Which is Better Internationalization Libraries for Web Development?
react-i18next vs vue-i18n vs i18n vs angular-translate
1 Year
react-i18nextvue-i18ni18nangular-translateSimilar Packages:
What's Internationalization Libraries for Web Development?

Internationalization (i18n) libraries are essential tools in web development that enable applications to support multiple languages and cultural formats. They provide mechanisms for translating text, formatting dates, numbers, and currencies according to the user's locale. These libraries help developers create applications that are accessible and user-friendly for a global audience, ensuring that users can interact with the application in their preferred language and format.

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react-i18next3,747,5219,248317 kB2321 hours agoMIT
vue-i18n1,266,3962,1451.54 MB1387 days agoMIT
i18n318,6453,08382 kB80-MIT
angular-translate83,9114,331290 kB369 months agoMIT
Feature Comparison: react-i18next vs vue-i18n vs i18n vs angular-translate

Integration

  • react-i18next: react-i18next is built specifically for React applications, providing hooks and components that make it easy to manage translations within the React ecosystem. It allows for a smooth integration with React's component lifecycle and state management.
  • vue-i18n: vue-i18n is designed to work seamlessly with Vue.js, leveraging its reactive data-binding capabilities. It integrates well with Vue components, allowing for easy management of translations within the Vue framework.
  • i18n: i18n is a framework-agnostic library, allowing it to be integrated into any JavaScript project with minimal effort. Its simplicity makes it a versatile choice for developers looking to add internationalization capabilities without being tied to a specific framework.
  • angular-translate: angular-translate is specifically designed for AngularJS applications, making it easy to integrate with existing AngularJS projects. It leverages Angular's dependency injection and allows for seamless integration with other AngularJS features.

Dynamic Language Switching

  • react-i18next: react-i18next excels in dynamic language switching, providing hooks that allow developers to easily implement language changes in their React components. This feature is crucial for applications targeting multilingual users.
  • vue-i18n: vue-i18n supports dynamic language switching, enabling users to change languages in real-time. It integrates smoothly with Vue's reactivity system, ensuring that the UI updates immediately when the language is changed.
  • i18n: i18n offers basic support for dynamic language switching, but it may require additional setup to implement effectively. It is suitable for projects where language switching is not a primary requirement.
  • angular-translate: angular-translate supports dynamic language switching, allowing users to change the language on the fly without reloading the application. This feature enhances user experience by providing immediate feedback when the language is changed.

Translation Management

  • react-i18next: react-i18next provides a comprehensive translation management system, supporting features like lazy loading of translations, namespaces, and interpolation. It allows for organized and scalable translation management, making it ideal for larger applications.
  • vue-i18n: vue-i18n offers robust translation management capabilities, including support for message formatting, pluralization, and nested translations. It provides a clear API for managing translations, making it easy to handle complex localization scenarios.
  • i18n: i18n offers a straightforward approach to translation management, allowing developers to define translations in JSON format. However, it may lack some advanced features found in other libraries, making it more suitable for simpler projects.
  • angular-translate: angular-translate provides a flexible translation management system, allowing developers to load translations from various sources, including JSON files and remote servers. It also supports interpolation and pluralization for more complex translation scenarios.

Community and Support

  • react-i18next: react-i18next has a large and active community, offering extensive documentation, tutorials, and support. Its popularity within the React ecosystem ensures that developers can find help and resources easily.
  • vue-i18n: vue-i18n benefits from the growing Vue.js community, providing ample resources, documentation, and support. It is well-maintained and frequently updated, ensuring compatibility with the latest Vue.js features.
  • i18n: i18n has a smaller community compared to other libraries, which may result in limited resources and support. It is suitable for developers who prefer minimalistic solutions and are comfortable with self-support.
  • angular-translate: angular-translate has a dedicated community of AngularJS developers, providing a wealth of resources, documentation, and support. However, as AngularJS is being phased out, community activity may decline over time.

Performance

  • react-i18next: react-i18next is optimized for performance, utilizing lazy loading and memoization techniques to minimize rendering and loading times. This makes it suitable for large-scale applications with extensive translation needs.
  • vue-i18n: vue-i18n is efficient in terms of performance, leveraging Vue's reactivity system to update translations only when necessary. This ensures that applications remain responsive and performant, even with complex localization requirements.
  • i18n: i18n is designed to be lightweight, making it suitable for projects where performance is a priority. Its minimalistic approach ensures that it does not add significant overhead to the application.
  • angular-translate: angular-translate is lightweight and performs well in AngularJS applications. However, performance may vary depending on how translations are managed and loaded, especially in larger applications with many translations.
How to Choose: react-i18next vs vue-i18n vs i18n vs angular-translate
  • react-i18next: Opt for react-i18next if you are building a React application and need a powerful, feature-rich i18n solution. It offers hooks for easy integration with React components, supports lazy loading of translations, and provides a comprehensive set of features for managing translations effectively.
  • vue-i18n: Choose vue-i18n if you are working with Vue.js and need a robust internationalization solution that integrates well with Vue's reactivity system. It provides a straightforward API for managing translations and supports features like message formatting and pluralization.
  • i18n: Select i18n if you require a lightweight, framework-agnostic solution that can be easily integrated into various JavaScript projects. It is ideal for applications that prioritize simplicity and minimal setup for internationalization.
  • angular-translate: Choose angular-translate if you are developing an AngularJS application and need a simple, flexible solution for managing translations. It integrates seamlessly with AngularJS and allows for dynamic language switching without reloading the application.
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.