Why I Started Using Angular (and Not React) for Large-Scale Enterprise Apps

Let me get this straight... I like React. I use it for small products, prototypes, and sometimes for production work. It’s simple and the whole ecosystem is hugee. But over the last few years, as I moved into larger enterprise projects with many teams and long lifespans, I began choosing Angular more often. This wasn’t tribalism; it was practicality.

The first thing you notice with Angular is the consistency. A new Angular app, whether built by team A or team B, tends to look and feel the same at a folder-structure and API level. In contrast, React projects can vary wildly because each team picks their own libraries and conventions. That flexibility is powerful for small teams, but in a large organization it creates friction... onboarding becomes slower, code reviews become harder, and shared components can be implemented ten different ways.

A big part of that consistency comes from TypeScript. Yes, you can and should use TypeScript with React, but Angular is TypeScript-first. It’s not an add-on, it’s baked in. TypeScript gives you compile-time type checks, you catch a lot of mistakes before the app runs. In enterprise apps where multiple developers touch the same modules, that safety reduces subtle bugs and the monday morning firefight syndrome (I’ve had my share).

When I say Angular is "opinionated," I mean it provides conventions and patterns by default. That’s often framed as a con in developer twitter threads, but in a large scale project, it’s a pro. You don’t waste time debating which router or state library to use; Angular gives you a recommended path. That lowers cognitive overhead for engineers and makes codebases more predictable over time.

Angular ships with features teams usually reach for in large apps, a robust router, reactive forms and even template driven if you prefer that, a solid HTTP client(built-in) no need for any external dependency or to learn come new hype train library, and dependency injection (DI). DI, in simple terms, is a way to provide components and services their dependencies instead of hardwiring them inside. It makes testing, swapping implementations, and managing singletons across the app much easier. In React you stitch these pieces together with third-party libraries — which is flexible, but also means you’re responsible for compatibility and lifecycle across dozens of packages.

For scaling teams, the benefits compound. When a new developer joins, they find a familiar structure: modules, components, services, and a testing pattern. That predictable layout reduces onboarding time. Plus, shared component libraries and design systems are simpler to maintain when everyone follows the same patterns. I remember a project where two teams had different approaches to state management; merging their work created an afternoon-long migration. With Angular, that kind of divergence is less likely to happen.

Maintenance and upgrades are real-world problems people underestimate. Enterprise apps often last five to ten years. Libraries change, Node versions move on, and dependencies can break in subtle ways. Angular’s tightly integrated ecosystem and clear upgrade path (Angular CLI, schematics, and official deprecation notices) make coordinated upgrades easier. You’ll still have work during upgrades — nothing’s magical — but I’ve found the pain is more manageable than chasing dozens of independent library updates in a large React project.

That said, React isn’t out of the picture for me. I still pick React when starting greenfield products where speed of iteration and flexibility matter more than long-term guardrails, or when the team is small and values library choice. React shines for experimentation, micro SaaS, and product teams that change direction often. For those projects the lighter, composable approach is a clear win.

Final thought! Angular didn’t magically solve every problem, but it removed many recurring pain points I used to see in enterprise work, inconsistent architecture, brittle integrations, and surprises during upgrades. If you’re building a multi-year product with many teams and a need for maintainability, give Angular a thoughtful look. If you’re doing a tiny app or a prototype, React will probably still be faster to ship and that’s totally fine. The right tool is the one that fits the project constraints, the team, and the timeline.