State Management Libraries Comparison
redux vs zustand vs mobx vs @hookstate/core
1 Year
reduxzustandmobx@hookstate/coreSimilar Packages:
What's State Management Libraries?

State management libraries are essential tools in web development that help manage the state of an application in a predictable way. They provide mechanisms to store, update, and retrieve application state, allowing developers to build complex user interfaces with ease. These libraries facilitate the flow of data and ensure that the UI reflects the current state of the application, which is crucial for maintaining a responsive and interactive user experience. Each library has its own philosophy and approach to state management, catering to different use cases and developer preferences.

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redux10,553,38360,952290 kB39a year agoMIT
zustand4,722,84448,75988.8 kB616 days agoMIT
mobx1,722,91227,6284.33 MB642 months agoMIT
@hookstate/core80,9281,658496 kB292 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: redux vs zustand vs mobx vs @hookstate/core

Reactivity

  • redux:

    Redux follows a predictable state management model with a unidirectional data flow. While it does not provide reactivity out of the box, it allows components to subscribe to state changes through selectors, ensuring that components re-render only when the relevant state slices change.

  • zustand:

    Zustand allows for simple reactivity by providing a hook-based API that lets components subscribe to specific state slices. It is lightweight and does not require complex setup, making it easy to manage state updates efficiently.

  • mobx:

    MobX provides a reactive programming model where state changes automatically propagate to the UI. It uses observables to track state, and when the state changes, MobX automatically updates the relevant components, making it easy to manage complex state interactions.

  • @hookstate/core:

    @hookstate/core offers fine-grained reactivity, allowing components to subscribe to specific parts of the state. This ensures that only the components that depend on the changed state will re-render, leading to optimal performance and reduced unnecessary updates.

Boilerplate Code

  • redux:

    Redux is known for its boilerplate code, requiring actions, reducers, and a store setup. While this can lead to more structured code, it can also make it cumbersome for smaller applications or simple state management tasks.

  • zustand:

    Zustand has minimal boilerplate, allowing you to create stores with simple functions and hooks. This makes it easy to get started and reduces the overhead often associated with state management.

  • mobx:

    MobX reduces boilerplate significantly compared to Redux. It allows you to define state and actions in a more concise manner, making it easier to manage state without the need for extensive setup or configuration.

  • @hookstate/core:

    @hookstate/core minimizes boilerplate code by allowing you to define state directly within components and providing a straightforward API for updates. This results in cleaner and more maintainable code without excessive configuration.

Learning Curve

  • redux:

    Redux has a steeper learning curve due to its concepts of actions, reducers, and middleware. New developers may find it challenging initially, but once understood, it provides a powerful and predictable way to manage state.

  • zustand:

    Zustand is designed to be simple and easy to learn, making it accessible for developers of all skill levels. Its hook-based API is familiar to React developers, allowing for quick adoption and implementation.

  • mobx:

    MobX is relatively easy to learn for developers who are accustomed to reactive programming concepts. Its straightforward approach to state management allows for quick onboarding, but understanding its advanced features may take some time.

  • @hookstate/core:

    @hookstate/core has a gentle learning curve, especially for developers familiar with React. Its API is intuitive, making it easy to adopt for those who want to enhance their state management without a steep learning curve.

Performance

  • redux:

    Redux can experience performance issues if not managed properly, especially with large state trees. However, using techniques like memoization and selectors can help optimize performance and reduce unnecessary re-renders.

  • zustand:

    Zustand is lightweight and performs well, as it allows for direct state updates without the overhead of complex state management. Its simplicity contributes to good performance, making it suitable for a variety of applications.

  • mobx:

    MobX excels in performance due to its fine-grained reactivity, allowing components to only re-render when the specific state they depend on changes. This leads to efficient updates and a smooth user experience, even in complex applications.

  • @hookstate/core:

    @hookstate/core is optimized for performance, leveraging a proxy-based approach for state management that allows for efficient updates and minimal re-renders. This makes it suitable for applications with high-performance requirements.

Ecosystem and Community

  • redux:

    Redux has a vast ecosystem and a large community, providing a wealth of resources, middleware, and extensions. Its popularity ensures that developers can find ample support and libraries to enhance their applications.

  • zustand:

    Zustand is gaining popularity and has a growing community, but its ecosystem is still developing. It is lightweight and integrates well with other libraries, making it a good choice for developers looking for simplicity.

  • mobx:

    MobX has a strong community and a solid ecosystem, with various tools and libraries built around it. This makes it easier to find resources, tutorials, and community support for developers using MobX.

  • @hookstate/core:

    @hookstate/core is relatively new compared to others, and while it has a growing community, its ecosystem is not as extensive as Redux or MobX. However, it is gaining traction due to its performance benefits and ease of use.

How to Choose: redux vs zustand vs mobx vs @hookstate/core
  • redux:

    Choose Redux if you need a predictable state container that enforces a unidirectional data flow and is ideal for large-scale applications with complex state management needs. Redux is particularly beneficial when you require a centralized store and want to leverage middleware for side effects and asynchronous actions.

  • zustand:

    Choose Zustand if you seek a minimalistic and straightforward state management solution that is easy to set up and use. Zustand is lightweight and provides a simple API for managing state, making it suitable for small to medium-sized applications or when you want to avoid the complexity of larger libraries.

  • mobx:

    Choose MobX if you prefer a reactive programming model that allows for automatic updates to the UI when the state changes. MobX is great for applications that benefit from observable state and want to minimize boilerplate, making it suitable for both small and large applications.

  • @hookstate/core:

    Choose @hookstate/core if you need a highly performant and flexible state management solution that allows for fine-grained reactivity and is easy to integrate with existing React applications. It is particularly useful for applications that require local state management with minimal boilerplate.

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