jQuery vs React: Ultimate 2025 Developer Comparison Guide

The discussion around jQuery versus React focuses on two prominent JavaScript libraries that developers use to create interactive web applications. Although both aim to simplify and improve web development, they approach this goal in fundamentally different ways. Understanding these differences is crucial for developers deciding which library best fits their project needs.

jQuery, launched in 2006, emerged when native JavaScript was less accessible and cumbersome for many developers. It became popular due to its ability to simplify complex tasks, such as manipulating the Document Object Model (DOM) and handling asynchronous requests. On the other hand, React, introduced by Facebook in 2011, revolutionized front-end development by focusing on building reusable UI components and improving performance through innovative concepts like the Virtual DOM.

Confusion often arises around the question of which library is more suitable for specific projects. Some developers wonder if these tools can be used interchangeably or if one is inherently superior to the other. The answer depends on several factors, including project scale, complexity, performance needs, and developer experience.

Overview of jQuery

jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library that simplifies HTML document traversal, event handling, animation, and Ajax interactions. It was created to abstract the complexities of JavaScript and browser inconsistencies, making it easier for developers to create dynamic and interactive web pages.

Before jQuery, developers often faced challenges due to the inconsistent implementation of JavaScript APIs across different browsers. jQuery addressed these problems by providing a unified API that worked uniformly across all major browsers. Its core philosophy—“write less, do more”—resonated with developers looking to streamline their code.

jQuery quickly gained widespread adoption and became a foundational tool for many websites and web applications. It was adopted by major companies and became synonymous with client-side web development for over a decade. However, as web applications grew more complex, jQuery’s traditional approach to DOM manipulation and event handling began to show limitations.

Key Features of jQuery

Effects and Animation

jQuery makes it easy to create dynamic visual effects and animations that enhance user experience. Developers can animate page elements, fade content in and out, slide components, and create other engaging UI transitions with just a few lines of code. These built-in animation utilities provide an effective way to add polish and responsiveness to websites without requiring deep knowledge of CSS animations.

HTML and DOM Manipulation

Manipulating HTML elements and the Document Object Model is a fundamental task in web development. jQuery provides a simple and consistent API to select, modify, add, or remove elements in the DOM. This simplifies tasks like updating content, creating new UI elements dynamically, or changing the structure of a webpage based on user interaction or data changes.

CSS Manipulation

jQuery enables developers to change CSS properties of page elements dynamically. This flexibility allows for responsive design adjustments, theming, or changing styles based on user actions, without requiring full page reloads. By directly manipulating styles, jQuery helps create a more interactive and personalized user interface.

HTML Event Methods

Handling user interaction events such as clicks, keyboard inputs, mouse movements, and form submissions is straightforward with jQuery. The library abstracts away many cross-browser quirks related to event handling and offers easy-to-use methods for attaching and detaching event listeners, ensuring consistent behavior across platforms.

Utility Functions

Beyond DOM and event handling, jQuery includes utility functions that simplify common JavaScript tasks. These utilities cover areas like array manipulation, string handling, data iteration, and type checking, helping developers write cleaner and more maintainable code by reducing boilerplate.

JSON Parsing

In modern web applications, exchanging data between client and server is often done using JSON. jQuery provides built-in methods to parse JSON strings into JavaScript objects and vice versa, enabling easy integration of asynchronous data loading and dynamic content updates without page refreshes.

AJAX Support

One of jQuery’s most significant contributions is its abstraction of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) operations. With simple and consistent methods, developers can send asynchronous requests to servers, retrieve data, and update parts of a webpage without requiring full reloads. This capability allows for smoother, faster user experiences and forms the backbone of many modern web applications.

jQuery’s Role in Modern Web Development

Despite being over a decade old, jQuery remains in use across numerous websites due to its simplicity and the extensive ecosystem built around it. Many legacy projects and simpler websites continue to rely on jQuery because it reduces the need to write verbose JavaScript code.

However, with the rise of more complex web applications and modern frameworks, the role of jQuery has shifted. It is often seen as a utility for quick DOM manipulation or enhancing legacy codebases rather than a foundation for new, large-scale projects.

React

React, developed by Facebook and released in 2011, marked a significant shift in front-end development. Unlike jQuery, which is primarily a utility library for DOM manipulation, React is a JavaScript library designed for building complex, interactive user interfaces through a component-based architecture.

React introduced new concepts that have since influenced the entire web development ecosystem. Its declarative style, emphasis on reusable components, and virtual DOM technology have helped developers build fast, scalable, and maintainable applications.

React’s Core Philosophy

React’s core philosophy revolves around simplicity, modularity, and performance. It aims to solve common challenges in UI development, such as managing complex state changes, optimizing rendering, and structuring large codebases for better maintainability.

Rather than directly manipulating the DOM like jQuery, React uses a virtual DOM to efficiently update the user interface, improving performance especially in dynamic applications. This innovation has allowed React to become the library of choice for many large-scale web applications and has spurred the development of related technologies and frameworks.

Key Features of React

Component-Based Architecture

One of React’s most important features is its component-based structure. Components are self-contained, reusable building blocks that define parts of the user interface. Each component manages its own logic and rendering, which promotes separation of concerns and code reuse.

Benefits of Components

• Reusability: Components can be reused across different parts of an application, reducing duplication. 
• Maintainability: Smaller, isolated components are easier to debug, test, and maintain. 
• Composition: Complex interfaces can be built by composing simple components, allowing for scalability. 

This modular approach contrasts with jQuery’s imperative DOM manipulation, which can become unwieldy in large projects as it often leads to tangled and less maintainable code.

Virtual DOM

React introduced the concept of the Virtual DOM, a lightweight, in-memory representation of the actual DOM. When the state of a React component changes, React creates a new Virtual DOM tree and compares it with the previous one. It then calculates the minimum set of changes required to update the real DOM, applying only those changes.

Advantages of Virtual DOM

• Performance Optimization: By minimizing direct DOM manipulations, React reduces costly reflows and repaints in the browser. 
• Efficient Updates: Only necessary parts of the UI are re-rendered, improving responsiveness in complex applications. 
• Predictable Rendering: The Virtual DOM provides a clear and predictable rendering model, which helps avoid UI inconsistencies. 

This approach is a major performance improvement over jQuery’s direct DOM manipulation, especially in dynamic, data-driven applications.

JSX Syntax

React uses JSX (JavaScript XML), a syntax extension that allows HTML-like code to be written within JavaScript. JSX makes the structure of UI components clear and declarative, blending markup with logic seamlessly.

How JSX Improves Development

• Readability: JSX closely resembles HTML, making UI code easier to understand for developers familiar with HTML. 
• Expressiveness: Embedding JavaScript expressions within JSX enables dynamic rendering based on data and state. 
• Tooling Support: Modern editors and build tools provide syntax highlighting, error checking, and auto-completion for JSX. 

JSX enables a more intuitive way to build and visualize user interfaces compared to traditional JavaScript and jQuery code.

One-Way Data Binding

React follows a one-way data flow, meaning that data flows from parent components down to child components via properties (props). When data changes, React triggers a re-render of the affected components, ensuring the UI stays in sync with the application state.

Benefits of One-Way Data Flow

• Predictability: Data changes follow a clear path, making the application easier to debug and reason about. 
• Control: Parent components control the data passed to children, enabling better encapsulation. 
• Performance: React can efficiently determine which components need updating based on state and prop changes. 

In contrast, jQuery allows for more direct and sometimes uncontrolled DOM updates, which can lead to unpredictable UI states in large applications.

Performance Improvements

React’s architecture inherently improves application performance. The use of the Virtual DOM, efficient diffing algorithms, and one-way data flow contribute to faster rendering and lower resource consumption.

Developers can also optimize performance further by using techniques such as memoization, lazy loading components, and code splitting. React’s ecosystem includes tools like React Developer Tools, which help profile and debug performance issues effectively.

Declarative Programming Model

React encourages a declarative programming style, where developers describe what the UI should look like for a given application state. React then takes care of updating the UI accordingly.

Advantages of Declarative UI

• Simplicity: Developers write less code and focus on describing the UI, reducing bugs and side effects. 
• Consistency: The UI remains consistent with the underlying data model. 
• Easier Maintenance: Changes to the UI or data model are localized, minimizing unintended consequences. 

This contrasts with jQuery’s imperative approach, where developers specify step-by-step how to manipulate the DOM.

React Ecosystem and Community

Rich Ecosystem

React benefits from a vast and growing ecosystem. This includes a wide range of third-party libraries, tools, and frameworks that extend React’s functionality and integrate with other technologies.

Examples include:

• React Router: For handling client-side routing in single-page applications. 
• Redux and Context API: For state management across components. 
• Next.js and Gatsby: Frameworks for server-side rendering and static site generation. 
• Testing Libraries: Tools like Jest and React Testing Library for unit and integration testing. 

This ecosystem enables developers to build complex applications with modern features such as server-side rendering, progressive web apps, and advanced state management.

Strong Community Support

React has a large and active community of developers and contributors. This means frequent updates, extensive documentation, tutorials, forums, and third-party components are available.

The community-driven development ensures React stays current with emerging web standards and developer needs. It also facilitates knowledge sharing and problem-solving, making it easier for new developers to learn and adopt React.

React’s Impact on Modern Web Development

Popularity and Industry Adoption

React’s approach to UI development has been widely embraced by the industry. Major companies and popular applications use React to build scalable, performant user interfaces. Its design principles have influenced other frameworks and libraries, contributing to a broader shift in how front-end development is approached.

Support for Mobile Development

React Native, a related technology, extends React’s paradigm to mobile app development. Using React Native, developers can build native mobile applications for iOS and Android using JavaScript and React components, sharing much of the codebase between platforms.

This cross-platform capability has made React even more attractive to organizations looking to unify web and mobile development efforts.

Continuous Improvement and Modern Features

React’s development is ongoing, with frequent releases introducing new features, performance improvements, and developer experience enhancements. Features like hooks have simplified state management and side effects in functional components, further streamlining development.

React also embraces modern JavaScript standards and integrates well with tools like TypeScript, enhancing type safety and developer productivity.

Comprehensive Comparison Between jQuery and React

Choosing between jQuery and React is not simply about picking the “better” tool but about understanding how each library fits specific project requirements and development contexts. Both have strengths and limitations that influence their suitability for different kinds of applications. This part breaks down key comparison areas to provide a nuanced perspective.

Performance Comparison

Traditional DOM Manipulation in jQuery

jQuery directly manipulates the Document Object Model (DOM) to update web page content, styles, and structure. While this approach is straightforward and effective for simple or small-scale applications, it can lead to performance bottlenecks in larger, dynamic apps.

How jQuery’s DOM Manipulation Works

Each time jQuery modifies the DOM, the browser must recalculate styles, layout, and repaint the affected parts of the page. These operations can be costly, especially when done frequently or on large numbers of elements.

For example, if an application needs to update multiple UI components simultaneously based on user interaction or data changes, jQuery’s imperative commands might trigger many DOM operations, leading to slower page responsiveness.

Impact on Complex Applications

In projects where UI complexity and interactivity grow, jQuery’s performance can degrade. The library doesn’t optimize DOM updates, meaning redundant or unnecessary manipulations may occur. This lack of optimization can slow down the application, particularly on lower-powered devices or browsers.

React’s Virtual DOM and Reconciliation

React introduced the Virtual DOM to address these challenges. It creates a virtual representation of the UI in memory, allowing it to batch changes and apply the minimum necessary updates to the real DOM.

How React Optimizes Rendering

When the state or props of a component change, React re-renders the Virtual DOM tree for that component. It then compares the new tree with the previous version (a process called reconciliation) to identify differences.

Only the changed elements are updated in the real DOM, minimizing expensive operations such as layout recalculations and repaints. This selective updating significantly enhances rendering efficiency.

Advantages for Performance

• Batch Updates: Multiple changes can be grouped, reducing the number of DOM operations. 
• Efficient Diffing: The reconciliation algorithm quickly determines the smallest set of changes. 
• Improved User Experience: Faster updates result in smoother, more responsive interfaces. 

React’s approach makes it particularly well suited for applications with frequent and complex UI changes, such as dashboards, social media platforms, or real-time data visualization tools.

Handling Large Applications

Challenges of Scaling with jQuery

While jQuery excels in simplicity and ease of use, it lacks built-in architecture for managing large-scale applications. Developers typically use jQuery to manipulate the DOM directly and handle events imperatively, which can lead to tangled, difficult-to-maintain codebases as projects grow.

Common Issues in Large jQuery Projects

• Spaghetti Code: Without modular structure, jQuery code can become interdependent and messy. 
• State Management Difficulties: Managing application state across multiple components or pages is manual and error-prone. 
• Reduced Maintainability: Adding features or fixing bugs often requires extensive refactoring. 

These issues can slow development and introduce bugs, making jQuery less ideal for complex, feature-rich applications.

React’s Component-Based Structure for Scalability

React was designed with scalability in mind. Its component-based architecture encourages modular, reusable code that isolates functionality and state within discrete units.

Benefits for Large Applications

• Modularity: Components encapsulate logic and UI, making it easier to understand and maintain. 
• Reusability: Shared components reduce duplication and speed up development. 
• Clear Data Flow: One-way data binding simplifies state management and debugging. 
• Ecosystem Support: Integration with state management libraries like Redux further aids scalability. 

React’s design enables teams to build large applications with many interconnected components while keeping the codebase organized and manageable.

Ease of Use and Learning Curve

jQuery’s Accessibility for Beginners

jQuery is widely praised for its gentle learning curve and immediate usefulness. Developers new to JavaScript can quickly grasp jQuery’s syntax and methods, allowing them to add interactivity and animations to web pages with minimal overhead.

Reasons for jQuery’s Ease of Use

• Simple Syntax: Selectors and method chaining make DOM operations concise. 
• Minimal Setup: No build tools or transpilation required—jQuery can be included via a script tag. 
• Extensive Documentation: Ample tutorials and examples are available. 
• Immediate Feedback: Changes appear instantly on the webpage, encouraging experimentation. 

This accessibility made jQuery the go-to choice for many developers in the early 2000s, especially for small to medium-sized projects.

React’s Learning Curve

React requires a deeper understanding of JavaScript and modern development concepts. Developers must learn JSX, component lifecycle, state management, and the virtual DOM, which can be overwhelming initially.

Factors Contributing to React’s Complexity

• JSX Syntax: Blending HTML and JavaScript is unfamiliar to some developers. 
• State and Props: Managing data flow requires a conceptual shift from traditional DOM manipulation. 
• Tooling Requirements: React apps typically use build tools like Webpack or Vite and require a compilation step. 
• Ecosystem Complexity: Choosing appropriate state management or routing libraries adds to the learning process. 

Despite the initial complexity, once mastered, React’s abstractions lead to more robust and maintainable applications.

Modernity and Ecosystem

jQuery’s Legacy Status

jQuery was revolutionary in its time, but the evolution of web standards and browsers has reduced the need for jQuery’s browser-compatibility fixes. Modern JavaScript (ES6+) and browser APIs cover many tasks that jQuery simplified, such as query selectors, event handling, and AJAX.

Limitations in the Modern Context

• Lack of Component Model: jQuery does not offer a built-in way to structure UI components. 
• No Built-in State Management: Developers must manually manage application state. 
• Diminishing Popularity: New projects increasingly favor modern frameworks. 

Although jQuery remains valuable for quick prototyping or legacy projects, its relevance in modern web development is waning.

React’s Modern Features and Continuous Development

React continues to evolve, embracing new JavaScript features and introducing innovations like hooks, concurrent mode, and suspense for data fetching.

Key Modern Capabilities

• Hooks: Simplify managing state and side effects in functional components. 
• Concurrent Mode: Improves responsiveness by allowing interruptible rendering. 
• Suspense: Facilitates declarative data fetching with built-in loading states. 
• TypeScript Support: Strong typing improves code quality and developer experience. 

React’s active development ensures it adapts to changing industry needs and remains a future-proof choice.

Third-Party Libraries and Community Support

jQuery’s Mature Ecosystem

Having been around for over a decade, jQuery boasts a vast collection of plugins and third-party libraries covering animation, UI widgets, AJAX enhancements, and more. Many legacy applications rely on these extensions.

Characteristics of the jQuery Ecosystem

• Wide Variety of Plugins: From sliders to modal dialogs, many plugins are available. 
• Ease of Integration: Plugins are usually simple to add via script tags. 
• Maintenance Challenges: Some plugins are outdated or unmaintained. 

While rich, the jQuery ecosystem is largely static, with fewer innovations compared to modern libraries.

React’s Growing Ecosystem and NPM Packages

React’s popularity has sparked an enormous and rapidly growing ecosystem, centered around the Node Package Manager (NPM). Thousands of packages enable developers to add routing, state management, UI components, testing tools, and more.

Highlights of React’s Ecosystem

• Diverse Packages: Libraries exist for almost every development need. 
• Component Libraries: UI frameworks like Material-UI, Ant Design, and Chakra UI provide ready-made components. 
• Strong Maintenance: Active community and corporate backing ensure regular updates. 
• Integration with Modern Tools: Easy integration with build tools, CI/CD, and testing frameworks. 

This vibrant ecosystem supports complex application development and rapid innovation.

Use Cases: When to Choose jQuery or React

Ideal Scenarios for jQuery

• Simple Websites: Sites requiring basic interactivity and animations. 
• Legacy Projects: Maintaining or extending existing jQuery-based applications. 
• Quick Prototyping: Rapidly adding effects or AJAX to static pages. 
• Limited JavaScript Knowledge: When developers prefer a minimal learning curve. 

Ideal Scenarios for React

• Large-Scale Applications: Projects with complex UI, multiple views, and dynamic data. 
• Single Page Applications (SPAs): Where fast, responsive navigation is critical. 
• Cross-Platform Development: Using React Native for mobile apps alongside web apps. 
• Team Collaboration: Projects benefiting from modularity and maintainability. 

Future Outlook for jQuery and React

Both jQuery and React have played significant roles in shaping web development, but their futures look quite different due to changes in technology trends, developer preferences, and industry demands.

Current Status and Ongoing Usage

jQuery, introduced in 2006, was instrumental in addressing cross-browser issues and simplifying JavaScript for many developers. Despite newer technologies emerging, jQuery remains widely used across millions of websites globally, especially in legacy systems and content management platforms.

Why jQuery Still Exists

• Legacy Support: Many existing projects and content management systems depend heavily on jQuery. 
• Simple Use Cases: For basic DOM manipulation, event handling, or AJAX requests, jQuery still provides a fast solution. 
• Large Plugin Ecosystem: A variety of pre-built plugins support diverse functionalities. 

However, the web development landscape is shifting, and jQuery’s prominence is gradually declining as newer tools take precedence.

Challenges Facing jQuery

• Modern JavaScript Features: Native JavaScript (ES6+) now includes capabilities that reduce the need for jQuery. 
• Performance Limitations: Traditional DOM manipulation can cause bottlenecks in complex, dynamic applications. 
• Lack of Component-Based Architecture: Without modular UI components, large-scale maintenance is challenging. 
• Decreased Community Growth: New projects seldom choose jQuery as the primary tool. 

The combination of these factors suggests jQuery will mostly be relevant for maintaining legacy code or quick, small projects rather than driving future web applications.

React’s Position in Modern Development

React has firmly established itself as a leading front-end library since its introduction in 2011. Its ongoing evolution continues to influence modern web development best practices, and its ecosystem grows rapidly.

Innovations Enhancing React’s Future

• Concurrent Mode: React’s experimental feature for improving app responsiveness by interrupting rendering. 
• Server Components: Allow server-side rendering with seamless integration of client-side interactivity. 
• React Native: Enables cross-platform development for mobile apps, expanding React’s reach beyond web. 
• Integration with TypeScript: Type safety adoption increases code reliability and maintainability. 

React’s adaptability ensures it remains relevant as application requirements become increasingly complex.

React’s Ecosystem and Community Growth

React benefits from a massive, active community supported by individual developers, large corporations, and open-source contributors. This ecosystem fuels continuous improvements in tooling, libraries, and educational resources.

• Vibrant Package Ecosystem: Thousands of open-source packages covering UI, state management, routing, and testing. 
• Toolchain Advancements: Integration with modern build systems, code-splitting, and optimized bundling. 
• Corporate Backing: Facebook’s continued investment secures React’s sustainability. 

The strong community engagement drives innovation and helps React adapt to emerging challenges and opportunities.

Integration and Coexistence of jQuery and React

Possibility of Using jQuery and React Together

Though jQuery and React serve different paradigms, some projects may benefit from leveraging both, especially when migrating legacy systems or incrementally adopting React.

Common Scenarios for Integration

• Legacy Migration: React can be introduced gradually into an existing jQuery codebase. 
• Plugin Usage: jQuery plugins can be used within React components when necessary. 
• Progressive Enhancement: Enhance legacy jQuery apps with React components for specific features. 

Best Practices for Coexistence

• Isolate jQuery Usage: Limit direct DOM manipulation by jQuery inside specific components to avoid conflicts. 
• Use React’s Lifecycle Methods: Integrate jQuery plugins within React lifecycle hooks such as componentDidMount and componentWillUnmount. 
• Avoid Direct DOM Manipulation in React: Use React refs carefully and minimize jQuery operations that affect React-managed elements. 

This integration approach allows teams to balance leveraging existing jQuery investments while moving toward React’s modern architecture.

Best Practices for Using jQuery

Writing Maintainable jQuery Code

• Modularize Code: Break jQuery scripts into reusable functions to avoid code duplication. 
• Use Namespaced Events: Prevent event conflicts by using namespaced event handlers. 
• Optimize DOM Access: Cache selectors and minimize DOM queries inside loops or frequent functions. 
• Avoid Inline JavaScript: Separate behavior (scripts) from markup for cleaner code. 

Performance Tips for jQuery

• Batch DOM Updates: Make changes in a single operation rather than multiple small changes. 
• Throttle or Debounce Events: Limit how often event handlers execute for performance-heavy tasks. 
• Use Efficient Selectors: Avoid overly broad or complex CSS selectors for faster element selection. 

Implementing these practices helps maintain the performance and readability of jQuery-based applications.

Best Practices for Using React

Writing Scalable and Maintainable React Code

• Component Design: Follow the Single Responsibility Principle—each component should focus on a specific UI function. 
• Use Functional Components: Prefer functional components with hooks for cleaner and more concise code. 
• State Management: Use React’s built-in state hooks or external libraries like Redux or Zustand for complex state needs. 
• Code Splitting: Use dynamic imports to load components only when needed, improving initial load times. 
• Testing: Adopt tools like Jest and React Testing Library for comprehensive testing of components. 

Performance Optimization Techniques

• Memoization: Use React.memo and useMemo to prevent unnecessary re-renders. 
• Avoid Inline Functions: Define event handlers and functions outside of render methods to optimize rendering. 
• Virtualization: Implement list virtualization (e.g., react-window) to efficiently render large datasets. 
• Lazy Loading: Defer loading of images and components to speed up perceived performance. 

Following these best practices ensures that React applications remain performant, maintainable, and scalable.

Comparative Summary and Decision-Making Guide

Summary Table of Key Attributes

Attribute	jQuery	React
Introduction Year	2006	2011
Primary Purpose	Simplify DOM manipulation	Build component-based UIs
DOM Handling	Direct DOM manipulation	Virtual DOM with reconciliation
Performance	Slower for large, dynamic apps	Efficient for dynamic, complex apps
Learning Curve	Easy	Moderate to steep
Scalability	Limited	High, modular architecture
Ecosystem	Mature, but static	Rapidly growing, modern
Use Case	Small to medium websites	Large-scale SPAs and apps
Modern Features	Limited	Hooks, concurrent mode, server components
Community Support	Declining	Strong and growing

Factors to Consider When Choosing

• Project Size and Complexity: Use jQuery for small or static projects; React for complex and interactive apps. 
• Team Expertise: Consider the skillset of the development team and their familiarity with either library. 
• Long-term Maintenance: React offers more maintainable code for evolving projects. 
• Performance Requirements: React outperforms jQuery in dynamic UI updates. 
• Integration Needs: If working with legacy jQuery code, consider gradual React adoption. 

Final Conclusion

The debate between jQuery and React is less about which tool is “better” universally, and more about understanding their specific roles in modern web development.

jQuery revolutionized JavaScript usage by simplifying complex tasks and improving cross-browser compatibility, helping millions of developers build interactive websites in an era when vanilla JavaScript was cumbersome. It remains valuable for legacy projects and straightforward tasks requiring quick DOM manipulation and animations.

React represents the next generation of front-end development by introducing a declarative, component-based paradigm and efficient rendering through the Virtual DOM. Its ability to handle large, dynamic applications with maintainable and reusable code makes it the preferred choice for modern web and mobile apps.

Developers and teams should carefully evaluate their project needs, future scalability, performance demands, and developer proficiency before deciding between jQuery and React. In many cases, modern applications will benefit from React’s architectural advantages, while some smaller or legacy projects might continue to leverage jQuery’s simplicity.

Embracing the strengths of each technology and understanding how they can complement each other, especially during migration or incremental upgrades, can provide practical pathways for developers navigating the evolving web landscape.