React:
Definition: React is a declarative, efficient, flexible, open-source JavaScript library for building reusable UI components.
History: It was created by Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook. React was initially developed and maintained by Facebook and later used in its products like WhatsApp & Instagram. Facebook developed React in 2011 for the newsfeed section, but it was released to the public on May 2013.
Learning curve: React is not a complete framework, and the more advanced framework must be looked for by the use of third-party libraries. It makes learning the core framework not so easy. It adds some complexity to the learning curve as it differs based on the choices you take with additional functionality.
Preferred language: JavaScript/JavaScript XML.
Size: The size of the React library is around 100 kilobytes (approx.).
Performance: React's performance is slower as compared to Vue.
Flexibility: React provides great flexibility to support third-party libraries.
Coding Style: React uses JSX for writing JavaScript expressions instead of regular JavaScript. JSX is similar to HTML code within JavaScript expressions. React treats everything as a component, and each component has its own lifecycle methods.
Data Binding: React supports one-way data binding. The one-way data binding refers to a single source of truth. React flows in a single direction, and only the model can change the app's state.
Tooling: React has great tooling support. It uses the third-party CLI tool (create-react-app), which helps to create new apps and components in React Project. It has excellent support for the major IDEs.
Current Version: React 16.8.6 on March 27, 2019.
Long-Term Support: It is suitable for long-term support.
Vue:
Definition: Vue is an open-source JavaScript library for building reusable user interfaces and single-page applications.
History: Vue was created by Evan You, a former employee of Google who worked on many Angular projects. He wanted to make a better version of Angular, just extracting the part which he liked about Angular and making it lighter. The first release of Vue was introduced in February 2014.
Learning curve: Vue provides higher customizability, which makes it easier to learn than Angular or React. Vue shares some concepts with Angular and React in their functionality. Hence, the transition to Vue from Angular and React is an easy option. Also, the official documentation is well-written and covers everything the developer needs to build a Vue app.
Preferred language: HTML/JavaScript.
Size: The size of the Vue library is around 60 kilobytes (approx.).
Performance: Vue's performance is faster compared to React.
Flexibility: Vue provides limited flexibility as compared to React.
Coding Style: Vue coding style is little similar to Angular. It separates HTML, JS, and CSS as like web developers have been used to the web development scenario for years. But, it also allows using JSX if you prefer. Vue's take on the component lifecycle is more intuitive than React's.
Data Binding: Vue supports both one-way and two-way data binding. The two-way data binding is a mechanism where UI fields are bound to the model dynamically. If the UI components change, model data is also changed accordingly.
Tooling: Vue provides limited tooling support as compared to React. It has a Vue CLI tool, which is similar to the create-react-app tool. It supports major IDEs but is not as good as React.
Current Version: Vue 2.6.10 on March 20, 2019.
Long-Term Support: It may not be suitable for long term support.
I hope this helps you with your comparison between React and Vue.