Nuxt vs Vue: Ultimate Guide to Making the Right Choise

Nuxt vs Vue seems like a weird comparison to make, specially because they are both based in the same technology. But I recently had to select between them and thought it could be interesting to share why you might one to pick one over the other for your own projects. Before we deep into that, let me share with ya’ll a little about why I faced this selection in the first place: I recently embarked on the development of a new web-based project.

While I cannot yet disclose the specifics, I can share that it’s a Chrome extension designed to enhance people’s daily workflows. Initially, I believed the project to be relatively straightforward and began using the ol’ trusty vanilla JavaScript. However, as the project progressed, I recognized that my preference for the conveniences offered by modern frameworks—a habit cultivated from years of experience—wasn’t easily dismissed. I felt an unconfortable void as I noticed more and more the absence of features such as reusability and reactivity, which these frameworks typically provide out of the box.

I decided to transition to one of these frameworks while the project was easy to migrate. The next thing I knew was I had spent an entire workday exploring the pros and cons of each framework I’ve worked with. I knew maybe choosing Angular was a bit of an overkill because of its base complexity and richness could be a bit too much for a simple UI interface. React was another interesting option, but I have always prefered the community-based features that Vue offers instead of relying on big updates provided by a large company like Facebook.

As I choosed to avoid these two, the answer seemed farily easy then: I was using Vue! Now, I had to decide if I was going for pure simple Vue or jumping into one of those fancy frameworks everyone talks about nowadays. As I had work with Nuxt in the past, that was my obvious alternative to pure Vue, so that was the one that I picked as I know it has a fairly big community behind along with active official support in its most recent versions.

I usually write more about the technical part of a project (check this AI-based entry about face authentication, for example), but today I have decided to write an article that underscores the pros and cons of my 2 final alternatives as well as a brief comment on which one I personaly selected for developing a chrome extension. In this ultimate guide, we’ll dive deep into the world of Nuxt.js and Vue.js, comparing and contrasting these two powerful technologies. Let’s embark on this journey to explore the nuances of Nuxt vs Vue, hopefully shedding some light on the path to making the right choice for your development needs!

Table of contents

Nuxt vs Vue: A little about them both

Vue.js, commonly referred to as Vue, is an open-source Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) JavaScript framework for building user interfaces and single-page applications. Created by Evan You in 2014, Vue has rapidly gained popularity among developers for its simplicity, flexibility, and performance. Unlike other heavyweight frameworks, Vue is all about being incrementally adoptable. This means that it can be easily integrated into projects where other JavaScript libraries are in use, or it can be used in its entirety for building complex applications. For my personal interests, that was perfect as I could build it into my pre-existing vanilla app!

On the other hand, Nuxt.js (often simply called Nuxt) is a framework built on top of Vue.js that aims to make web development simple and powerful. Therfore the selection between these 2 could not be merely based on the integration simplicity but rather would require a deeper evaluation of their capabilities.

Nuxt works like a charm to create universal, static-generated Vue.js applications with ease. It extends Vue.js by abstracting away the client/server distribution, allowing developers to write code that runs seamlessly on both the client-side and server-side (usually handled by Express). Nuxt provides out-of-the-box features such as server-side rendering (SSR), automatic code splitting, and a powerful routing system, which are essential for SEO and optimizing web performance. Its convention-over-configuration approach simplifies development, making it easier to get a project up and running quickly while still offering the flexibility to configure every aspect as needed.

This combination of ease of use, flexibility, and performance enhancements makes Nuxt an appealing choice for developers looking to leverage Vue.js for more complex applications or to improve their web applications’ SEO and loading times. However, it makes it clear that Vue seems a more barebone solution that could, if needed, escalate to a Nuxt-like project whenever needed… Interesting, right?

Top 5 Pros of Vue.js

1. Ease of Learning: In my experience, one of the most significant advantages of Vue is its simplicity. It has a gentle learning curve that allows developers, especially those with a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, quickly get up to speed. For instance I believe that you could be up and running with it the very same day you start a project even whitout knowing a lot about it! Take that, Angular!
2. Flexibility: You can produce all kinds of projects with Vue: from integrating it into existing web applications for added interactivity to building complex single-page applications (SPAs).
3. Performance: Vue is lightweight and fast (something I really needed for my UI). Its performance is comparable to other major frameworks like React and Angular, making it a strong choice for projects requiring high performance. You can say it is as light as React.
4. Detailed Documentation: Vue’s documentation is comprehensive and well-organized. Thus, it is easier for developers to find the information they need.
5. Reactivity: Vue’s reactivity system ensures updates to the DOM are efficient and fast, which is crucial for a smooth user experience. Particularly in the domain of one-page apps (which is what I wanted) it can lead to amazing capabilities to manage the DOM elements without making heavy modifications to the code as those needed when using vanilla JS.

Top 5 Pros of Nuxt.js

1. Server-Side Rendering (SSR): One of the standout features of Nuxt is its built-in support for server-side rendering. SSR is crucial for SEO as it ensures that search engines can crawl and index the content of web pages more effectively. It also improves the initial page load time, which enhances the user experience, particularly on mobile devices or slow network connections.
2. Automatic Code Splitting: Nuxt automatically splits code into smaller bundles that are loaded only when needed. This results in faster page load times since users only download the code necessary for the page they are visiting. Vue also offers this, but it might require some tweaking within the building configuration.
3. Convention over Configuration: Nuxt follows a “convention over configuration” approach, meaning that it comes with a set of sensible defaults that work out of the box. This reduces the amount of boilerplate code developers need to write and speeds up the development process.
4. Static Site Generation (SSG): Nuxt offers the option to generate a static version of your application, which can be deployed on any static hosting service. This combines the benefits of SSR with the simplicity and security of hosting static files, making it ideal for high-performance, secure websites.
5. Powerful Plugins and Module Ecosystem: Nuxt has a rich ecosystem of plugins and modules that can easily be integrated to extend the functionality of your application. Whether you need authentication, PWA features, or API calls, Nuxt’s ecosystem likely has a solution already available.

Vue vs Nuxt: Specific Considerations

When comparing Vue to Nuxt for specific applications like a Chrome extension, the choice often boils down to the project’s complexity and requirements. Vue, with its simplicity and flexibility, is an excellent choice for projects that don’t require SSR or where the developer’s familiarity with Vue outweighs the benefits of Nuxt’s pre-configuration. Additionaly, chrome extension’s are not directly indexed for SEO as the manifest usually provides the titles and descriptions required for that.

As we learn together with this blog post, larger and more complex applications that can benefit from SSR and other features like automatic routing, Nuxt might be the preferred option. For that reason, my final decision was an easy one: I would better go with a more lightweighted framework like Vue as I dont even need to worry about the server side. The reason is I am hosting the server as a Python VM elsewhere, and adding a NodeJs backend seemed again useless for the time being.

Vue vs Nuxt: Conclusions

Nuxt is, in all considerations, an improvement over pure Vue for specific scenarios. It provides a much stronger framework for working with large apps that most likely will require some sort of SEO, due to its out-of-the-box support for server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG). However, it’s important to recognize that the choice between Vue and Nuxt should be guided by the project requirements.

For smaller projects or applications where SEO is not a critical concern (like my own case with a Chrome Extension that most likely will have its own website later) Vue’s simplicity and flexibility might be more appropriate. Vue’s lightweight nature and ease of integration into existing projects make it a versatile choice for adding reactivity to web pages or developing single-page applications (SPAs) without the need for SSR or SSG.

Ultimately, the decision between Vue and Nuxt hinges on the specific needs of the project and the development team. Vue offers a fantastic starting point for developers of all skill levels, allowing for gradual adoption and integration into complex projects. Nuxt, on the other hand, stands out for applications that demand advanced features like SSR for SEO purposes, improved performance through automatic code splitting, and a more opinionated structure for large-scale applications.

So, as a takeaway, I ended up using Vue itself. At the end of the day it will be up to you, but I hope this article gives you some guidance in taking the correct decision! See you on my next entry!