draft-js vs react-quill vs @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react
Rich Text Editors for React Comparison
1 Year
draft-jsreact-quill@ckeditor/ckeditor5-reactSimilar Packages:
What's Rich Text Editors for React?

Rich text editors are essential tools in web development that allow users to create and format content in a user-friendly way. They provide a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, enabling users to manipulate text and media without needing to understand HTML or CSS. These libraries cater specifically to React applications, offering various features, customization options, and performance considerations. Choosing the right rich text editor can significantly impact user experience, development speed, and application maintainability.

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draft-js841,86222,587-9555 years agoMIT
react-quill678,2136,896405 kB424-MIT
@ckeditor/ckeditor5-react237,219444427 kB792 months agoSEE LICENSE IN LICENSE.md
Feature Comparison: draft-js vs react-quill vs @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react

Customization

  • draft-js:

    Draft.js provides a low-level API that allows developers to build a fully customized editor experience. You can define your own block types, styles, and even implement custom decorators, giving you complete control over the editor's functionality and appearance. This flexibility is ideal for applications with unique requirements.

  • react-quill:

    React Quill is built on top of Quill, which offers a decent level of customization through themes and modules. While it may not be as flexible as CKEditor or Draft.js, it allows for basic customization of the toolbar and editor behavior, making it suitable for simpler applications.

  • @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react:

    CKEditor 5 offers extensive customization options through a modular architecture, allowing developers to create custom builds with specific plugins tailored to their needs. You can easily add or remove features, such as image upload, mentions, or collaborative editing, making it highly adaptable for various use cases.

Ease of Use

  • draft-js:

    Draft.js has a steeper learning curve due to its low-level API and the need for developers to implement many features manually. While it offers great flexibility, it may require more time and effort to set up a fully functional editor compared to other options.

  • react-quill:

    React Quill is straightforward to integrate and use, making it an excellent choice for developers who want to quickly implement a rich text editor without delving into complex configurations. Its simplicity and ease of use make it accessible for projects with tight deadlines.

  • @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react:

    CKEditor 5 is user-friendly with a polished interface, making it easy for end-users to adopt. Its comprehensive documentation and active community support also contribute to a smoother learning curve for developers looking to integrate it into their applications.

Performance

  • draft-js:

    Draft.js is designed for performance, leveraging React's rendering capabilities to minimize unnecessary updates. It allows for efficient handling of large documents, but developers must be mindful of how they manage state and re-renders to avoid performance bottlenecks.

  • react-quill:

    React Quill is lightweight and performs well for most use cases. However, it may not handle extremely large documents as efficiently as CKEditor 5 or Draft.js, so it's best suited for applications with moderate content needs.

  • @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react:

    CKEditor 5 is optimized for performance, with features like virtual DOM rendering and efficient state management. However, its extensive feature set may introduce some overhead, so careful consideration is needed when selecting plugins to maintain performance.

Community and Support

  • draft-js:

    Draft.js is maintained by Facebook and has a dedicated community, but it may not have as extensive documentation or resources compared to CKEditor 5. However, its flexibility and integration with React make it a popular choice among developers familiar with React's ecosystem.

  • react-quill:

    React Quill benefits from the Quill community and has a decent amount of documentation available. While it may not be as widely adopted as CKEditor or Draft.js, it is still a reliable choice for developers looking for a straightforward editor.

  • @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react:

    CKEditor 5 has a strong community and extensive documentation, along with regular updates and support from the CKEditor team. This makes it easier for developers to find solutions to issues and stay up-to-date with the latest features.

Integration

  • draft-js:

    Draft.js is specifically designed for React, allowing for deep integration with React components and state management. This makes it a great choice for projects that heavily rely on React's ecosystem and want a cohesive development experience.

  • react-quill:

    React Quill is built for React and provides a simple API for integration. While it may not offer the same level of flexibility as Draft.js, it is easy to drop into existing React applications without significant modifications.

  • @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react:

    CKEditor 5 can be easily integrated into various frameworks and libraries beyond React, making it a versatile choice for projects that may evolve over time. Its modular design allows for seamless integration with existing applications.

How to Choose: draft-js vs react-quill vs @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react
  • draft-js:

    Select Draft.js if you prefer a more lightweight, flexible solution that allows you to build your own editor with a focus on React's component-based architecture. It is suitable for applications where you want complete control over the editor's behavior and appearance, especially if you plan to integrate it deeply with other React components.

  • react-quill:

    Opt for React Quill if you seek a simple yet effective editor that is easy to set up and use. It provides a good balance between functionality and ease of use, making it a great choice for projects that need a straightforward rich text editor without extensive customization.

  • @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react:

    Choose CKEditor 5 if you need a highly customizable and feature-rich editor that supports collaborative editing, real-time collaboration, and a wide range of plugins for extended functionality. It is ideal for applications requiring advanced features and a polished user interface.

README for draft-js

draftjs-logo

Draft.js

Build Status npm version

Live Demo


Draft.js is a JavaScript rich text editor framework, built for React and backed by an immutable model.

  • Extensible and Customizable: We provide the building blocks to enable the creation of a broad variety of rich text composition experiences, from basic text styles to embedded media.
  • Declarative Rich Text: Draft.js fits seamlessly into React applications, abstracting away the details of rendering, selection, and input behavior with a familiar declarative API.
  • Immutable Editor State: The Draft.js model is built with immutable-js, offering an API with functional state updates and aggressively leveraging data persistence for scalable memory usage.

Learn how to use Draft.js in your own project.

API Notice

Before getting started, please be aware that we recently changed the API of Entity storage in Draft. The latest version, v0.10.0, supports both the old and new API. Following that up will be v0.11.0 which will remove the old API. If you are interested in helping out, or tracking the progress, please follow issue 839.

Getting Started

npm install --save draft-js react react-dom

or

yarn add draft-js react react-dom

Draft.js depends on React and React DOM which must also be installed.

Using Draft.js

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import {Editor, EditorState} from 'draft-js';

class MyEditor extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {editorState: EditorState.createEmpty()};
    this.onChange = (editorState) => this.setState({editorState});
    this.setEditor = (editor) => {
      this.editor = editor;
    };
    this.focusEditor = () => {
      if (this.editor) {
        this.editor.focus();
      }
    };
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    this.focusEditor();
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <div style={styles.editor} onClick={this.focusEditor}>
        <Editor
          ref={this.setEditor}
          editorState={this.state.editorState}
          onChange={this.onChange}
        />
      </div>
    );
  }
}

const styles = {
  editor: {
    border: '1px solid gray',
    minHeight: '6em'
  }
};

ReactDOM.render(
  <MyEditor />,
  document.getElementById('container')
);

Since the release of React 16.8, you can use Hooks as a way to work with EditorState without using a class.

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import {Editor, EditorState} from 'draft-js';

function MyEditor() {
  const [editorState, setEditorState] = React.useState(
    EditorState.createEmpty()
  );

  const editor = React.useRef(null);

  function focusEditor() {
    editor.current.focus();
  }

  React.useEffect(() => {
    focusEditor()
  }, []);

  return (
    <div onClick={focusEditor}>
      <Editor
        ref={editor}
        editorState={editorState}
        onChange={editorState => setEditorState(editorState)}
      />
    </div>
  );
}

Note that the editor itself is only as tall as its contents. In order to give users a visual cue, we recommend setting a border and a minimum height via the .DraftEditor-root CSS selector, or using a wrapper div like in the above example.

Because Draft.js supports unicode, you must have the following meta tag in the <head> </head> block of your HTML file:

<meta charset="utf-8" />

Further examples of how Draft.js can be used are provided below.

Examples

Visit http://draftjs.org/ to try out a basic rich editor example.

The repository includes a variety of different editor examples to demonstrate some of the features offered by the framework.

To run the examples, first build Draft.js locally. The Draft.js build is tested with Yarn v1 only. If you're using any other package manager and something doesn't work, try using yarn v1:

git clone https://github.com/facebook/draft-js.git
cd draft-js
yarn install
yarn run build

then open the example HTML files in your browser.

Draft.js is used in production on Facebook, including status and comment inputs, Notes, and messenger.com.

Browser Support

| IE / Edge
IE / Edge | Firefox
Firefox | Chrome
Chrome | Safari
Safari | iOS Safari
iOS Safari | Chrome for Android
Chrome for Android | | --------- | --------- | --------- | --------- | --------- | --------- | | IE11, Edge [1, 2]| last 2 versions| last 2 versions| last 2 versions| not fully supported [3] | not fully supported [3]

[1] May need a shim or a polyfill for some syntax used in Draft.js (docs).

[2] IME inputs have known issues in these browsers, especially Korean (docs).

[3] There are known issues with mobile browsers, especially on Android (docs).

Resources and Ecosystem

Check out this curated list of articles and open-sourced projects/utilities: Awesome Draft-JS.

Discussion and Support

Join our Slack team!

Contribute

We actively welcome pull requests. Learn how to contribute.

License

Draft.js is MIT licensed.

Examples provided in this repository and in the documentation are separately licensed.