When looking for examples of applications built with React.js, you realize that there are thousands of them (actually, according to builtwith.com data, the number exceeds 1,2 million websites). If you are considering building your own app based on React, then you’re surely wondering if that’s the right choice and whether this technology is suitable for your project.
It’s always a good idea to look for inspiration and consult others’ opinions when making big decisions. Choosing the tech stack for your application is no different.
Many business owners before faced the very same dilemma, considered the pros and cons of every option and tested them in battle. Therefore, you can learn from their experience and save yourself a great deal of trouble.
We decided to make this even easier for you and ask CTOs of companies using React to share why they chose this technology, how are their impressions and whether they’d recommend it to other businesses. Ready?
React: the most popular front-end framework?
We started with a question, but that should be actually a statement: React is indeed the most popular front-end framework right now. It has gained in popularity over the last couple of years, and has outrun the competition (such as Angular, jQuery, or Vue frameworks) in virtually all major technology rankings, classifications and analyses. Here are a couple of examples:
- Stack Overflow trends,
- Stack Overflow 2020 survey (most loved and wanted web framework, as well as the second most popular)
- Number of GitHub repositories and topics,
- Google Trends results,
- Number of NMP package downloads,
- Hacker News hiring trends, with an impressive streak of 31 months on the top.
These extraordinary results most probably wouldn’t be possible if React didn’t offer exceptional value for both developers and businesses. Then, what are the qualities that make this JavaScript framework such a massive success among front-end technologies?
Why companies choose React.js to build products?
Surely, companies tend to have their own reasons to choose a particular tech stack. It might be because of the skillset they have on board, specific business needs, or simply the habit. However, there are some general features that are the main causes of React popularity:
- Community support: a huge and active open-source community backed by Facebook.
- Clean code: easy to build and maintain applications.
- Reusability thanks to the use of components that speed up the development.
- Availability of a mobile technology, React Native, based on React.
- Supports Progressive Web Apps (PWA).
These are surely only some of the advantages of React. And why this technology has won the hearts of CTOs that decided to make it an integral part of their tech stacks?
Apps built with React: insights from CTOs
Foxquilt
This InsurTech company offers tailored business insurance and group savings services. Foxquilt’s solutions are made especially for FinTechs, gig economy networks, digital marketplaces, and other modern businesses interested in providing customized insurance solutions to their audiences.
Thanks to the open API and withe label platform, companies can seamlessly integrate the insurance module with their own digital products to expand their offering.
Foxquilt decided to use React.js for the development of the insurance platform. How was their experience working with this technology? Would they recommend it to other startups?
Milind Joshi, CTO of Foxquilt, says: Yes, definitely. Highly recommended. With React, it’s much easier to develop lightweight, fast applications, there’s no vendor lockin, no need of expensive consultants, great documentation, and easier to reuse code.
React has also significantly contributed to scaling the company and its solution:
Scaling was quite easy. The initial build was done by a small team of highly experienced engineers but as the team grew the platform was still easy enough to understand and pick up. We have no roadblocks from using React.
- Milind Joshi, CTO at Foxquilt
Cyclica
Cyclica is a leading biotechnology company that uses breakthrough technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and deep learning to transform the area of drug discovery.
This company combines profound pharmaceutical know-how and years of experience of its specialists with groundbreaking computational biophysics and machine learning solutions.
The innovative business model based on decentralized partnerships is yet another factor that makes Cyclica stand out on the market.
As you can see, there are various reasons to choose React for the client-facing side of your application. The number of qualities made the popularity of this technology skyrocket in just a couple of years.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that React has transformed the current landscape of web development.
Are you still wondering how React can benefit your own project? Looking for a tech partner experienced in building products with React? Don’t hesitate to learn more about our React Native development services and contact us!