I have had a few people ask me this question and I think it is a good one, so I wanted to answer it in a post. First of all, for anyone not sure what the difference is between Aura and LWC, you might want to checkout this post I did.
As for the answer….wait for it…..It depends. It depends on:
- How experienced you are as a Developer with JavaScript and HTML5, or modern development tools such as Visual Studio Code, Command Line Interfaces, GitHub? If you are very experienced and have even done work with React or Angular, then I would suggest starting with LWC’s. Developing with Aura components is a legacy method that Salesforce is not actively enhancing.
- HOWEVER, If you are supporting or might be supporting a legacy Salesforce org? Knowing about Aura (and even Visualforce) is a very valuable skill set to have. For example, if you are doing work for a large org that is currently using many Aura components and there is no need to change these components, then having that Aura skillset can be invaluable. If you want to learn about Aura components, you night want to check out this course I did on Pluralsight. Most importantly, as of early 2023, LWC’s cannot be used to override standard buttons.
Like Salesforce Evangelists, I do think that LWC’s are the better alternative in terms of component performance, but if all you need to build are very simple components, then there is no reason why you cannot start with Aura and transition to LWC’s. To be entirely honest, LWC’s are more challenging to create for developers that are not already familiar with modern web development.
I hope this post helps anyone not sure about which technology to approach first. Feel free to reach out to me if you have additional questions or concerns.
Sara
saramorgan.net 
Indeed. I learn Aura because my org has traditionally done so but I head off down the LWC road and emrace the Salesforce Lightning Design System as well as becoming strong at CSS so that my components look great. To get the flows in the background working well, I want to also want learn Flow Design. Such a great intuitive tool.
Frederick, have you checked out the SLDS Sketch Plugin. You can find it here https://github.com/salesforce-ux/design-system-ui-kit?
I would suggest not using your own CSS if possible since that can be dangerous in terms of accessibility support. It can also really help people quickly prototype apps and may be of interest to your company. I plan on doing a post on it soon.
Hey Sara! I am planning to get a Pluralsight subscription.
I have learnt Apex from David Liu & Scott Lee earlier through Pluralsight.
I see you have videos on both LWC and Aura Lightning Components.
I am not good in JS (frameworks of JS are far beyond) or HTML, but need to learn on lightning development.
Do you think I should stick to Lightning Aura Components instead of just going to LWC?
After reading this article, I believe Aura Components will be easier for me given my non development background in front end development
God bless you, appreciate your efforts to share wonderful content, I am confident I ‘ll learn either of Lightning technologies through your courses; please guide
Salesforce is definitely going away from Aura components and putting all their efforts towards enhancing the Lightning Web Component Framework. If you are new to both, I think starting with LWC would be a better option. Once you get your subscription started, I would start with the Salesforce Lightning Web Components: The Big Picture course and then move on to Building Your First Lightning Web Component (LWC) for Salesforce. Communicate between Salesforce Lightning Web Components should be the third course to look at. I would also look at the Build Lightning Web Components trail on Trailhead: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/content/learn/trails/build-lightning-web-components. Hope it all helps and best of luck.
Ohh Sarah, thank you so much for replying back.
Do you say I can learn LWC without learning about Aura.
So from what I understand aura is not a pre requisite for LWC.
Yes, I will ensure brush up and learn my HTML CSS and JavaScript along my learning on LWC, will it work without knowing lightning Aura dev?
Yes, I think I need to modify that post to add this caveat. I think starting with LWC is good if you are new to developing with Salesforce in general, as I am assuming you are since you started with David Lui’s an Scott Lee’s courses. I should have thought of that as one of the options, but did not consider it until you described your situation. Also, I wrote this almost a year ago and LWC’s have improved a lot since then. Aura’s have not changed almost at all.
My bad, but thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will be adjusting this post as a result. Thank you again and in case it was not clear, I suggest you start learning LWC’s and skip Aura all together.
Hope that helps.