How it works
Angular apps are written in TypeScript and built from components, each with a template, a class and styles. Unlike React or Vue, it ships nearly everything in one box: a router, forms, an HTTP client, dependency injection and the Angular CLI, which generates code and runs builds and tests. That shared structure makes one Angular codebase look much like another.
Google releases a new major version roughly every six months. Recent versions moved to standalone components, a built-in control-flow syntax and signals, a simpler way to track changing values, and new apps no longer need the older Zone.js change detection. Angular is a full rewrite of AngularJS (version 1), which is no longer supported.
Angular pros and cons
Pros
- Everything in one box: router, forms, HTTP, testing and a CLI
- Strong conventions keep large teams consistent
- TypeScript first, with long-term support releases
- Backed by Google and widely used in enterprise software
Cons
- Steeper learning curve, with many concepts to learn up front
- More code and ceremony for small projects
- Smaller choice of third-party UI libraries than React
When to use Angular
Pick it when
- Large business apps built by several teams over many years
- Organisations that want one prescribed way of doing things
Skip it when
- Small sites, prototypes or content pages
- A small team that wants to move quickly with less structure
Angular pricing
Angular vs the alternatives
Related terms
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Frameworks