Yes, the API is very similar to Vue's. $state is ref/reactive, $derived is computed, $effect is watch/watchEffect.

> why React was made in the first place, to have only one way data binding and to re-render the entire page in a smart way

This last part is why Vue and now Svelte didn't adopt React's model. Yes, reactivity and two-way data binding give you enough rope to thoroughly hang yourself, but it also gives you a very explicit picture of how and when components will update. React, on the other hand, expects you to trust its smart algorithms, which definitely removes a lot of the pain from day-to-day coding but also makes troubleshooting performance problems harder.

I see the distinction as similar to GC languages vs something like Rust: if all you need is to have an app that does a job and you don't care about how it does it, React is a good choice. If you need to have control over exactly what will update and when, Vue's model gives you fine-grained control over updates that's hard to achieve in React.

EDIT: And with that in mind, it's obvious why Svelte, which prides itself on being lean and fast, would avoid the React smart-but-complicated runtime model in favor of the Vue model.