State Management Libraries Comparison
redux vs mobx vs @datorama/akita
1 Year
reduxmobx@datorama/akitaSimilar Packages:
What's State Management Libraries?

State management libraries are essential tools in modern web development, particularly for applications with complex state interactions. They help manage the state of an application in a predictable way, allowing developers to maintain and manipulate the state across various components efficiently. These libraries provide patterns and structures to handle state changes, making it easier to debug and maintain applications. By centralizing the application's state, they promote a unidirectional data flow, which simplifies the understanding of how data changes over time. Each library has its own approach to state management, catering to different needs and preferences in application architecture.

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redux10,899,29360,949290 kB39a year agoMIT
mobx1,695,37327,6064.33 MB662 months agoMIT
@datorama/akita39,1253,703343 kB492 years agoApache-2.0
Feature Comparison: redux vs mobx vs @datorama/akita

State Management Approach

  • redux:

    Redux follows a strict unidirectional data flow and uses a single store to hold the entire application state. Actions are dispatched to modify the state, which is managed by pure functions called reducers. This approach ensures that state changes are predictable and traceable.

  • mobx:

    MobX employs a reactive programming model that automatically tracks dependencies and updates the UI in response to state changes. This makes it easy to manage state without the need for complex boilerplate code, allowing developers to focus on building features rather than managing state transitions.

  • @datorama/akita:

    Akita uses a store-based approach that allows for easy management of state across multiple entities. It provides a simple API for managing state and offers features like entity stores, which help in organizing and manipulating data efficiently.

Boilerplate Code

  • redux:

    Redux is known for its boilerplate-heavy setup, requiring actions, reducers, and middleware to be defined explicitly. While this can lead to a more structured application, it may also slow down initial development due to the amount of code needed to manage state.

  • mobx:

    MobX significantly reduces boilerplate code by allowing developers to define observable state and reactions without the need for extensive setup. This leads to faster development cycles and a more intuitive coding experience.

  • @datorama/akita:

    Akita minimizes boilerplate code compared to Redux, making it easier to set up and manage state. It provides a straightforward API that allows developers to focus on the core logic of their applications without getting bogged down by excessive configuration.

Learning Curve

  • redux:

    Redux has a steeper learning curve due to its concepts of actions, reducers, and middleware. Understanding the flow of data and how to manage state can take time, but it ultimately leads to a more predictable and maintainable application structure.

  • mobx:

    MobX is considered easy to learn, particularly for those who are already familiar with JavaScript. Its reactive nature allows developers to grasp state management concepts quickly, making it suitable for rapid development environments.

  • @datorama/akita:

    Akita has a relatively gentle learning curve, especially for developers familiar with Angular. Its API is designed to be intuitive, allowing for quick adoption and integration into existing projects without a steep learning curve.

Performance

  • redux:

    Redux can face performance challenges if not managed correctly, particularly with large state trees and frequent updates. However, techniques like memoization and selective rendering can help mitigate these issues, ensuring that only necessary components re-render.

  • mobx:

    MobX excels in performance due to its fine-grained reactivity, which updates only the components that depend on the changed state. This leads to efficient rendering and a smooth user experience, especially in applications with dynamic data.

  • @datorama/akita:

    Akita is optimized for performance, allowing for efficient state updates and minimizing unnecessary re-renders. Its architecture supports lazy loading and efficient data retrieval, making it suitable for large applications with complex state requirements.

Debugging and DevTools

  • redux:

    Redux has a robust ecosystem of DevTools that allow developers to inspect actions, state changes, and even time travel through state history. This makes debugging and understanding application flow significantly easier, especially in complex applications.

  • mobx:

    MobX offers a simple debugging experience, but it may not have as extensive tooling as Redux. However, its reactive nature allows for easy tracking of state changes, making it easier to debug issues as they arise.

  • @datorama/akita:

    Akita provides built-in support for debugging and state management through its DevTools extension, allowing developers to inspect state changes and actions easily. This feature enhances the development experience by providing insights into application behavior.

How to Choose: redux vs mobx vs @datorama/akita
  • redux:

    Choose Redux if you require a predictable state container with a strict unidirectional data flow. It is best suited for larger applications where you need to maintain a clear and consistent state management pattern, especially when dealing with complex state interactions.

  • mobx:

    Choose MobX if you prefer a reactive programming model that allows for automatic updates of the UI when the state changes. It is ideal for applications where you want to minimize boilerplate code and prefer a more intuitive and less structured approach to state management.

  • @datorama/akita:

    Choose Akita if you need a lightweight, simple, and flexible state management solution that integrates seamlessly with Angular applications. It is particularly useful for managing complex state in a more organized way without the boilerplate code associated with other libraries.

README for redux

Redux Logo

Redux is a predictable state container for JavaScript apps.

It helps you write applications that behave consistently, run in different environments (client, server, and native), and are easy to test. On top of that, it provides a great developer experience, such as live code editing combined with a time traveling debugger.

You can use Redux together with React, or with any other view library. The Redux core is tiny (2kB, including dependencies), and has a rich ecosystem of addons.

Redux Toolkit is our official recommended approach for writing Redux logic. It wraps around the Redux core, and contains packages and functions that we think are essential for building a Redux app. Redux Toolkit builds in our suggested best practices, simplifies most Redux tasks, prevents common mistakes, and makes it easier to write Redux applications.

GitHub Workflow Status npm version npm downloads redux channel on discord

Installation

Create a React Redux App

The recommended way to start new apps with React and Redux Toolkit is by using our official Redux Toolkit + TS template for Vite, or by creating a new Next.js project using Next's with-redux template.

Both of these already have Redux Toolkit and React-Redux configured appropriately for that build tool, and come with a small example app that demonstrates how to use several of Redux Toolkit's features.

# Vite with our Redux+TS template
# (using the `degit` tool to clone and extract the template)
npx degit reduxjs/redux-templates/packages/vite-template-redux my-app

# Next.js using the `with-redux` template
npx create-next-app --example with-redux my-app

We do not currently have official React Native templates, but recommend these templates for standard React Native and for Expo:

  • https://github.com/rahsheen/react-native-template-redux-typescript
  • https://github.com/rahsheen/expo-template-redux-typescript
npm install @reduxjs/toolkit react-redux

For the Redux core library by itself:

npm install redux

For more details, see the Installation docs page.

Documentation

The Redux core docs are located at https://redux.js.org, and include the full Redux tutorials, as well usage guides on general Redux patterns:

The Redux Toolkit docs are available at https://redux-toolkit.js.org, including API references and usage guides for all of the APIs included in Redux Toolkit.

Learn Redux

Redux Essentials Tutorial

The Redux Essentials tutorial is a "top-down" tutorial that teaches "how to use Redux the right way", using our latest recommended APIs and best practices. We recommend starting there.

Redux Fundamentals Tutorial

The Redux Fundamentals tutorial is a "bottom-up" tutorial that teaches "how Redux works" from first principles and without any abstractions, and why standard Redux usage patterns exist.

Help and Discussion

The #redux channel of the Reactiflux Discord community is our official resource for all questions related to learning and using Redux. Reactiflux is a great place to hang out, ask questions, and learn - please come and join us there!

Before Proceeding Further

Redux is a valuable tool for organizing your state, but you should also consider whether it's appropriate for your situation. Please don't use Redux just because someone said you should - instead, please take some time to understand the potential benefits and tradeoffs of using it.

Here are some suggestions on when it makes sense to use Redux:

  • You have reasonable amounts of data changing over time
  • You need a single source of truth for your state
  • You find that keeping all your state in a top-level component is no longer sufficient

Yes, these guidelines are subjective and vague, but this is for a good reason. The point at which you should integrate Redux into your application is different for every user and different for every application.

For more thoughts on how Redux is meant to be used, please see:

Basic Example

The whole global state of your app is stored in an object tree inside a single store. The only way to change the state tree is to create an action, an object describing what happened, and dispatch it to the store. To specify how state gets updated in response to an action, you write pure reducer functions that calculate a new state based on the old state and the action.

Redux Toolkit simplifies the process of writing Redux logic and setting up the store. With Redux Toolkit, the basic app logic looks like:

import { createSlice, configureStore } from '@reduxjs/toolkit'

const counterSlice = createSlice({
  name: 'counter',
  initialState: {
    value: 0
  },
  reducers: {
    incremented: state => {
      // Redux Toolkit allows us to write "mutating" logic in reducers. It
      // doesn't actually mutate the state because it uses the Immer library,
      // which detects changes to a "draft state" and produces a brand new
      // immutable state based off those changes
      state.value += 1
    },
    decremented: state => {
      state.value -= 1
    }
  }
})

export const { incremented, decremented } = counterSlice.actions

const store = configureStore({
  reducer: counterSlice.reducer
})

// Can still subscribe to the store
store.subscribe(() => console.log(store.getState()))

// Still pass action objects to `dispatch`, but they're created for us
store.dispatch(incremented())
// {value: 1}
store.dispatch(incremented())
// {value: 2}
store.dispatch(decremented())
// {value: 1}

Redux Toolkit allows us to write shorter logic that's easier to read, while still following the original core Redux behavior and data flow.

Logo

You can find the official logo on GitHub.

Change Log

This project adheres to Semantic Versioning. Every release, along with the migration instructions, is documented on the GitHub Releases page.

License

MIT