developing small-scale simple applications, but lags when developing complex-level software. Moreover, it requires a deep fundamental understanding of JavaScript and how it works along with how React libraries work to develop complex enterprise apps.

Also, since it is a library, it solves only one problem at a time, whereas Angular is a specialized framework that solves a host of different problems simultaneously. While using React, developers have to be dependent on third-party libraries for API connection, Routing, state management, and many other things.

Angular incorporates all such things along with many more, which are built right into it for effortless software and product development. Though it has a steep learning curve, the features such as routing, dependency injection, form generation, etc. all of which make Angular worth you can say that React only has M of MVC while Angular consists of the whole thing.

For further clarification, here’s why Angular is the best Framework for enterprise application development:

1. Standardization

When developing enterprise applications, you need a full-fledged framework that helps developers stay on the course, especially when developing complex-level applications. No matter how simple it may look in the beginning, at some point, the development of enterprise software is going to get messy and complex.

Angular performs well in this criteria, as it is a fully-fledged framework that helps enterprises deal with such complexities and challenges by offering standardized mechanisms such as Angular CLI. The command-line interface of Angular helps create and scaffold the apps by building blocks/components.

Through Angular CLI, you can get straight to work or open up a new project just like that. Further, it allows you to create many new components, modules, services, and many other things. And while Angular CLI is creating and tying everything up, developers can focus on building software products.

The greatest tool for business frontend development is Angular since it can handle complex applications with ease, which is one of the main reasons for this. TypeScript, a superset of JavaScript, is used by Angular to assist in developing more scalable and secure code. Additionally, it has a large range of integrated tools and capabilities that help developers create and maintain complex applications.

Angular CLI does the job in a few seconds, which other technologies may take a few minutes to do. Another less obvious benefit of Angular is the tools offered by the technology can be used for developing anything. Having such standard tools means you won’t have to be dependent on as many 3rd party dependencies.

2. Testing

Angular not only helps in building and scaffolding new components for enterprise applications but auto-generates starter spec files for testing those components as well. For instance, it will contain a ‘does render’ test along with many others that can be added later on.

The framework goes a step ahead to tell you how much of your code is covered by your tests. To do so, Angular uses Karma to know how many lines of codes, branches, and others are covered by the test. This functionality comes right out of the box, so you won’t have to install other dependencies to do this simple task.

Developers may easily develop tests for components, services, and directives because of the testing framework's easy integration with the Angular framework. The number of debugging and profiling tools offered by Angular also makes it simpler to find and solve issues during the testing phase.

Jest supports both unit and integration testing, as well as snapshot testing, which makes it simpler to detect unexpected UI changes. Moreover, React provides a number of tools for profiling and debugging applications, such as the React Developer Tools browser extension.

React depends on external libraries like Jest, whereas Angular comes with a built-in testing framework that provides extensive support for testing Angular apps.

Both frameworks provide a variety of debugging and profiling tools for applications, making it simpler to find and fix problems during the testing phase. But Angular's built-in testing framework might make it simpler for developers to get started with testing and ensure consistency throughout the application.

3. Modularity

As Angular progresses, it has been written in a way to modularise the framework to break down the building blocks — the components — into modules. In a new Angular app, there’s a module file containing everything for the main module. Further, the blocks that contain the components can have their modules. Components, services, and directives are arranged into modules in Angular's modular architecture.

Large-scale applications can be managed more easily since each module may be created to have a particular set of features. The component-based design of React allows each component to be developed with a unique set of features and functions. 

Moreover, React enables developers to reuse components across several applications, simplifying consistency maintenance and cutting down on development time. Components, services, and directives are organised into modules in Angular's modular design. 

The component-based design of React allows each component to be developed with a unique collection of features and functionality. Both strategies support modularity, but developers should pick the one that most closely corresponds to the requirements of their application.

Importing these modules in certain parts of your enterprise applications makes it effortless to build applications since adding new modules, taking them away, or swapping them with others is much easier. This keeps the architecture of your enterprise application flat, making it easier and more flexible to change whenever needed.

4. Upgrades

Every once in a while, front-end developers of other technologies have to go through an unpleasant process of updating dependencies, which may fail sometimes. However, upgrading dependencies is easy and effortless in Angular. Just enter the CLI command to update dependencies to the latest version.

Further, the CLI will aid you in making necessary code changes and if certain parts can’t be updated, the CLI will tell you about those parts., why couldn’t CLI update them? and what steps to take to implement upgrades. Angular usually releases two major versions a year in an organized and predictable manner.

These updates bring new functionality, bug fixes, and performance enhancements, assisting developers in staying current with emerging technologies and ensuring that their applications are always operating on the most recent framework release.

React adopts a more gradual strategy to upgrades, releasing backward-compatible updates more frequently and more frequently. As a result, software developers can update their applications more quickly and simply without having to significantly alter their codebase.

Also, CLI will help you review the updated parts. Moreover, the Angular CLI allows you to update dependencies safely and easily, enabling the enterprise to maintain complex applications on the latest framework version.

Although implementing Angular can be more difficult, it ensures that applications are up to date with the latest features and performance improvements. Angular has a more predictable release cycle and offers more important updates, which can be more difficult to implement. React updates more gradually, allowing for greater flexibility and backward compatibility but possibly leading to a more dispersed system.

Conclusion

Let’s wrap up the raging war between React and Angular and which technology is best for enterprise applications. Sure, React is appealing to newcomers and easy to learn to excel in building simple applications. However, developing complex-level applications requires a deep understanding of the platform. Angular is an ideal choice that incorporates standardization, testing capabilities, modularity, upgrades, and many other things.

Angular offers a level of sophistication enterprises need in their software applications. The counterargument for Angular is the platform is not beginner-friendly and has a steep learning curve. However, to be competent with the technology, developers should learn how it works without an excuse for how hard it is to simply be lazy.

At ashutec, we have a wide range of React as well as Angular developers to create enterprise software and products having simple to high complexity. Write to us at connect@ashutec.com to discuss your enterprise software and product development needs further with our experts.