State management is one of the most challenging aspects of front-end development. It governs the handling of data in an application. Significant ReactJS expansion gave rise to some React state management.
There are over 90 react state libraries in GitHub. As a result, many developers are confused about which library to use. Some developers are familiar with MobX to solve the issue. Some others opt for application state management tools like Redux and Recoil.
In this article, we'll talk about react state management and its seven best libraries. So let's dive in!
What is React State Management?
Have you ever visited a poor-performance website? When you want to quote them, do you have to type them one by one again or even rewrite them all? This problem also extends to issues with state management.
State management is a crucial aspect of communication and data sharing across applications. It involves using a data structure representing an application's readable and writable state. The state defines a part of the component that varies depending on the user's actions. React state management utilises javascript objects that act as component memory and store many properties.
When a user interacts with a react app, changes can occur in the component's state. The changes will affect the user interface (UI). Propper state helps create a more pleasant user experience.
React State Management Libraries
A developer can add it as a built-in code bundle to the front-end applications. Its purpose is to assist in managing the application's state.
Not all React applications require state management libraries. Simple applications generally use React.Context, while complex ones need additional assistance. Complex projects pose a greater challenge because they depend on the React tree. Also, there's no way to track dynamic components within the application.
React state management libraries take a different approach. They also differ in size, language support, API support and documentation.
Why is React State Management crucial for apps?
React state management plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of an application and enhancing the user experience. It can provide additional redundancy to the front end of an application. Here are some of the benefits of utilising React state management:
- Performance: Some React.js applications may face loading issues with the front end due to frequent re-rendering. React state management will optimise state updates and improve application efficiency and performance.
- Maintenance: React state management is capable of encapsulating and modulating state updates. That makes it easier for developers to maintain and debug application code. Furthermore, it helps new developers understand the application's state more easily.
- Scalability: Poor management of React state can lead to decreased performance as the application's complexity and size increase. The strategy contained in react state management ensures that developers can do scalability.
- Reusability: Reusing state across multiple React app components is challenging. Having a state management library makes sharing states across all components easy.
7 Best React State Management Libraries
The best library must meet the four advantages above; performance, maintenance, scalability and reusability. Here are seven of the best react state management libraries:
1. Redux
Redux is the first react state management library that has been around since 2015. According to Jan 2022 NPMTrends, Redux maintains a convenient advantage over all libraries. It allows developers to create applications that work uniformly across multiple platforms such as client, server and native. Besides, Redux also offers live code editing and a real-time debugger. Developers can use Redux in combination with React or other build libraries. It has a small size of 169kb but has a vast network of add-ons.
Some of the advantages of Redux:
- Single source of truth.
- The state is read-only.
- Changes are made with pure functions.
2. MobX
One of the most popular state management libraries is MobX. MobX takes a different approach from Redux. It follows the OOP paradigm and uses the observables pattern to manage the state. MobX creates models that observers can easily observe and refer to provide easy data tracking. The ease of tracking data by each component makes rendering each data change easier.
MobX has many advantages in terms of modifiability and usability. In GitHub, MobX became a mature library and earned more than 26k stars. Here are some of the benefits of MobX:
- Simple and easy to use without boilerplate code.
- The optimal but simple rendering process.
- Architectural freedom in MobX.
3. Recoil
Developed by Facebook and released in early 2020. Recoil is a relatively stable state management library packed with powerful features.
Recoil uses the concept of atoms and selectors. Atoms are shared-state, representing single-state properties, whereas selectors get values from atoms and other selectors. Components can subscribe to atoms to get their value. The selector has to recalculate every time the atom changes its own value.
Recoil to keep track of which components are using atoms or selectors. After tracing the component, Recoil will re-render them if the connected atom/selector changes its value. This process makes Recoil scalable. Some advantages of Recoil:
- Minimalist and reactionary.
- Recoil has a data flow chart.
- Able to view all status changes across applications.
4. Jotai
Jotai takes atom-based state management to the next level by handling almost everything within atoms. It was announced in 2021 and had prominent features such as small size, cleaner API and TypeScript support. Jotai does not require keys to track atoms, resulting in optimal memory usage.
Some advantages of Jotai:
- Jotai is highly flexible and allows for better composition of the state.
- The library provides a simpler and more intuitive approach to state management.
- Jotai integrates seamlessly with React and its ecosystem.
5. Akita
Akita is a state management model built on top of RxJS. It incorporates Flux data store and modifies from Redox using the data streaming concept. This results in easily observable data storage. Akita eliminates the need for boilerplate code and has a shallow learning curve due to its object-oriented design.
Here are some advantages of Akita:
- Akita is backed by Dataroma, a Salesforce subsidiary, which ensures its continuous development.
- The Akita is easy to learn and follows a 0-bug policy.
- No documentation extensively.
6. Hookstate
Hookstate is a react state management library known for being minimalistic and performant. It is based on React and has almost no boilerplate code, making it easy to use. It was also the first TypeScript library that could handle complex applications and support plugins to enhance user experience.
Hookstate uses local and global state concepts to track state, as well as scoped, nested, and asynchronous states. It allows developers to access and manage large and complex data more efficiently.
7. Zustand
Zustand is a library created by developer Jotai and is the smallest state management library available (under 1kb). It has a simple and minimalistic API based on hooks and React components, making it very fast. Zustand is also great for managing temporary state updates without causing unnecessary re-renders. It has received over 28k stars on GitHub, beating MobX.
Wrapping Up
React state management is every React project's most complicated and challenging aspect. It serves to develop dynamic and interactive interfaces. But to enhance a React-based front-end, developers need libraries. Developers don't have to choose the most popular library but have to adapt it to their needs.
