Vue 3 vs React: Is Vue.js the Underdog You Should Be Using in 2023?

Outcome first: by the end of this article you’ll know when Vue 3 is the faster, more pleasant path to ship a product - and when React remains the safer bet for scale, ecosystem, and hiring.

Why this matters. The framework you choose shapes development speed, long-term maintenance, team happiness, and even hiring costs. Pick the right tool and you ship faster. Pick the wrong one and you rewrite later.

Quick bottom line

Use Vue 3 when you want faster onboarding, clearer templates, built-in reactivity with great ergonomics, and a productive DX for small-to-medium teams or greenfield projects.
Use React when you need the largest ecosystem, proven enterprise patterns, mature SSR solutions (Next.js), or where hiring React devs is critical.

Now let’s dig in. We’ll compare core concepts, developer experience, tooling, performance, TypeScript support, state management, community/ecosystem, and decision guidelines.

Core technical differences (short primer)

React is a UI library based on components and an explicit render flow driven by hooks and state updates. See the official docs: https://reactjs.org
Vue 3 is a progressive framework that offers template-first component authoring, Single File Components (SFCs), and a reactivity system powered by ES2015 Proxies. See https://vuejs.org

Vue 3’s biggest architectural changes were introduced to address pain points in Vue 2: a Proxy-based reactivity system (faster, more predictable), the Composition API (better logic composition), and smaller runtime with tree-shaking in mind.

Developer experience (DX)

Vue’s selling point is its approachable, opinionated DX. Templates feel familiar to anyone who knows HTML. Single File Components (SFCs) combine template, styles, and script in one file. The mental model is declarative and less ceremony.

React’s DX is flexible and explicit. JSX blends markup and logic. The community has converged on hooks for stateful logic, and that model is extremely powerful - but it introduces more indirection for newcomers.

Example: a simple counter in Vue 3 (Composition API) vs React Hooks.

Vue 3 (Composition API):

// Counter.vue
<template>
  <button @click="increment">Count: {{ count }}</button>
</template>

<script setup>
import { ref } from 'vue'
const count = ref(0)
const increment = () => count.value++
</script>

React (Hooks):

import { useState } from 'react';

export default function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
  return <button onClick={() => setCount(c => c + 1)}>Count: {count}</button>;
}

Both are concise. Vue keeps markup in templates which some teams prefer because it separates concerns visually and keeps directives like v-if, v-for readable. React keeps everything in JS (JSX), which some teams find more flexible but more code-centric.

Reactivity and component logic

Vue’s reactivity is built into the framework. The Composition API exposes reactive primitives such as ref and reactive, and it feels like working with data directly - you mutate reactive values and the view updates.

React’s model is immutable state + re-renders. Hooks like useState and useReducer provide stateful logic and useEffect handles side-effects. You update by replacing state (or using functional updates).

The trade-off: Vue’s reactivity can feel more ergonomic and less verbose for complex reactive relationships, while React’s explicit re-render model encourages functional thinking and fewer hidden mutations.

TypeScript experience

Vue 3 significantly improved TypeScript support compared to Vue 2. With the Composition API and better type inference, writing typed components is comfortable. The SFC <script setup> syntax further streamlines TS usage.

React’s TypeScript story is mature and widely used. TS works well with both JSX and modern React patterns. When it comes to large codebases, React + TypeScript has proven reliability due to ecosystem practices.

Tooling and build performance

Vite was created by the Vue ecosystem (but is framework-agnostic) and made local dev servers instant by leveraging native ES modules and esbuild for fast transforms. Vite works great with both Vue and React: https://vitejs.dev

Create React App historically lagged behind in dev speed compared to Vite, but Next.js and modern bundlers narrowed that gap. Still, for rapid local dev snapshots and cold starts, Vite + Vue is an outstanding combo.

State management

Historically Vue had Vuex; now Vue 3 developers frequently use Pinia - a simpler, intuitive store with TypeScript-first design: https://pinia.vuejs.org

React has a larger set of choices - Context API, Redux, Zustand, Jotai, Recoil. Redux is still common in enterprise but many apps prefer smaller libraries or hooks-based state.

Pinia examples are concise and integrate naturally with Vue’s reactivity; this reduces boilerplate compared to older Redux patterns.

Performance

Microbenchmarks vary by scenario. The js-framework-benchmark shows small differences that rarely matter for real apps: https://github.com/krausest/js-framework-benchmark

Vue 3’s Proxy-based reactivity and optimized renderer give it excellent runtime performance and smaller bundles when using tree-shaking. React’s reconciler is also highly optimized, and the real-world performance depends more on app architecture than on framework.

Practical rule: performance is similar for typical SPA UI workloads; optimize your components and data flow before blaming the framework.

Ecosystem, libraries, and SSR

React’s ecosystem is larger. For many categories (UI libraries, enterprise patterns, analytics, mobile), React has more off-the-shelf options. Next.js dominates SSR and full-stack React: https://nextjs.org

Vue has strong official and community offerings: Nuxt (SSR/meta-framework), an expanding set of UI libraries (Vuetify, Naive UI, PrimeVue), and tooling that integrates tightly with Vue-specific patterns. Nuxt has matured considerably and is a great SSR solution for Vue apps.

Learning curve and onboarding

Vue often wins on onboarding. The template syntax and built-in directives make it easier for beginners and designers to read components. Composition API introduces a small learning curve but is conceptually easier to compose across features than complex mixins or HOCs.

React has a steeper climb for newcomers because hooks, JSX, and patterns like render props or HOCs (less common now) can be confusing at first. But once learned, React patterns are transferable across many large codebases.

Hiring and community

React has more job listings and a bigger community. If hiring speed is crucial, React may be safer. Vue has passionate maintainers and an active community, but fewer developers in some markets.

Check community signals and job boards in your region before betting hiring on Vue for larger teams.

When Vue is the better choice (practical scenarios)

You need to prototype and iterate quickly. Vue’s templates and SFCs speed up UI work.
Your team includes designers or less-experienced devs who benefit from template clarity.
You want a batteries-included framework with a pleasant learning curve and good defaults.
You value a small, fast dev server and improved DX with Vite.
You prefer state management that feels native and concise (Pinia).
You want to adopt progressively: add Vue to parts of an existing app without full rewrite.

When React is the better choice

Your team already has React expertise or you need to hire quickly from a React-heavy market.
You need the largest set of third-party libraries, especially in areas like mobile (React Native), or mature enterprise patterns.
You rely on Next.js-specific features or the extensive ecosystem around server components, edge functions, and SSR workflows.

Migration and long-term maintenance

Both ecosystems are stable. Vue 3 migration paths and the Composition API provide a clear upgrade route from Vue 2. React’s API evolves slowly with great backwards compatibility. Choose the one that aligns with expected team composition for the next 3–5 years.

Checklist to decide (quick)

Team experience: React? Choose React. Mostly new devs or designers? Vue is appealing.
Time-to-market: need to move fast? Vue + Vite + SFCs are hard to beat.
Ecosystem needs: a specific React-only library or Next.js? Choose React.
Maintainability & DX: prefer templates and reactive primitives? Choose Vue.

Final verdict

Vue 3 is not just an underdog - it’s a mature, pragmatic framework with modern architecture and superb developer experience. In 2023 it’s absolutely worth choosing for many projects: greenfield apps, prototypes, teams that value clarity, and scenarios where fast iteration matters.

React remains the dominant choice for teams prioritizing ecosystem breadth, hiring, and specific platform integrations like React Native or Next.js. It’s not that one is strictly better; it’s that each framework optimizes for different trade-offs.

Pick the one that matches your constraints. Ship faster. Maintain saner code. Keep your users happy.

References