ethers vs @web3-react/core
Web3 JavaScript Libraries Comparison
1 Year
ethers@web3-react/coreSimilar Packages:
What's Web3 JavaScript Libraries?

Web3 JavaScript libraries are essential tools for developers working with blockchain technologies. They facilitate interaction with decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts on various blockchain networks. These libraries provide a range of functionalities, from connecting to wallets and managing user accounts to sending transactions and querying blockchain data. Using these libraries can greatly simplify the development process, allowing developers to focus on building features rather than dealing with the intricacies of blockchain protocols.

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ethers1,731,5728,20312.6 MB5903 months agoMIT
@web3-react/core28,2625,63467.6 kB1752 years agoGPL-3.0-or-later
Feature Comparison: ethers vs @web3-react/core

Wallet Integration

  • ethers:

    ethers does not focus on wallet integration but can work with various wallets through provider interfaces. It allows developers to interact with the Ethereum blockchain directly, which means they can handle transactions and smart contracts without specific wallet management features.

  • @web3-react/core:

    @web3-react/core is designed specifically for seamless wallet integration in React applications. It provides hooks to manage wallet connections, allowing developers to easily switch between different wallet providers and handle connection states, making it ideal for dApps that require user authentication and transaction signing.

Smart Contract Interaction

  • ethers:

    ethers excels in smart contract interaction, providing a straightforward API to deploy, call, and manage smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. It includes features like ABI encoding/decoding and contract event listening, making it a powerful tool for developers working with Ethereum-based applications.

  • @web3-react/core:

    @web3-react/core does not provide direct functionalities for interacting with smart contracts; instead, it complements libraries like ethers or web3.js for that purpose. It focuses on the connection layer, enabling developers to build on top of it with other libraries for contract interactions.

Learning Curve

  • ethers:

    ethers is relatively easy to learn, particularly for developers already familiar with JavaScript and Ethereum concepts. Its API is designed to be intuitive, and the library provides comprehensive documentation and examples, making it accessible for newcomers to blockchain development.

  • @web3-react/core:

    @web3-react/core has a moderate learning curve, especially for developers familiar with React. Understanding how to leverage hooks and manage wallet connections is essential, but the documentation is clear and provides examples to ease the learning process.

Ecosystem Compatibility

  • ethers:

    ethers is versatile and can be used in various JavaScript environments, including Node.js and browser applications. Its compatibility with different frameworks and libraries makes it a flexible choice for developers who may not be using React.

  • @web3-react/core:

    @web3-react/core is specifically tailored for React applications, making it a great choice for developers working within the React ecosystem. It integrates well with other React libraries and tools, enhancing the overall development experience for dApps.

Community and Support

  • ethers:

    ethers has a large and active community, with extensive resources, tutorials, and support available. Its popularity in the Ethereum development space means that developers can find a wealth of information and assistance when working with this library.

  • @web3-react/core:

    @web3-react/core has a growing community, especially among React developers building dApps. The library is actively maintained, and there are resources available for troubleshooting and best practices, though it may not be as widely adopted as ethers.

How to Choose: ethers vs @web3-react/core
  • ethers:

    Choose ethers if you require a comprehensive library for interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. It offers a wide range of functionalities, including contract interaction, transaction management, and utility functions for handling Ethereum addresses and cryptographic operations.

  • @web3-react/core:

    Choose @web3-react/core if you need a flexible and modular solution for managing wallet connections in your dApp. It provides hooks for React applications, allowing for easy integration with various wallet providers and a customizable connection experience.

README for ethers

The Ethers Project

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A complete, compact and simple library for Ethereum and ilk, written in TypeScript.

Features

  • Keep your private keys in your client, safe and sound
  • Import and export JSON wallets (Geth, Parity and crowdsale)
  • Import and export BIP 39 mnemonic phrases (12 word backup phrases) and HD Wallets (English as well as Czech, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese)
  • Meta-classes create JavaScript objects from any contract ABI, including ABIv2 and Human-Readable ABI
  • Connect to Ethereum nodes over JSON-RPC, INFURA, Etherscan, Alchemy, Ankr or MetaMask
  • ENS names are first-class citizens; they can be used anywhere an Ethereum addresses can be used
  • Small (~144kb compressed; 460kb uncompressed)
  • Tree-shaking focused; include only what you need during bundling
  • Complete functionality for all your Ethereum desires
  • Extensive documentation
  • Large collection of test cases which are maintained and added to
  • Fully written in TypeScript, with strict types for security and safety
  • MIT License (including ALL dependencies); completely open source to do with as you please

Keep Updated

For advisories and important notices, follow @ethersproject on Twitter (low-traffic, non-marketing, important information only) as well as watch this GitHub project.

For more general news, discussions, and feedback, follow or DM me, @ricmoo on Twitter or on the Ethers Discord.

For the latest changes, see the CHANGELOG.

Summaries

Installing

NodeJS

/home/ricmoo/some_project> npm install ethers

Browser (ESM)

The bundled library is available in the ./dist/ folder in this repo.

<script type="module">
    import { ethers } from "./dist/ethers.min.js";
</script>

Documentation

Browse the documentation online:

Providers

Ethers works closely with an ever-growing list of third-party providers to ensure getting started is quick and easy, by providing default keys to each service.

These built-in keys mean you can use ethers.getDefaultProvider() and start developing right away.

However, the API keys provided to ethers are also shared and are intentionally throttled to encourage developers to eventually get their own keys, which unlock many other features, such as faster responses, more capacity, analytics and other features like archival data.

When you are ready to sign up and start using for your own keys, please check out the Provider API Keys in the documentation.

A special thanks to these services for providing community resources:

Extension Packages

The ethers package only includes the most common and most core functionality to interact with Ethereum. There are many other packages designed to further enhance the functionality and experience.

  • MulticallProvider - A Provider which bundles multiple call requests into a single call to reduce latency and backend request capacity
  • MulticoinPlugin - A Provider plugin to expand the support of ENS coin types
  • GanaceProvider - A Provider for in-memory node instances, for fast debugging, testing and simulating blockchain operations
  • Optimism Utilities - A collection of Optimism utilities
  • LedgerSigner - A Signer to interact directly with Ledger Hardware Wallets

License

MIT License (including all dependencies).