I fucking hate React. It’s slow, verbose, and unpleasant to work with. It’s all the worst parts of Java brought over to JavaScript. That being said, it’s still better than Angular.
I wouldn’t mind switching to alternative libraries like Svelte or Solid but can’t imagine going back to plain Javascript for complex applications. It’s a pain in the ass, even with jQuery.
There’s so much boilerplate to even do the most simple tasks. And that boilerplate is something that could usually be automatically added by a compiler.
I think what started me down the anti-React path was realizing that there were other frameworks out there that don't even use a virtual dom. Plus you get tired of being told that the most obvious and intuitive way to do various things in React actually goes against some best practice that they've established.