Which is Better State Management Libraries?
redux vs zustand vs @reduxjs/toolkit vs mobx vs xstate vs react-query vs recoil vs effector
1 Year
reduxzustand@reduxjs/toolkitmobxxstatereact-queryrecoileffectorSimilar Packages:
What's State Management Libraries?

State management libraries are essential tools in modern web development that help manage application state in a predictable and efficient manner. They provide mechanisms to store, update, and retrieve state across components, enabling developers to build scalable and maintainable applications. These libraries cater to different architectural needs and paradigms, offering various features such as reactivity, middleware support, and asynchronous data handling, making it easier to manage complex state interactions in applications.

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redux10,001,85860,902290 kB39a year agoMIT
zustand4,198,95747,85288.5 kB412 days agoMIT
@reduxjs/toolkit3,497,63310,7275.54 MB284a month agoMIT
mobx1,727,47127,5534.33 MB63a month agoMIT
xstate1,541,68527,1481.67 MB1352 months agoMIT
react-query1,334,42242,4552.26 MB912 years agoMIT
recoil517,85119,6072.21 MB3212 years agoMIT
effector42,1694,6041.42 MB150a month agoMIT
Feature Comparison: redux vs zustand vs @reduxjs/toolkit vs mobx vs xstate vs react-query vs recoil vs effector

Reactivity

  • redux: Redux follows a unidirectional data flow, requiring explicit actions to update state. While it is reactive, it may involve more boilerplate compared to other libraries, as components need to subscribe to state slices explicitly.
  • zustand: Zustand offers a simple API for managing state with reactivity. It allows components to subscribe to state changes easily, providing a straightforward way to manage local and global state.
  • @reduxjs/toolkit: Redux Toolkit provides a predictable state container with a focus on immutability and functional programming principles. It uses a subscription model to notify components of state changes, ensuring reactivity in UI updates.
  • mobx: MobX utilizes observables to automatically track state changes and update the UI reactively. It allows developers to define state in a more natural way, with minimal boilerplate, while ensuring that components react to changes automatically.
  • xstate: XState models state machines that can be reactive to events and transitions. It allows for complex state logic while maintaining clarity and predictability in how state changes occur based on defined transitions.
  • react-query: React Query focuses on managing server state and provides automatic reactivity for data fetching and synchronization. It simplifies the process of keeping UI in sync with server data, making it reactive to changes in API responses.
  • recoil: Recoil introduces atoms and selectors to manage state in a reactive way, allowing components to subscribe to specific pieces of state. This enables fine-grained reactivity and efficient updates based on state dependencies.
  • effector: Effector is designed for high reactivity, allowing state changes to propagate instantly through observables. It provides fine-grained control over state updates and effects, making it highly efficient for dynamic applications.

Learning Curve

  • redux: Redux has a steeper learning curve due to its complex concepts like middleware, reducers, and actions. Newcomers may find it challenging initially, but it offers powerful patterns for managing state once learned.
  • zustand: Zustand has a minimal learning curve, making it easy to pick up for developers. Its straightforward API allows for quick implementation of state management without the complexity of larger libraries.
  • @reduxjs/toolkit: Redux Toolkit simplifies the learning curve associated with Redux by providing a more intuitive API and reducing boilerplate code. It is easier for newcomers to grasp while still offering powerful features for advanced users.
  • mobx: MobX is relatively easy to learn, especially for those familiar with JavaScript. Its use of decorators and observables makes it intuitive, allowing developers to focus on state management without extensive boilerplate.
  • xstate: XState has a higher learning curve due to its state machine concepts and the need to model states and transitions explicitly. However, it provides clarity and predictability in complex state management scenarios.
  • react-query: React Query has a gentle learning curve, particularly for those familiar with React. Its API is designed to be straightforward, focusing on data fetching and caching, making it accessible for developers of all levels.
  • recoil: Recoil's learning curve is moderate, as it introduces new concepts like atoms and selectors. However, its integration with React makes it easier for React developers to adopt without much friction.
  • effector: Effector has a moderate learning curve, as it introduces concepts like stores and events. However, its documentation is comprehensive, making it easier for developers to understand its reactive model.

Performance

  • redux: Redux can face performance issues if not optimized properly, particularly with large state trees. However, it provides tools like memoization and selectors to help mitigate these issues and improve performance.
  • zustand: Zustand is lightweight and performs well due to its minimalistic design. It allows for direct state updates and subscriptions, ensuring that components only re-render when necessary, leading to efficient performance.
  • @reduxjs/toolkit: Redux Toolkit optimizes performance through efficient state updates and memoization techniques. It minimizes unnecessary re-renders by allowing components to subscribe to specific slices of state, ensuring only affected components update.
  • mobx: MobX is designed for performance, automatically tracking dependencies and updating only the components that need to re-render. This leads to efficient updates and a smooth user experience, especially in large applications.
  • xstate: XState is efficient in managing state transitions and side effects, as it explicitly models state machines. This clarity can lead to better performance in complex applications where state management is critical.
  • react-query: React Query enhances performance by caching server data and minimizing network requests. It intelligently refetches data based on user interactions and application state, ensuring optimal performance in data-heavy applications.
  • recoil: Recoil provides good performance through its atom-based architecture, allowing components to subscribe to only the state they need. This reduces unnecessary re-renders and enhances the responsiveness of the application.
  • effector: Effector is highly performant, as it allows for fine-grained control over state updates and minimizes re-renders by only updating components that depend on changed state. Its reactive model ensures efficient state management.

Extensibility

  • redux: Redux is highly extensible, with a rich ecosystem of middleware and libraries that enhance its functionality. Developers can create custom reducers and actions to fit specific application needs, making it versatile for different projects.
  • zustand: Zustand is designed to be simple and extensible, allowing developers to create custom hooks and state management patterns. Its minimalistic approach makes it easy to integrate with other libraries and frameworks.
  • @reduxjs/toolkit: Redux Toolkit is highly extensible, allowing developers to create custom middleware and enhancers. Its modular architecture enables the integration of additional functionality as needed, making it adaptable to various use cases.
  • mobx: MobX is extensible through decorators and custom observables, enabling developers to create tailored solutions for state management. Its simplicity allows for easy integration with other libraries and frameworks.
  • xstate: XState is extensible through custom states and transitions, allowing developers to define complex workflows. Its integration with other libraries and frameworks is straightforward, making it adaptable for various use cases.
  • react-query: React Query is extensible through custom hooks and query functions, allowing developers to tailor data fetching and caching strategies. Its plugin system also enables additional features to be integrated seamlessly.
  • recoil: Recoil is extensible with custom atoms and selectors, allowing developers to create reusable state management patterns. Its architecture supports complex state relationships, making it adaptable to various scenarios.
  • effector: Effector is designed to be extensible, allowing developers to create custom stores and effects. Its flexible architecture supports various patterns, making it suitable for diverse application requirements.
How to Choose: redux vs zustand vs @reduxjs/toolkit vs mobx vs xstate vs react-query vs recoil vs effector
  • redux: Select Redux if you need a time-tested, predictable state container for JavaScript applications, especially for larger projects. It provides a unidirectional data flow and a strict architecture that helps maintain state consistency.
  • zustand: Choose Zustand if you prefer a minimalistic and lightweight state management solution that is easy to set up and use. It is suitable for smaller applications or when you want a simple API for managing state without the overhead of more complex libraries.
  • @reduxjs/toolkit: Choose Redux Toolkit if you need a robust and scalable solution for managing complex state in large applications, especially if you're already using React. It simplifies Redux usage with built-in best practices and reduces boilerplate code.
  • mobx: Select MobX if you want a straightforward and intuitive way to manage state with minimal boilerplate. It is particularly beneficial for applications that require observable state and automatic dependency tracking.
  • xstate: Opt for XState if your application requires complex state machines or workflows. It allows you to model states and transitions explicitly, making it easier to manage intricate state logic and side effects.
  • react-query: Use React Query if your application heavily relies on server state and you want to simplify data fetching, caching, and synchronization. It excels in managing asynchronous data and provides built-in features for data invalidation and refetching.
  • recoil: Choose Recoil if you are looking for a state management solution that integrates seamlessly with React's concurrent features and offers a more flexible approach to state sharing across components.
  • effector: Opt for Effector if you prefer a highly reactive and flexible state management approach that emphasizes performance and simplicity. It's ideal for applications requiring fine-grained control over state changes and effects.
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