zustand vs valtio vs recoil
State Management Libraries for React Comparison
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What's State Management Libraries for React?

State management libraries are essential tools in React applications, allowing developers to manage and share state across components efficiently. They provide mechanisms to handle complex state logic, enabling better performance and a more organized codebase. Each library has its unique approach to managing state, catering to different use cases and developer preferences. Recoil offers a fine-grained state management solution with derived state and asynchronous queries, Valtio provides a proxy-based approach for mutable state management, and Zustand focuses on simplicity and minimalism with a hook-based API.

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zustand9,498,607
53,94692 kB55 days agoMIT
valtio874,817
9,79699.3 kB33 months agoMIT
recoil522,466
19,6002.21 MB3232 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: zustand vs valtio vs recoil

State Management Approach

  • zustand:

    Zustand employs a hook-based API for state management, allowing developers to create stores that can be easily accessed and modified. Its API is minimalistic, focusing on simplicity and performance, making it easy to manage state without the complexity of boilerplate code.

  • valtio:

    Valtio uses JavaScript proxies to create a mutable state management system. This allows developers to directly mutate the state without needing to create actions or reducers, simplifying the state update process. It automatically tracks dependencies, ensuring components re-render only when necessary.

  • recoil:

    Recoil introduces atoms and selectors, allowing for a fine-grained state management approach. Atoms represent pieces of state, and selectors can derive state from atoms, enabling efficient updates and reactivity. This model supports asynchronous queries and derived state, making it powerful for complex applications.

Learning Curve

  • zustand:

    Zustand is very easy to learn due to its minimalistic API and straightforward approach. Developers can quickly grasp how to create and use stores, making it an excellent choice for those new to state management.

  • valtio:

    Valtio is designed to be intuitive and easy to learn, especially for those familiar with JavaScript. Its use of proxies allows for a straightforward approach to state management, making it accessible for developers of all skill levels.

  • recoil:

    Recoil has a moderate learning curve, especially for developers unfamiliar with its concepts of atoms and selectors. However, once understood, it provides powerful tools for managing state and can lead to more efficient applications.

Performance

  • zustand:

    Zustand is designed for performance, with a focus on minimal re-renders. Its hook-based approach ensures that only components that subscribe to specific state slices will re-render, leading to efficient updates and a responsive user experience.

  • valtio:

    Valtio's use of proxies allows for efficient state updates, as it tracks changes automatically. This results in minimal re-renders and optimal performance, especially in applications where state is frequently mutated.

  • recoil:

    Recoil is optimized for performance with its fine-grained updates, meaning only components that depend on a specific atom will re-render when that atom's state changes. This can lead to significant performance improvements in larger applications with complex state dependencies.

Extensibility

  • zustand:

    Zustand is designed to be extensible and can easily integrate with middleware for logging, persistence, or other functionalities. Its simple API allows for easy customization and extension based on project requirements.

  • valtio:

    Valtio is extensible through its proxy-based model, allowing developers to create custom behaviors and integrate with other state management solutions if needed. However, its simplicity may limit the need for extensive extensions.

  • recoil:

    Recoil is highly extensible, allowing developers to create custom selectors and integrate with other libraries or APIs. This flexibility makes it suitable for complex applications that require tailored state management solutions.

Community and Ecosystem

  • zustand:

    Zustand has a vibrant community and is gaining popularity for its simplicity and performance. It has a range of plugins and middleware available, making it easy to extend its functionality.

  • valtio:

    Valtio has a smaller community compared to Recoil and Zustand, but it is gaining traction due to its simplicity and effectiveness. Its ecosystem is still developing, with fewer third-party integrations available.

  • recoil:

    Recoil has a growing community and is backed by Facebook, which ensures ongoing support and development. Its ecosystem is expanding with various tools and libraries that complement its functionality.

How to Choose: zustand vs valtio vs recoil
  • zustand:

    Select Zustand if you want a lightweight and minimalistic state management library that offers a simple API and is easy to integrate into existing projects. It's suitable for applications that need a straightforward solution without the overhead of more complex state management libraries.

  • valtio:

    Opt for Valtio if you prefer a simple, mutable state management solution that leverages JavaScript proxies. It's great for projects that benefit from direct state mutation and want to minimize boilerplate code, making it easy to manage state in a straightforward manner.

  • recoil:

    Choose Recoil if you need a powerful state management solution that integrates seamlessly with React's concurrent features and allows for fine-grained updates and derived state. It's ideal for applications that require complex state interactions and asynchronous data fetching.

README for zustand

Build Status Build Size Version Downloads Discord Shield

A small, fast and scalable bearbones state-management solution using simplified flux principles. Has a comfy API based on hooks, isn't boilerplatey or opinionated.

Don't disregard it because it's cute. It has quite the claws, lots of time was spent dealing with common pitfalls, like the dreaded zombie child problem, react concurrency, and context loss between mixed renderers. It may be the one state-manager in the React space that gets all of these right.

You can try a live demo and read the docs.

npm install zustand

:warning: This readme is written for JavaScript users. If you are a TypeScript user, be sure to check out our TypeScript Usage section.

First create a store

Your store is a hook! You can put anything in it: primitives, objects, functions. State has to be updated immutably and the set function merges state to help it.

import { create } from 'zustand'

const useBearStore = create((set) => ({
  bears: 0,
  increasePopulation: () => set((state) => ({ bears: state.bears + 1 })),
  removeAllBears: () => set({ bears: 0 }),
}))

Then bind your components, and that's it!

Use the hook anywhere, no providers are needed. Select your state and the component will re-render on changes.

function BearCounter() {
  const bears = useBearStore((state) => state.bears)
  return <h1>{bears} around here ...</h1>
}

function Controls() {
  const increasePopulation = useBearStore((state) => state.increasePopulation)
  return <button onClick={increasePopulation}>one up</button>
}

Why zustand over redux?

Why zustand over context?

  • Less boilerplate
  • Renders components only on changes
  • Centralized, action-based state management

Recipes

Fetching everything

You can, but bear in mind that it will cause the component to update on every state change!

const state = useBearStore()

Selecting multiple state slices

It detects changes with strict-equality (old === new) by default, this is efficient for atomic state picks.

const nuts = useBearStore((state) => state.nuts)
const honey = useBearStore((state) => state.honey)

If you want to construct a single object with multiple state-picks inside, similar to redux's mapStateToProps, you can use useShallow to prevent unnecessary rerenders when the selector output does not change according to shallow equal.

import { create } from 'zustand'
import { useShallow } from 'zustand/react/shallow'

const useBearStore = create((set) => ({
  nuts: 0,
  honey: 0,
  treats: {},
  // ...
}))

// Object pick, re-renders the component when either state.nuts or state.honey change
const { nuts, honey } = useBearStore(
  useShallow((state) => ({ nuts: state.nuts, honey: state.honey })),
)

// Array pick, re-renders the component when either state.nuts or state.honey change
const [nuts, honey] = useBearStore(
  useShallow((state) => [state.nuts, state.honey]),
)

// Mapped picks, re-renders the component when state.treats changes in order, count or keys
const treats = useBearStore(useShallow((state) => Object.keys(state.treats)))

For more control over re-rendering, you may provide any custom equality function (this example requires the use of createWithEqualityFn).

const treats = useBearStore(
  (state) => state.treats,
  (oldTreats, newTreats) => compare(oldTreats, newTreats),
)

Overwriting state

The set function has a second argument, false by default. Instead of merging, it will replace the state model. Be careful not to wipe out parts you rely on, like actions.

const useFishStore = create((set) => ({
  salmon: 1,
  tuna: 2,
  deleteEverything: () => set({}, true), // clears the entire store, actions included
  deleteTuna: () => set(({ tuna, ...rest }) => rest, true),
}))

Async actions

Just call set when you're ready, zustand doesn't care if your actions are async or not.

const useFishStore = create((set) => ({
  fishies: {},
  fetch: async (pond) => {
    const response = await fetch(pond)
    set({ fishies: await response.json() })
  },
}))

Read from state in actions

set allows fn-updates set(state => result), but you still have access to state outside of it through get.

const useSoundStore = create((set, get) => ({
  sound: 'grunt',
  action: () => {
    const sound = get().sound
    ...

Reading/writing state and reacting to changes outside of components

Sometimes you need to access state in a non-reactive way or act upon the store. For these cases, the resulting hook has utility functions attached to its prototype.

:warning: This technique is not recommended for adding state in React Server Components (typically in Next.js 13 and above). It can lead to unexpected bugs and privacy issues for your users. For more details, see #2200.

const useDogStore = create(() => ({ paw: true, snout: true, fur: true }))

// Getting non-reactive fresh state
const paw = useDogStore.getState().paw
// Listening to all changes, fires synchronously on every change
const unsub1 = useDogStore.subscribe(console.log)
// Updating state, will trigger listeners
useDogStore.setState({ paw: false })
// Unsubscribe listeners
unsub1()

// You can of course use the hook as you always would
function Component() {
  const paw = useDogStore((state) => state.paw)
  ...

Using subscribe with selector

If you need to subscribe with a selector, subscribeWithSelector middleware will help.

With this middleware subscribe accepts an additional signature:

subscribe(selector, callback, options?: { equalityFn, fireImmediately }): Unsubscribe
import { subscribeWithSelector } from 'zustand/middleware'
const useDogStore = create(
  subscribeWithSelector(() => ({ paw: true, snout: true, fur: true })),
)

// Listening to selected changes, in this case when "paw" changes
const unsub2 = useDogStore.subscribe((state) => state.paw, console.log)
// Subscribe also exposes the previous value
const unsub3 = useDogStore.subscribe(
  (state) => state.paw,
  (paw, previousPaw) => console.log(paw, previousPaw),
)
// Subscribe also supports an optional equality function
const unsub4 = useDogStore.subscribe(
  (state) => [state.paw, state.fur],
  console.log,
  { equalityFn: shallow },
)
// Subscribe and fire immediately
const unsub5 = useDogStore.subscribe((state) => state.paw, console.log, {
  fireImmediately: true,
})

Using zustand without React

Zustand core can be imported and used without the React dependency. The only difference is that the create function does not return a hook, but the API utilities.

import { createStore } from 'zustand/vanilla'

const store = createStore((set) => ...)
const { getState, setState, subscribe, getInitialState } = store

export default store

You can use a vanilla store with useStore hook available since v4.

import { useStore } from 'zustand'
import { vanillaStore } from './vanillaStore'

const useBoundStore = (selector) => useStore(vanillaStore, selector)

:warning: Note that middlewares that modify set or get are not applied to getState and setState.

Transient updates (for often occurring state-changes)

The subscribe function allows components to bind to a state-portion without forcing re-render on changes. Best combine it with useEffect for automatic unsubscribe on unmount. This can make a drastic performance impact when you are allowed to mutate the view directly.

const useScratchStore = create((set) => ({ scratches: 0, ... }))

const Component = () => {
  // Fetch initial state
  const scratchRef = useRef(useScratchStore.getState().scratches)
  // Connect to the store on mount, disconnect on unmount, catch state-changes in a reference
  useEffect(() => useScratchStore.subscribe(
    state => (scratchRef.current = state.scratches)
  ), [])
  ...

Sick of reducers and changing nested states? Use Immer!

Reducing nested structures is tiresome. Have you tried immer?

import { produce } from 'immer'

const useLushStore = create((set) => ({
  lush: { forest: { contains: { a: 'bear' } } },
  clearForest: () =>
    set(
      produce((state) => {
        state.lush.forest.contains = null
      }),
    ),
}))

const clearForest = useLushStore((state) => state.clearForest)
clearForest()

Alternatively, there are some other solutions.

Persist middleware

You can persist your store's data using any kind of storage.

import { create } from 'zustand'
import { persist, createJSONStorage } from 'zustand/middleware'

const useFishStore = create(
  persist(
    (set, get) => ({
      fishes: 0,
      addAFish: () => set({ fishes: get().fishes + 1 }),
    }),
    {
      name: 'food-storage', // name of the item in the storage (must be unique)
      storage: createJSONStorage(() => sessionStorage), // (optional) by default, 'localStorage' is used
    },
  ),
)

See the full documentation for this middleware.

Immer middleware

Immer is available as middleware too.

import { create } from 'zustand'
import { immer } from 'zustand/middleware/immer'

const useBeeStore = create(
  immer((set) => ({
    bees: 0,
    addBees: (by) =>
      set((state) => {
        state.bees += by
      }),
  })),
)

Can't live without redux-like reducers and action types?

const types = { increase: 'INCREASE', decrease: 'DECREASE' }

const reducer = (state, { type, by = 1 }) => {
  switch (type) {
    case types.increase:
      return { grumpiness: state.grumpiness + by }
    case types.decrease:
      return { grumpiness: state.grumpiness - by }
  }
}

const useGrumpyStore = create((set) => ({
  grumpiness: 0,
  dispatch: (args) => set((state) => reducer(state, args)),
}))

const dispatch = useGrumpyStore((state) => state.dispatch)
dispatch({ type: types.increase, by: 2 })

Or, just use our redux-middleware. It wires up your main-reducer, sets the initial state, and adds a dispatch function to the state itself and the vanilla API.

import { redux } from 'zustand/middleware'

const useGrumpyStore = create(redux(reducer, initialState))

Redux devtools

Install the Redux DevTools Chrome extension to use the devtools middleware.

import { devtools } from 'zustand/middleware'

// Usage with a plain action store, it will log actions as "setState"
const usePlainStore = create(devtools((set) => ...))
// Usage with a redux store, it will log full action types
const useReduxStore = create(devtools(redux(reducer, initialState)))

One redux devtools connection for multiple stores

import { devtools } from 'zustand/middleware'

// Usage with a plain action store, it will log actions as "setState"
const usePlainStore1 = create(devtools((set) => ..., { name, store: storeName1 }))
const usePlainStore2 = create(devtools((set) => ..., { name, store: storeName2 }))
// Usage with a redux store, it will log full action types
const useReduxStore1 = create(devtools(redux(reducer, initialState)), { name, store: storeName3 })
const useReduxStore2 = create(devtools(redux(reducer, initialState)), { name, store: storeName4 })

Assigning different connection names will separate stores in redux devtools. This also helps group different stores into separate redux devtools connections.

devtools takes the store function as its first argument, optionally you can name the store or configure serialize options with a second argument.

Name store: devtools(..., {name: "MyStore"}), which will create a separate instance named "MyStore" in the devtools.

Serialize options: devtools(..., { serialize: { options: true } }).

Logging Actions

devtools will only log actions from each separated store unlike in a typical combined reducers redux store. See an approach to combining stores https://github.com/pmndrs/zustand/issues/163

You can log a specific action type for each set function by passing a third parameter:

const useBearStore = create(devtools((set) => ({
  ...
  eatFish: () => set(
    (prev) => ({ fishes: prev.fishes > 1 ? prev.fishes - 1 : 0 }),
    undefined,
    'bear/eatFish'
  ),
  ...

You can also log the action's type along with its payload:

  ...
  addFishes: (count) => set(
    (prev) => ({ fishes: prev.fishes + count }),
    undefined,
    { type: 'bear/addFishes', count, }
  ),
  ...

If an action type is not provided, it is defaulted to "anonymous". You can customize this default value by providing an anonymousActionType parameter:

devtools(..., { anonymousActionType: 'unknown', ... })

If you wish to disable devtools (on production for instance). You can customize this setting by providing the enabled parameter:

devtools(..., { enabled: false, ... })

React context

The store created with create doesn't require context providers. In some cases, you may want to use contexts for dependency injection or if you want to initialize your store with props from a component. Because the normal store is a hook, passing it as a normal context value may violate the rules of hooks.

The recommended method available since v4 is to use the vanilla store.

import { createContext, useContext } from 'react'
import { createStore, useStore } from 'zustand'

const store = createStore(...) // vanilla store without hooks

const StoreContext = createContext()

const App = () => (
  <StoreContext.Provider value={store}>
    ...
  </StoreContext.Provider>
)

const Component = () => {
  const store = useContext(StoreContext)
  const slice = useStore(store, selector)
  ...

TypeScript Usage

Basic typescript usage doesn't require anything special except for writing create<State>()(...) instead of create(...)...

import { create } from 'zustand'
import { devtools, persist } from 'zustand/middleware'
import type {} from '@redux-devtools/extension' // required for devtools typing

interface BearState {
  bears: number
  increase: (by: number) => void
}

const useBearStore = create<BearState>()(
  devtools(
    persist(
      (set) => ({
        bears: 0,
        increase: (by) => set((state) => ({ bears: state.bears + by })),
      }),
      {
        name: 'bear-storage',
      },
    ),
  ),
)

A more complete TypeScript guide is here.

Best practices

Third-Party Libraries

Some users may want to extend Zustand's feature set which can be done using third-party libraries made by the community. For information regarding third-party libraries with Zustand, visit the doc.

Comparison with other libraries