Angular vs Knockout: Similarities and Differences

Efficient web development leads to the success story of a web. For this, a developer has to use many tools and frameworks. Angular and Knockout are the two important frameworks that many developers use. But, often choosing one from both of them, turn out to be a confusing task.

Angular and Knockout offer similar functionalities. So, making the right choice for your project takes time because you have to focus on various things. Today, you will get to know the differences and similarities between Angular and Knockout so that you can make a clear choice for your website. Let’s begin.

What Is Angular?

Angular is a web application framework. It is open-source and written in JavaScript. Moreover, the primary purpose of Angular is to make single-page applications. Angular developers can create large applications effectively and timely.

What Is Knockout?

Knockout is a JavaScript library. It allows binding HTML elements against any data model. Knockout is based on the MVVM pattern, which means Model-View-View Model. This model helps to separate program logic and interface.

So, Angular is a framework, and knockout is a library. If you know the difference between framework and library, it will become easy for you to choose one.

Library: It is a set of objects and functions that works to solve a particular problem. So, a library implements a particular function.

Framework: On the other hand framework is a collection of libraries that implements a particular methodology for web development.

Let’s move ahead to explore the more differences between Angular and Knockout.

What Are the Similarities Between Angular & Knockout?

Angular and Knockout both have some similarities. You should know them before jumping to differences. Let’s know about the similarities below.

1. Data Binding:

You can make a connection between UI and business logic with this feature. It means when the data changes, it will reflect in the UI. You need to change the model properties with the wrapper in knockout while writing a code.

2. Utilization of Mapping Plugin:

Converting properties is easier if you utilize mapping while loading JSON files from the server. In the case of Angular data reading and composing are easier. Knockout JS needs a mode for the same.

3. Templating:

Templating helps to break the code into tiny pieces. So that code can be maintained easily. Moreover, templating is common in both Angular and Knockout.

4. Extensibility:

Both technologies Angular and Knockout prove helpful here. Angular uses the directives concept, which helps you put together the particular behavior of the DOM elements. Likewise, Knockout follows the same functionality.

5. Ease of Development:

Angular development has become a lightweight task for the developers since the launch of the “Bundle Budget” in the latest version. It speeds up the development process. Although knockout is good for small-scale applications, supports faster and easy development.

6. Performance:

You can hire AngularJS developers, who use Angular for better optimization to improve the performance of the apps. You can automatically remove the Pollyfills from the application, which is good for high performance if you are using the latest version of Angular. In the case of a Knockout library, you can expect performance with integrations in small-scale apps.

7. Community Support:

Angular is maintained by Google so it has large community support. You can get solutions to your problems at any time. On the other hand, Knockout doesn’t have any community support. So, here you can face some difficulties if you choose Knockout for your web development.

8. Development Cost:

Many businesses want to develop web in Angular because it is cost-effective. You can build various types of applications as well with Angular. But, it is not the case with Knockout. It is better for UI representation only.

So, these were the similar features of Angular and Knockout that work differently.

What Are the Differences Between Angular & Knockout?

If you want a rich and responsive web solution, you need to decide on which is better for your project. Knowing the difference between Angular and Knockout will help you a lot after knowing the similarities.

> Knockout is not maintained by a big company like Angular by Google. Steve Anderson is the owner of Knockout.
> The stable release of Angular is 13.1.1 as of 15 December 2021. 3.5.1 is the stable release of knockout as of 5 November 2019.
> Angular is a framework for the development of a single-page application, while Knockout is a JavaScript library.
> Most developers use Angular because it is a full-fledged framework whereas Knockout is just a data binding mechanism.
> Angular provides AJAX services while Knockout doesn’t.
> In Angular protector works as a test framework. But you will not find a protector in Knockout, which means it doesn’t have testable code.

Wrapping Up:

As per AngularJS development company, the website has become an integral part of a business. Without it, businesses can’t flourish. So, with time, many enhancements are done in the development to make this process easy and effective. Angular and Knockout are examples of these types of enhancements. The type of framework or library you want depends on your website requirements. After knowing the requirements, understand the similarities and differences between Angular and Knockout for an impeccable choice.