react-i18next vs @lingui/react
Internationalization Libraries for React Comparison
1 Year
react-i18next@lingui/reactSimilar Packages:
What's Internationalization Libraries for React?

Internationalization (i18n) libraries for React help developers create applications that can support multiple languages and regions. These libraries provide tools and components to manage translations, format dates, numbers, and currencies, and handle pluralization and gender-specific translations. They aim to simplify the process of making applications accessible to a global audience by providing a structured way to manage localization resources and ensuring that the user interface adapts to the user's language preferences seamlessly.

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react-i18next4,480,7329,457330 kB2813 days agoMIT
@lingui/react210,6564,90035.4 kB363 months agoMIT
Feature Comparison: react-i18next vs @lingui/react

Translation Management

  • react-i18next:

    react-i18next offers a flexible approach to managing translations, allowing developers to define translations in JSON files or directly within the code. It supports dynamic loading of translations, enabling applications to fetch only the necessary language resources, which can improve performance.

  • @lingui/react:

    @lingui/react provides a powerful CLI tool that helps in extracting translation messages from your codebase, making it easier to manage and update translations. It supports message catalogs in various formats, allowing for easy integration with translation services and tools.

Performance

  • react-i18next:

    react-i18next provides features like lazy loading of translations and caching mechanisms to enhance performance. However, it may require more careful management of resources to avoid loading unnecessary translations, especially in larger applications.

  • @lingui/react:

    @lingui/react is designed with performance in mind, allowing for tree-shaking, which means that only the used translations are included in the final bundle. This results in smaller file sizes and faster load times, making it suitable for performance-sensitive applications.

Ease of Use

  • react-i18next:

    react-i18next is known for its rich feature set and flexibility, which can come with a steeper learning curve. However, it provides extensive documentation and examples, making it easier for developers to understand and implement complex i18n scenarios.

  • @lingui/react:

    @lingui/react has a straightforward API that integrates seamlessly with React components. Its focus on simplicity and modularity makes it easy to adopt, especially for developers who prefer a clean and minimalistic approach to i18n.

Community and Ecosystem

  • react-i18next:

    react-i18next has a large and active community, with extensive resources, plugins, and integrations available. It is widely used in the React ecosystem, ensuring that developers can find support and solutions to common challenges.

  • @lingui/react:

    @lingui/react has a growing community and is part of the Lingui ecosystem, which includes tools for managing translations and integrating with various frameworks. Its focus on modern JavaScript practices makes it appealing to developers who prioritize maintainability.

Localization Features

  • react-i18next:

    react-i18next excels in providing comprehensive localization features, including support for nested translations, interpolation, and context-based translations. This makes it suitable for applications that require a high level of customization in their localization efforts.

  • @lingui/react:

    @lingui/react supports advanced localization features such as pluralization, gender-specific translations, and message formatting, allowing for a more nuanced approach to translations that can cater to diverse audiences.

How to Choose: react-i18next vs @lingui/react
  • react-i18next:

    Choose react-i18next if you need a comprehensive solution that integrates well with React's component lifecycle and supports a wide array of features like nested translations, interpolation, and context-based translations. It is ideal for applications that require a more extensive set of i18n functionalities and a straightforward API for managing translations.

  • @lingui/react:

    Choose @lingui/react if you prefer a library that emphasizes a modular approach to internationalization, allowing for tree-shaking and smaller bundle sizes. It is particularly useful for projects that require a strong focus on performance and maintainability, as it supports a rich set of features for managing translations and provides a CLI for extracting messages from your code.

README for react-i18next

react-i18next Tweet

CI Code Climate Coverage Status Quality npm

IMPORTANT:

Master Branch is the newest version using hooks (>= v10).

$ >=v10.0.0
npm i react-i18next

react-native: To use hooks within react-native, you must use react-native v0.59.0 or higher

For the legacy version please use the v9.x.x Branch

$ v9.0.10 (legacy)
npm i react-i18next@legacy

Documentation

The documentation is published on react.i18next.com and PR changes can be supplied here.

The general i18next documentation is published on www.i18next.com and PR changes can be supplied here.

What will my code look like?

Before: Your react code would have looked something like:

...
<div>Just simple content</div>
<div>
  Hello <strong title="this is your name">{name}</strong>, you have {count} unread message(s). <Link to="/msgs">Go to messages</Link>.
</div>
...

After: With the trans component just change it to:

...
<div>{t('simpleContent')}</div>
<Trans i18nKey="userMessagesUnread" count={count}>
  Hello <strong title={t('nameTitle')}>{{name}}</strong>, you have {{count}} unread message. <Link to="/msgs">Go to messages</Link>.
</Trans>
...

📖 What others say

Why i18next?

  • Simplicity: no need to change your webpack configuration or add additional babel transpilers, just use create-react-app and go.
  • Production ready we know there are more needs for production than just doing i18n on the clientside, so we offer wider support on serverside too (nodejs, php, ruby, .net, ...). Learn once - translate everywhere.
  • Beyond i18n comes with locize bridging the gap between development and translations - covering the whole translation process.

ecosystem

Localization workflow

Want to learn more about how seamless your internationalization and translation process can be?

video

watch the video

Installation

Source can be loaded via npm or downloaded from this repo.

# npm package
$ npm install react-i18next
  • If you don't use a module loader it will be added to window.reactI18next

Do you like to read a more complete step by step tutorial?

Here you'll find a simple tutorial on how to best use react-i18next. Some basics of i18next and some cool possibilities on how to optimize your localization workflow.

Examples

v9 samples

Requirements

  • react >= 16.8.0
  • react-dom >= 16.8.0
  • react-native >= 0.59.0
  • i18next >= 10.0.0 (typescript users: >=17.0.9)

v9

Core Contributors

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):


Jan Mühlemann

💻 💡 👀 📖 💬

Adriano Raiano

💻 💡 👀 📖 💬

Pedro Durek

💻 💡 👀 💬

Tiger Abrodi

💻 👀

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!


Gold Sponsors


localization as a service - locize.com

Needing a translation management? Want to edit your translations with an InContext Editor? Use the original provided to you by the maintainers of i18next!

locize

By using locize you directly support the future of i18next and react-i18next.