React JS vs WordPress


React JS vs WordPress

Learn differences between React JS and WordPress, how and when to use ReactJS and when to use WordPress for your projects

What is React JS?

React JS is a Javascript library for building modern user interfaces and supports all platforms along with native platforms (React Native).
ReactJS is known for efficiency, fast and stable interfaces which makes it perfect choice for any user interface project for the web or native platforms. It is supported by Meta and thousands of the individual React developers from all around the globe. Strong community with thousands of plugins, tools and projects available for free to download and use for your projects are what makes React JS number one choice for anyone looking to create thrilling experiences for their users.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is content management software written in PHP and use MySQL for database. It is primarly a blogging platform but evolved to a full software solution which allows you to quickly create any web based presence. WordPress is the most popular CMS platform currently powering 42% of the web according to WordPress.

React JS vs WordPress

Since React JS is a frontend framework and WordPress is a content management software it would be wrong to compare those two because they have different purposes.

Can you use React together with WordPress? Yes, absolutely! WordPress introduced REST API in 2016 and one of it's main purposes are ability to create modern frontend solutions with WordPress as a backend service.

Pros of using WordPress and React JS:

  • Faster experiences - having React JS as a frontend framework could increase performance, better user engagement and better search engine optimization
  • App like appearance - having React brings your website app-like appearance to satisfy better your audience
  • Smaller server loads - using ReactJS as a frontend framework decrease server usage because it runs on its own, opposite to WordPress based frontend solution
  • Better scalability - since you have decoupled frontend from backend, you will benefit from additional server scalability

Cons of using WordPress and React JS:

  • Larger codebase - since you will decouple frontend from backend you will have more code to take care of
  • Bigger cost - having React JS as a frontend means more cost for you
  • Costly updates - any update to WordPress or React JS will usually mean you will have to update both (depends on what is updated)
  • Limited scalability - while having ReactJS at the frontend will increase scalability, it works up to some point when you will be limited by WordPress as a backend service


Conclusion

WordPress together with ReactJS as a frontend framework can bring performance boost and app-like appearances but definitely it is not for every project. To find out more make sure to check our guide to WordPress REST API we wrote in a previous tutorial.