[nreece]

Nitpicks aside, it seems to me that React/Vue are only/mainly useful for two-way data binding. If it's just one-way binding (i.e. JSON to template), then jQuery with something like Handlebars will be just fine. Correct me if I've misunderstood.

[pygy_]

React and Vue are immediate mode/declarative UI libs. Your code says "given the model/state, here's what I'd like the UI to look like right now", and they manage to mutate the DOM efficiently to achieve what you want.

jQuery and the plain DOM are retained mode APIs. You manipulate stateful objects to achieve your goals. It is ok for simple interactions, but it quickly becomes unmanageable for more complex apps.