Angular vs AngularJS | BrowserStack

July 2024 · 6 minute read

There is a race going on among the frameworks on being the best for creating a robust single page application. As a result, there is a large selection of frameworks available in the market. Among them, two widely popular frameworks for creating single-page applications (SPA) are Angular and AngularJs. People use the name of these two frameworks very loosely and often consider both of them to be the same, however, in reality, both differ very much from each other. So what is the difference between Angular and AngularJS? Read this guide to find out.

Table of Contents

What is Angular?

Angular is an open-source frontend framework that helps businesses build single-page applications (SPAs). It uses HTML and Typescript. However, modern browsers do not understand Typescript and therefore the Typescript is translated to JavaScript so that the browsers can easily compile the application written in Typescript. This is also the core difference between Angular and AngularJS, one uses Typescript and JavaScript. 

The initial release of Angular in 2016 was supposed to be the second version of the most famous front-end framework AngularJS. However, later it was kept as a separate entity. The latest version (currently) of Angular is Angular 14.

Prominent features of Angular 

Listed below are some of the prominent features of Angular.

  • Use of Typescript: AngularJS uses JavaScript however, Angular (2 and later versions) uses Typescript during development. Typescript offers static typing, which reduces the runtime errors that AngularJs were causing while producing extensive applications. 
  • Faster than AngularJS: Angular is at least 7 times faster than AngularJS due to its better architecture, and algorithm for data binding. It does not generate HTML, and wait for the browser to parse it, instead, it creates DOM data structures directly. Also, it offers the feature of lazy loading, where only those components that are rendered are needed, thus making the overall application faster. 
  • Component-based architecture: Angular uses the components-based architecture, where it uses the components that are directives with the template. Angular has reusable, easy-to-use, and maintainable components, which are also independent. 
  • CLI comes integrated with Angular: Angular has the command line interface, which helps in accessing testing procedures and maintains the application easily from a command shell. 
  • Data Binding: AngularJS uses the NG directive approach to perform data binding, where a developer has to remember the exact expression of the NG directive, whereas, in Angular () is used for event binding, and [ ] for property binding. 
  • Mobile application development: Angular also offers a very trending feature – being able to create mobile apps with the help of Angular. 

    • Limitations of Angular

    Apart from all the features Angular offers, there are a few limitations that come alongside. 

  • Learning Typescript: Although Typescript is a superset of JavaScript, and is helpful while developing Angular applications, learning Typescript is a tedious task, as Typescript is not a widely known programming language. 
  • Unnecessarily Complex: The Angular application sometimes gets very complex even for building basic applications. Also, Angular 2 was completely different from AngularJS, thus a lot of code from existing systems had to be migrated, which increased the complexity. 
  • Documentation for Angular is incomplete: One core advantage for several developers is that it is compatible with the command line interface, however, developers do not rely solely on its official documentation, stating that it is incomplete. 

    • What is Angular JS?

    AngularJS is the first version released by Google in 2010 as a JavaScript-based front-end framework for developing single-page applications. AngularJS was built upon the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. The Angular team in Google stopped support for AngularJS on 31 December 2021, however, all the applications that were built upon AngularJS continue to work. Although the LTS for AngularJS has officially ended, people still consider the features of AngularJS worthy and use it for building extensive SPAs. 

    Prominent features of Angular JS

    Some notable features of AngularJS include. 

  • Use of JavaScript: JavaScript is the most widely known programming language in the world, and is more popular than Typescript. Therefore, there are web developers that are already handy with this language and do not have to carry the weight of learning a new language to develop applications.
  • Organized and Structured: AngularJS has a small codebase, which makes it clean and organized, thus facilitating more comfort while developing any application. Also, MVC architecture separated design from logic, making complex applications maintainable.
  • Two-way data binding: In AngularJS, you may not have to write a separate piece of code to perform two-way data binding. Any change in the model automatically reflects in the view and vice-versa. 
  • In-built dependency injection: Dependency injection allows creation of objects outside the class and use them within the class. It allows easy testing.
  • Routing: The routing feature of AngularJS is very useful, it allows you to switch between views in your application without having to reload anywhere, thus keeping the single-page application intact. 

    • Limitations of AngularJS

    Apart from several advantages, let’s also look at some of the disadvantages of using AngularJS.

  • Designer-friendly: AngularJS was built for the sake of designing purposes, therefore, it does not offer a very developer-friendly experience while creating applications. Also, the developer has to be familiar with the MVC architecture to implement the development in AngularJS. 
  • Not well-suited for scale applications: Using AngularJS for small-scale applications does not throw any exceptions, it only occurs while managing an extensive application built with AngularJS. Thereafter, the code becomes highly complex to manage and understand. 

    • Difference between AngularJs and Angular

    Category 

    		Angular 

    AngularJS

    Creator Google Google 
    Language supportedJavaScript and TypescriptJavaScript
    Mobile Development friendlyCompatible for mobile-developmentNot compatible
    ArchitectureIt uses components and directivesSupport model-view-controller (MVC) and model-view-view-model (MVVM) architectures. 
    TestingSupports unit testing with KarmaTesting is done through third-party applications
    CLIComes with Angular CLINo support for CLI
    Dependency Injection Uses hierarchal dependency injection Does not use dependency injection. Uses directives
    PerformanceSupports server-side rendering which offers a speedy performanceOverall performance is slow as compared to Angular
    Example Gmail and UpworkNetflix and Lego

    Angular and AngularJS are the two web frameworks that came from the same source, Google, offering developers the ease to create user interfaces in their own unique style respectively. Angular does the task without having to add external dependencies, whereas, with AngularJs you can create a feature-extensive website with only a few lines of code. To choose the framework, you must be aware of the requirements of the project and your potential as a developer. Thereafter, there becomes no need to compare both frameworks. No matter which framework you choose, it is important to perform tests on real devices and browsers over emulators and simulators for accurate results. Using BrowserStack Real Device Cloud, you can access 3000+ browser-device combinations offering a wide coverage, allowing you to test end to end under real user conditions.

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