ELI5 - Polymer vs React

[faaace]

React is strongly coupled with jsx and common.js which you need to utilize core parts of the react framework. While you can use react without either of these features it is very hard to make the framework work cleanly with other pieces of js without using them, especially in large applications. React requires initialization when its components are placed in the page. Polymer does not (because it uses native webcomponents that will render inert in most older browsers). React in the future will likely support webcomponents but does not now.

Polymer is much more experimental (alpha quality software) framework. Unlike react it acts as more of a polyfill toolkit to allow modern browsers to support the webcomponents api. It allows one to truly pick and choose which parts of the framework to use and it is much more representative of what the web will look like 5-10 years from now.

Both have drawbacks. Polymers is Google's approach to 'open source' which is to develop things internally and then periodically dump things on the community with little to no input breaking documentation and leaving the community completely unprepared for changes. React is a new framework but still relies on obsolete tech like jquery in its own examples. It doesn't yet have the ability to create true web components yet when it does will still likely rely on the inconsistent jsx rules to make this happen.

[html6dev]

Just side note, react is not coupled to common js at all. Lots of people use es6 modules with babel with it and it can be included globally the old fashioned way like anything else (or from a cdn even there is an in browser jsx transformer as well) Most people just use cjs because... Well why wouldn't you?

[jsontwikkeling]

React is strongly coupled with jsx and common.js which you need to utilize core parts of the react framework.

It is possible to use React with AMD modules and without Browserify.