Understanding the Difference Between Angular Projects With and Without Standalone Components

🔧 Installing Angular 20

Install Angular CLI

npm install -g @angular/cli@20

Create a Traditional Angular Project

ng new myapp --no-standalone --routing --style=scss
cdmyapp
 ng serve

Create a Standalone Angular Project

ng new standalone-app --standalone --routing --style=scss
cd standalone-app
ng serve

🏗 Traditional Angular (with NgModules)

📁 Folder Structure

traditional-app/
├── src/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── app.module.ts
│   │   ├── app.component.ts
│   │   ├── feature/
│   │   │   ├── feature.module.ts
│   │   │   ├── feature.component.ts

✅ Key Characteristics

• Every component, directive, and pipe must be declared in a NgModule.
• Modules are used to encapsulate functionality.
• Lazy loading is achieved via loadChildren.

📌 Example Feature Module

@NgModule({
  declarations: [FeatureComponent],
  imports: [CommonModule],
  exports: [FeatureComponent]
})
export class FeatureModule {}

⚡ Angular with Standalone Components

📁 Folder Structure

standalone-app/
├── src/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── app.config.ts
│   │   ├── app.ts (standalone: true)
│   │   ├── feature/
│   │   │   ├── feature.component.ts (standalone: true)

✅ Key Characteristics

• Does not require NgModules.
• Each component declares its own dependencies.
• Better encapsulation and simpler setup.

📌 Standalone Component Example

@Component({
  selector: 'app-feature',
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule],
  template: '<h2>Standalone Feature</h2>'
})
export class FeatureComponent {}

📌 Standalone Routing Example

export const routes: Routes = [
  {
    path: 'feature',
    loadComponent: () =>
      import('./feature/feature.component').then(m => m.FeatureComponent)
  }
];

🔍 Key Differences Between Traditional and Standalone Angular Projects

✅ Pros and Cons

Traditional (NgModules)

• Pros: Well-supported, mature, good for very large apps.
• Cons: Verbose, high boilerplate, module management complexity.

Standalone Components

• Pros: Less boilerplate, better for modern app design, simpler to prototype.
• Cons: Newer pattern, some older libraries may not support it fully.

🚀 When Should You Use Each?

Use Standalone Components If:

• You are starting a new Angular 15+ project.
• You prefer simplicity and a component-first approach.
• You want to reduce boilerplate and accelerate development.

Use Traditional Modules If:

• You are maintaining or upgrading an existing Angular app.
• You need structured module separation.
• Your app is large-scale and already uses shared modules extensively.

🧠 Conclusion