Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Onsen UI VS Vue.js

Compare Onsen UI VS Vue.js and see what are their differences

Onsen UI logo Onsen UI

HTML5 Hybrid Mobile App UI Framework - work with Angular, React, Vue, Meteor & pure JavaScript. Material & Flat design.

Vue.js logo Vue.js

Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces
  • Onsen UI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-21
  • Vue.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22

Onsen UI features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Onsen UI supports iOS, Android, and Windows platforms, allowing developers to create apps that work seamlessly across multiple operating systems using a single codebase.
  • Easy to Learn
    Onsen UI provides clear documentation and an extensive set of components, making it easy for developers, including those who are new to mobile development, to get started quickly.
  • Performance
    Onsen UI is known for its performance, providing smooth animations and transitions on both mobile and desktop devices. It's optimized to work well even on less powerful devices.
  • Integration with Popular Frameworks
    Onsen UI can be seamlessly integrated with popular front-end frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue.js, enhancing its versatility and allowing developers to use their framework of choice.
  • Customizability
    The platform offers a high level of customizability, letting developers create unique and tailored user experiences by extending and modifying existing components.
  • Active Community
    Onsen UI has a robust community and active support, which means developers can readily find solutions to problems, share knowledge, and get updates on new features.
  • Built-in Theme Support
    Onsen UI provides built-in themes that automatically change the look and feel of the application to match the target platform, enhancing user experience by providing a native look and feel.

Possible disadvantages of Onsen UI

  • Dependency on Groovy
    Some features in Onsen UI depend on the Monaca CLI which uses Groovy, adding an additional technology layer that developers might need to learn.
  • Limited Plugin Ecosystem
    Compared to other frameworks like React Native or Flutter, Onsen UI has a relatively limited range of third-party plugins, which can restrict the functionality or require custom development for certain features.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Customization
    While basic usage is straightforward, advanced customization may have a steeper learning curve, particularly for developers not familiar with mobile-first design principles.
  • Less Popularity
    Onsen UI is less popular compared to frameworks like React Native and Flutter, which can result in fewer resources, tutorials, and community support.
  • Debugging Complexity
    Debugging mobile-specific issues can be more involved when using a hybrid framework like Onsen UI compared to using native development tools.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies in a hybrid environment can sometimes be challenging, especially when dealing with different versions of libraries and platform-specific issues.

Vue.js features and specs

  • Easy to Learn
    Vue.js has a gentle learning curve, making it accessible for beginners. Its documentation is thorough and well-written, and the framework itself is designed to be straightforward and easy to understand.
  • Reactive Data Binding
    Vue.js provides a reactive data binding system, which allows for efficient and seamless synchronization between the model and the view, making the development of dynamic interfaces simpler and more intuitive.
  • Component-Based Architecture
    Vue.js uses a component-based architecture, which promotes reusability and modularity. This allows developers to break down the user interface into smaller, more manageable pieces that can be reused across different parts of the application.
  • Rich Ecosystem and Integration
    Vue.js has a rich set of tools and libraries, such as Vue Router for routing and Vuex for state management. It is also easy to integrate with other projects and libraries.
  • Flexibility
    Vue.js is highly flexible. It can be used for both large-scale single-page applications (SPAs) and smaller, more simple interfaces. It also allows developers to use it as a library or as a full-fledged framework.
  • Great Performance
    Vue.js offers high performance due to its lightweight nature and optimal rendering. Its virtual DOM implementation and efficient reactivity system ensure fast updates and rendering.
  • Active Community and Support
    Vue.js has an active and growing community, which means abundant learning resources, frequent updates, and a wide range of plugins and third-party libraries.

Possible disadvantages of Vue.js

  • Smaller Market Share
    Compared to frameworks like React and Angular, Vue.js has a smaller market share. This may result in fewer job opportunities and less community support in some areas.
  • Language Barrier
    Some official documentation and community resources are primarily in Chinese, which might pose a challenge for developers who do not understand the language.
  • Limited Resources for Larger Projects
    While Vue.js is growing, it still has fewer large-scale, enterprise-level tools and resources compared to more established frameworks like Angular.
  • Integration with Legacy Systems
    Integrating Vue.js into older, legacy systems might require more effort and experience, particularly if those systems are built with a different architecture or framework.
  • Overhead of Flexibility
    The flexibility that Vue.js offers can sometimes lead to inconsistencies in code structure and project organization, especially in teams where developers have varying levels of experience and coding styles.
  • Ecosystem Fragmentation
    The rapid growth of Vue's ecosystem can lead to fragmentation, where multiple plugins or libraries serve similar purposes, making it difficult for developers to choose the best solution.

Onsen UI videos

Onsen UI - Introduction

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Onsen UI Getting Started Tutorial
  • Review - Masahiro Tanaka - Hybrid Mobile Apps with Vue.js and Onsen UI | VueConf 2017

Vue.js videos

Vue.js in 2019 & Beyond

More videos:

  • Review - Vue.js or React or Angular ... which is KING?
  • Review - Why 43% of Front-End Developers want to learn Vue.js

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Onsen UI and Vue.js)
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Javascript UI Libraries
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
JavaScript Framework
13 13%
87% 87

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Onsen UI and Vue.js

Onsen UI Reviews

Top React component libraries (2021 edition)
Originally based on AngularJS with support for jQuery, Onsen UI offers an adapted framework for React. Onsen was developed by Monaca Software which specializes in mobile app development and is based out of Japan. Based on the mobile-first origin, the Onsen UI framework is well suited for building mobile apps.
Source: retool.com
Top JavaScript Frameworks For Mobile App Development
OnSen UI is a powerful, free, opensource mobile application JavaScript framework that is bundled up with ready to implement features with a native nature. It is apt for building hybrid apps with Cordova and progressive web apps.There are 3 layers attached to it — CSS components, framework bindings, and web components.
Source: medium.com
Comparing popular React component libraries
Onsen UI is a bit different from the previous libraries we’ve examined. Because it’s built with a mobile-first design in mind, Onsen UI is mostly used to build cross-platform mobile web apps.
10 React Native Alternatives
Most importantly, the Onsen UI ecosystem has a toolkit known as Monaca that helps in developing hybrid mobile apps.
20 Best Front-End Frameworks For Bootstrap Alternative
Onsen UI is a hybrid framework that works well with PhoneGap and Cordova. With AngularJS, jQuery, Font Awesome and TopCoat as the foundation, Onsen UI can be a promising tools for developing amazing mobile apps. Onsen UI can help you build mobile apps easily using the concept of Web Components.
Source: beebom.com

Vue.js Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
Vue.JS uses MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture and can be useful along with different architectural frameworks like CBA (Component-Based-Architecture). It has a unique ability to interact with various available frameworks, which has made Vue.JS a go-to choice for web development.
Source: solguruz.com
20 Next.js Alternatives Worth Considering
Like a breath of fresh air, Vue.js is that approachable buddy who’s also a powerhouse behind the scenes. Simplicity paired with flexibility, Vue.js is all about building slick, reactive single-page apps without the brain-strain. Its core library focuses on the view layer, making it tasty for integration with other projects and libraries.
The 20 Best Laravel Alternatives for Web Development
Vue.js — a sprightly little JavaScript framework — charmingly simple, surprisingly powerful. It’s playful, it’s approachable, and it makes building UIs and front-end applications feel like a walk in the park.
Top 9 best Frameworks for web development
The best frameworks for web development include React, Angular, Vue.js, Django, Spring, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Flask and Express.js. Each of these frameworks has its own advantages and distinctive features, so it is important to choose the framework that best suits the needs of your project.
Source: www.kiwop.com
9 Best JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2023
Vue.js: Vue.js is a lightweight and easy-to-learn framework that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. It has been gaining popularity in recent years and has a growing community.
Source: ninetailed.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Vue.js seems to be a lot more popular than Onsen UI. While we know about 393 links to Vue.js, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Onsen UI. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Onsen UI mentions (2)

  • 12 Frameworks for Hybrid Mobile Apps
    Onsen UI has quickly grown in adoption since its release in 2013. It is an open-source framework under the Apache v2 license. Onsen UI is framework-agnostic UI components, you can choose and switch among the frameworks: AngularJS, Angular, React, and Vue.js or go pure JavaScript to build your hybrid apps. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Why are HTML attributes set differently into the DOM?
    For one of our web applications, we used the Onsen UI js framework with its React support library. Source: about 3 years ago

Vue.js mentions (393)

  • Chapter 6 HTML part one
    The MVC approach is dominating the application market at the time of writing. The three main front-end frameworks which do this are React, Vue and Angular but there are many, many more. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • The problem with indirections
    Something I have already seen in many different code bases using frontend libraries like React and Vue is that developers use advanced state management solutions (e.g. Redux, Vuex, or Pinia) way too often. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • 60 Best JavaScript Libraries for Building Interactive UI Components
    Vue.js Vuejs.org Progressive framework for building reactive interfaces. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • How I Achieved a 74% Performance Increase on a Page
    Our monolith is built with Laravel and Vue.js, where Vue.js powers dynamic features at the expense of performance, since it runs completely on the client-side. For performance-sensitive features, we rely on Blade (Laravel's template engine) with raw JavaScript or jQuery, resulting in a more complex and less developer-friendly approach. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Lexical 0.24 with Vanilla JS: Getting started
    Lexical is an open source project and considered the successor of Draft.js. It is primarily developed by Meta, licensed under MIT. It is not restricted to React, but supports Vanilla JS, too. The flexibility enables us to integrate it with other JS libraries such as Svelte and Vue. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Onsen UI and Vue.js, you can also consider the following products

jQuery Mobile - jQuery Mobile

React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Svelte - Cybernetically enhanced web apps

NativeScript - Build truly native apps with JavaScript

AngularJS - AngularJS lets you extend HTML vocabulary for your application. The resulting environment is extraordinarily expressive, readable, and quick to develop.