In the construction of the present-day applications, it is important to select the suitable architectural pattern. The most popular are MVC (Model-View-Controller) and MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) patterns that are used by developers most often. They differ by the fact that both aim to organize the code, segregate concerns and make easy to maintain applications, but they progress differently.

In this article we shall do a breakdown of what is MVC model, how Model View Controllers in MVC work, what is MVVM and how are they comparable. We shall also briefly discuss their application in the Angular and other frameworks and how they can be used instead of each other.

What is a Model View Controller in MVC?

Before we compare MVC and MVVM, let’s start with the basics: what is an MVC model?

A software architecture of the ModelView-Controller (MVC) pattern divides an application into three major parts:

1. Model – It is the core of your data and your business logic. The Model then handles the data, state, and talks to databases or APIs. Like, in the case of creating a to-do-list application, the Model will reflect the actual tasks (their names, the status of completion, and deadline).
   
   
2. View – View is all that is displayed on the screen. It takes care of presenting the Model in the form of data that can be used by the user in an amicable manner. Consider the View your UI: the lists, text fields, and buttons that you work with.
   
   
3. Controller – This is actually the middleman. It also monitors the activity of the user (such as, when someone clicks or inputs), and updates Model or View accordingly. In another instance, the Controller may trigger the Model to refresh the status of the task by ticking a task in your to-do list and refreshes the View.

Angular MVC Pattern

Angular application is not strictly based on traditional MVC but rather much inspired by it. Components that can also be viewed as the Controller and View combined in Angular usually deal with the Model, using services. This Angular MVC design is flexible in nature in that it does not require a developer to completely separate his code.

What is MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel)?

Another well-known design pattern is called MVVM which represents Model-View-ViewModel and is mostly used in such frameworks as WPF, Xamarin, and even new JavaScript frameworks. It is similar to MVC, yet there is one more layer, ViewModel.

Here’s how MVVM works:

1. Model – Same as MVC, the Model contains your data and business logic.
   
   
2. View – The UI that users interact with, just like in MVC.
   
   
3. ViewModel – View Model performs the role of a mediator between the View and the Model. It also presents the data in the Model in a way that it can be bound directly by the View. It implies very little code in the View itself since a majority of the logic is contained in the ViewModel.

Consider as an example a view model in a login form which would possess user name and password fields, validate them and pass them to the model to authenticate. The View merely is bound to such properties and also auto-updates.

MVVM vs MVC: Key Differences

Now that we’ve covered both patterns, let’s compare MVVM vs MVC directly.

1. Data Binding

• MVC: The View is not directly what is tethered to the Model. Updates are to be done through Controller. This will add additional manual programming to update the UI when data changes.
  
  
• MVVM: Both View and ViewModel employ two-way data binding, which implies that the transformation in Model is immediately transferred to the UI and vice versa..

2. Separation of Concerns

• MVC: Logic is split into three but the Controller will become bloated because he is the one to process user inputs as well as to coordinate the View and the Model.
  
  
• MVVM: The ViewModel helps reduce this bloat by offloading presentation logic, keeping Controllers (or equivalent) lightweight.

3. Framework Usage

• MVC: Preferrable in traditional web frameworks like ASP.NET MVC, Ruby on Rails and also old school languages as AngularJS.
  
  
• MVVM: Industry standard in frameworks that use data binding like WPF, Xamarin, and modern frontend libraries that support data binding like Vue or Angular with RxJS.

4. Complexity

• MVC: Simpler to implement for smaller applications.
  
  
• MVVM: Better suited for larger, interactive apps but may introduce complexity due to binding and ViewModel creation.

When to Choose MVC

Use MVC when:

• You’re building a traditional web app with distinct server-rendered pages.
  
  
• Your UI is simple and doesn’t need heavy two-way data binding.
  
  
• You want clear separation of responsibilities without extra layers.

When to Choose MVVM

Choose MVVM when:

• You’re working with modern, dynamic front-end frameworks (like Angular, Vue, or React with state management).
  
  
• Your app requires real-time updates and seamless data binding.
  
  
• You prefer keeping your UI logic minimal and centralized in a ViewModel.

Final Thoughts

Coming back to MVC and MVVM, they both strive to structure your software and make it sustainable, however, the selection will be based on the requirements of your project. MVC is a well suitable framework in simpler applications or a web server-side framework, whereas MVVM is great in contemporary interactive front-end development.

Structures, such as Angular, have developed to combine those concepts, and allow programmers to follow the Angular MVC style or a more MVVM-alike structure using components and services.

Finally, being aware of the limitations of trade-offs and benefits of the two patterns will allow you to develop cleaner, more scalable applications, regardless of the stack you are planning with.