Laravel React Starter Kit vs Laravel Vue Starter Kit: Which One Should You Choose?

With the release of Laravel 12, the Laravel ecosystem has taken a giant leap forward by offering official, production-ready starter kits for React, Vue, and Livewire. These starter kits are designed to give developers a head-start when building modern, single-page applications (SPAs) using the JavaScript framework of their choice.

But the big question is — Laravel React Starter Kit or Laravel Vue Starter Kit: which one is better for you?

In this blog, we'll break it down for beginners and intermediate developers, comparing both kits side-by-side and helping you choose the right one for your project.

🚀 What Are Laravel Starter Kits?

Laravel starter kits are pre-configured application templates that include:

• Inertia.js for SPA routing (no separate API needed)
• Tailwind CSS for styling
• TypeScript for type safety
• shadcn/ui components for beautiful, reusable UI
• Authentication scaffolding out of the box

You get full control over your code — nothing is hidden behind a package. Just clone the repo, install dependencies, and start building.

🧠 Laravel React Starter Kit: Overview

The React starter kit uses:

• ✅ React with modern hooks API
• ✅ TypeScript by default (but easy to switch to JavaScript)
• ✅ Inertia.js for seamless Laravel integration
• ✅ shadcn-react for customizable UI components
• ✅ Vite for lightning-fast frontend builds

🔥 Key Benefits of React Starter Kit

• Unidirectional data flow ensures predictable behavior in complex UIs.
• Massive ecosystem: access to libraries like Redux, Zustand, React Query, etc.
• JSX offers full JavaScript power in templates — dynamic and flexible.

⚠️ Good to Know

• JSX syntax can feel overwhelming for beginners.
• Slightly steeper learning curve if you're new to React or functional components.

🌿 Laravel Vue Starter Kit: Overview

The Vue starter kit features:

• ✅ Vue 3 with the Composition API
• ✅ TypeScript (like the React kit)
• ✅ Inertia.js for SPA-style navigation
• ✅ shadcn-vue UI component library
• ✅ Vite for fast dev experience

🌟 Key Benefits of Vue Starter Kit

• Vue’s template-based syntax feels like HTML — easy for Blade and PHP developers.
• Two-way binding (v-model) simplifies form handling.
• Vue is beginner-friendly, with clear file structure and simpler syntax.

⚠️ Good to Know

• While easy to pick up, Vue may require plugins for advanced state management.
• Slightly smaller ecosystem than React (but very capable and growing fast).

🆚 Laravel React vs Vue Starter Kit: Side-by-Side Comparison

🎯 When to Choose React

Choose the React starter kit if:

• You or your team already know React.
• You're building a complex, real-time SPA.
• You want fine-grained control over state management and component lifecycles.

🌈 When to Choose Vue

Choose the Vue starter kit if:

• You’re a Laravel developer transitioning into SPAs.
• You prefer a clean, HTML-style syntax.
• You're building admin panels, dashboards, or CRUD-based systems.

🧩 Shared Advantages of Both Kits

• Full control: No hidden logic — it's your code.
• Seamless Laravel backend integration using Inertia.js.
• Utility-first styling with Tailwind CSS.
• Ready-made UI components from shadcn.
• Strong documentation and community support from Laravel.

🏁 Conclusion: There Is No One-Size-Fits-All

Both the Laravel React and Vue starter kits are excellent choices — and you can’t go wrong with either.

• Use React if your team is experienced in React, you're building a highly interactive SPA, or need advanced control over state.
• Use Vue if you're looking for a gentler learning curve, fast prototyping, or you prefer working closer to HTML templates.

Laravel gives you the freedom to own every line of code, so experiment freely, build confidently, and choose the stack that feels right for your project and your team.

💡 Bonus Tip

Want to explore both? Start two projects using the respective starter kits and build a small feature like a task manager or blog. See which feels more intuitive to you — sometimes the right tool is the one you enjoy using the most!