[ng12]

The majority of complaints I hear (either at work or online) about React are actually about the React ecosystem -- they have trouble with Webpack or Redux and throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think very few people learn React by writing a pure app (e.g. hand-compiled, no state library).

React itself is an incredibly simple library: you can explain the entire thing in a few sentences. In my experience it has an undeserved reputation for being more complex than Vue.

[GFischer]

The thing is, even if you want to hold yourself to a simple React-only app, the moment you want to leverage someone else's work, you are thrown into the shark-infested waters of the React ecosystem.

I think React is very cool, and I haven't tried Vue, but everything on this thread points to it being a much better learning experience, and might be better for small or middle-sized projects.