Angular Forms: Template-driven vs Reactive Forms

Handling user input is a key part of any frontend application, and Angular provides two powerful approaches to build and manage forms: Template-driven forms and Reactive forms.

Understanding their differences will help you choose the right approach for your project.

Template-driven Forms

Template-driven forms rely heavily on Angular’s directives (ngModel, ngForm) and template syntax.

Example

<form #f="ngForm" (ngSubmit)="onSubmit(f)"> <input type="email" name="email" ngModel required email placeholder="Enter your email" /> <button type="submit" [disabled]="f.invalid">Submit</button> </form> 

Key Features

• ✅ Easy to set up, minimal code in the component.
• ✅ Great for simple forms with just a few fields.
• ❌ Harder to test and scale for large or dynamic forms.
• ❌ Logic is split between template and component, which can get messy.

Reactive Forms

Reactive forms are model-driven, meaning the form structure is defined in the component class and linked to the template.

Example

import { Component } from '@angular/core'; import { FormBuilder, Validators } from '@angular/forms'; @Component({ selector: 'app-login', templateUrl: './login.component.html' }) export class LoginComponent { readonly #fb = inject(FormBuilder); form = this.#fb.group({ email: ['', [Validators.required, Validators.email]], password: ['', Validators.required] }); onSubmit() { console.log(this.form.value); } } 

<form [formGroup]="form" (ngSubmit)="onSubmit()"> <input type="email" formControlName="email" placeholder="Enter your email" /> <input type="password" formControlName="password" placeholder="Enter your password" /> <button type="submit" [disabled]="form.invalid">Login</button> </form> 

Key Features

• ✅ Ideal for complex forms (nested groups, arrays of controls).
• ✅ Better testability and maintainability.
• ✅ Validation logic stays in the component (clean separation of concerns).
• ❌ Requires more boilerplate code to get started.

When to Use Which?

Hybrid Approach

You don’t have to choose one exclusively!

Many Angular apps use template-driven forms for quick/simple inputs and reactive forms for advanced sections.

Conclusion

• Use Template-driven forms for quick, simple cases where you just need a couple of fields.
• Use Reactive forms when you need scalability, dynamic behavior, and strong validation.

👉 The right choice depends on your form complexity and your team’s workflow.

💡 Pro Tip: Start small with template-driven forms if you’re new to Angular, then move to reactive forms for real-world applications.