React Dropdown Libraries Compared: react-dropdown vs react-dropdown-select vs react-select

When building forms or filters in React apps, you’ll often need more than the native <select> element. The three libraries — react-dropdown, react-dropdown-select, and react-select — all aim to solve this, but they take very different approaches. Let’s compare them across key engineering concerns.

🧱 Core Architecture and Dependencies

react-dropdown is a minimal implementation with no external dependencies. It renders a simple styled dropdown using inline styles and basic event handling. It doesn’t use portals, so it can be clipped by overflow containers.

// react-dropdown
import Dropdown from 'react-dropdown';
import 'react-dropdown/style.css';

const options = ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry'];
<Dropdown options={options} onChange={handleChange} value="apple" placeholder="Select..." />

react-dropdown-select is also dependency-free but gives you complete control over rendering. It uses a render-prop pattern and doesn’t ship any default styles — you write all CSS yourself. It supports portals via the portal prop.

// react-dropdown-select
import Select from 'react-dropdown-select';

<Select
  options={options}
  onChange={handleChange}
  values={[{ value: 'apple' }]}
  contentRenderer={({ state }) => <div>{state.values[0]?.value || 'Select...'}</div>}
/>

react-select is a mature, self-contained component with its own styling system (emotion). It uses React Portals by default to avoid clipping, includes built-in accessibility attributes, and supports theming via props or styled-components.

// react-select
import Select from 'react-select';

const options = [{ value: 'apple', label: 'Apple' }, { value: 'banana', label: 'Banana' }];
<Select options={options} onChange={handleChange} defaultValue={options[0]} />

🔍 Search and Filtering

All three support searchable dropdowns, but with different levels of control.

react-dropdown does not support search out of the box. You’d need to build this yourself or choose another library.

react-dropdown-select enables search with the searchable prop and lets you customize the search logic via searchFn.

// react-dropdown-select with custom search
<Select
  searchable
  searchFn={(option, query) => option.value.toLowerCase().includes(query.toLowerCase())}
  options={options}
/>

react-select includes robust search with fuzzy matching by default. You can override filtering logic using the filterOption prop.

// react-select with custom filter
<Select
  options={options}
  filterOption={(candidate, input) => candidate.label.toLowerCase().includes(input.toLowerCase())}
/>

🎨 Styling and Theming

react-dropdown uses a single CSS file. Customization requires overriding class names or using the className prop. No dynamic theming support.

// react-dropdown custom class
<Dropdown className="my-custom-dropdown" />

react-dropdown-select ships no styles. You style everything via CSS classes or inline styles passed through props like dropdownHandleRenderer or contentRenderer.

// react-dropdown-select fully custom
<Select
  dropdownRenderer={({ props, state, methods }) => (
    <div style={{ background: '#f0f0f0', border: '1px solid #ccc' }}>
      {props.options.map(opt => <div key={opt.value}>{opt.label}</div>)}
    </div>
  )}
/>

react-select provides a powerful theming API. You can modify colors, spacing, and even pseudo-states programmatically.

// react-select custom theme
<Select
  theme={theme => ({
    ...theme,
    borderRadius: 8,
    colors: {
      ...theme.colors,
      primary: 'hotpink',
      primary25: 'lightpink'
    }
  })}
/>

♿ Accessibility and Keyboard Navigation

react-dropdown has basic keyboard support (arrow keys, Enter) but lacks proper ARIA attributes. Not recommended for applications requiring WCAG compliance.

react-dropdown-select leaves accessibility entirely up to the developer. Since you control rendering, you must manually add role, aria-*, and focus management.

react-select includes comprehensive accessibility: proper ARIA roles, live announcements, full keyboard navigation (including type-to-search), and screen reader support out of the box.

// react-select is accessible by default — no extra code needed
<Select options={options} />

📦 Advanced Features

Example: Multi-select in react-dropdown-select:

<Select
  multi
  values={selectedValues}
  onChange={setSelectedValues}
  options={options}
/>

Example: Async loading in react-select:

import AsyncSelect from 'react-select/async';

const loadOptions = (input) => fetch(`/api/search?q=${input}`).then(res => res.json());
<AsyncSelect loadOptions={loadOptions} />

⚠️ Maintenance and Longevity

As of 2024, react-dropdown shows signs of abandonment — its last meaningful update was years ago, and it lacks support for modern React features like concurrent mode. While it works for trivial cases, it’s risky for long-term projects.

Both react-dropdown-select and react-select are actively maintained. react-select has a larger team and more frequent releases, while react-dropdown-select follows a minimalist philosophy with slower but steady updates.

💡 When to Use Which

• Simple static dropdown with minimal styling? → react-dropdown (but only if you accept the maintenance risk).
• Full control over markup and styles, no design system constraints? → react-dropdown-select.
• Enterprise app needing accessibility, async data, and consistent UX? → react-select.

In most professional contexts — especially where accessibility, internationalization, or complex user workflows are involved — react-select is the safest and most scalable choice. Reserve the lighter alternatives for internal tools or prototypes where those concerns don’t apply.