Enums are transpired to objects so you can iterate the keys/values. You can't do that with SL which are a transpiler feature only.
Also you can't codedoc string literal values like you can with enums where it shows up with intellisense.
I tend to prefer enums as a result
const types = ['x', 'y', 'z'] as const;
const a: typeof types[number] = 'a'; // not ok
const b: typeof types[number] = 'z'; // ok const enum Directions { Up, Down, Left, Right }
console.log(Directions.Left)
// emits js file with console.log(2)
By using only union types as "enums" and never using enums or namespaces, I guarantee that all the TS-specific code I write can be erased and if I ever were to use just JavaScript in the future, I could.
Also, I use Babel to transpile TS to ES3.