What Are the Top Libraries and Tools for Modern React Frontend Development?

What tools are React developers most excited about? Let’s explore the State of React to see if there’s anything we’ve just got to try.

The React ecosystem continues to evolve with new tools and libraries emerging while established ones mature and adapt. Understanding which tools developers use and trust can help you and your team make informed decisions about your tech stack.

The recently released State of React 2024 survey provides helpful insights into the current landscape, polling thousands of developers worldwide about their experiences with various React tools and libraries.

In this article, we’ll explore the top choices in the State of React survey across categories, including state management, meta-frameworks, build tools, hosting services, backend languages and testing libraries.

State Management

State management remains one of the most debated topics in React development, but the survey data shows some clear winners. useState dominates with nearly 100% usage, which is expected since it’s React’s built-in solution for component-level state. But for application-wide state management, the results get more interesting.

New to React and interested in learning how the useState Hook works? Check out our previous article on the topic—The React useState Hook.

Zustand has emerged as a growing favorite with 42% usage in 2024, up from 28% in 2023. This lightweight state management library has won developers over with its simple API and minimal boilerplate. Unlike more complex solutions, Zustand lets you create stores with just a few lines of code:

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

Redux and Redux Toolkit continue to hold a significant user share, with combined usage at around 77%. However, the sentiment data suggests some fatigue with the additional complexity they bring. Redux Toolkit has helped modernize the Redux experience, but many teams are finding that simpler alternatives like Zustand meet their needs without the ceremony.

Data Loading

The data loading landscape in React has matured, with developers now having access to solutions that go well beyond simple fetch calls. Examining the trends from 2023 to 2024 reveals interesting patterns in how developers approach data fetching and state synchronization.

The standard browser Fetch API continues to dominate with around 90% usage, which isn’t surprising given it’s the web standard and requires no additional dependencies. The native Fetch API has become more than sufficient for many applications, especially when paired with modern async/await syntax and proper error handling patterns. Its universal browser support and promise-based architecture make it the default choice for straightforward HTTP requests.

Axios maintains steady adoption at roughly 88%, showing that despite Fetch being built in, many teams still value what Axios brings to the table. The library’s interceptor system proves helpful for handling authentication tokens, request retries and consistent error handling across an application. For teams dealing with complex API integrations or needing to support older browsers, Axios provides an abstraction layer that justifies its presence in the bundle.

What’s particularly interesting is the growth trajectory of specialized data fetching libraries. TanStack Query has climbed from around 52% to 57% usage, while maintaining extremely positive developer sentiment. This library transforms how we think about server state in React applications, treating it as a separate concern from client state. TanStack Query handles capabilities like caching, background refetching and synchronization automatically, eliminating entire categories of bugs related to stale data and loading states.

const { data, error, isLoading } = useQuery({
  queryKey: ['todos'],
  queryFn: fetchTodos,
  staleTime: 5 * 60 * 1000, // 5 minutes
  cacheTime: 10 * 60 * 1000, // 10 minutes
});

Meta-Frameworks

The meta-framework category showcases how React development has shifted from building everything from scratch to leveraging frameworks that handle routing, bundling and rendering strategies.

Next.js continues its dominance with 77% usage and strong positive sentiment, cementing its position as a go-to solution for production React applications.

Remix shows impressive growth with 22% usage, positioning itself as an alternative that emphasizes web standards and progressive enhancement. Remix’s philosophy of leveraging browser-native features and HTTP conventions resonates with developers who want to build resilient applications that work well even in challenging network conditions.

Gatsby, once a leader in the static site generation space, has seen its usage plateau at around 30%. While still valuable for content-heavy sites, the rise of more flexible solutions, such as Astro, that can handle both static and dynamic content has reduced Gatsby’s unique advantages.

For an introduction to Astro, check out our previous article—An Introduction to Astro—A Web Framework for Content-Driven Websites.

Build Tools

The build tool landscape has undergone a dramatic shift, with Vite emerging as the clear winner at 88% usage. This represents a significant change from just a few years ago, when webpack configurations dominated. Vite’s appeal lies in its blazing-fast development experience by leveraging native ES modules, which helps development servers start quickly regardless of application size.

esbuild, at 51%, often works behind the scenes, powering other tools like Vite with its extremely fast JavaScript bundling. The emergence of Rust-based tools like Turbopack (32%) and Rspack (7%) signals continued innovation in this space, with performance being the primary driver of adoption.

Hosting Services

When it comes to deploying React applications, Vercel leads with 61% usage, followed by AWS at 50%. This split reflects two different approaches to deployment: Vercel’s focus on simplicity and developer experience versus AWS’s flexibility and comprehensive service offerings.

Traditional cloud providers like AWS, Azure (20%), and Google Cloud (14%) remain important players, especially for enterprises with existing infrastructure or specific compliance requirements. The rise of edge-focused platforms like Cloudflare (23%) indicates growing interest in distributed deployment strategies that bring applications closer to users.

Backend Languages

While React is a frontend framework, modern applications often blur the lines between frontend and backend, especially with the rise of full-stack frameworks. TypeScript dominates at 75%, which technically isn’t just a backend language but reflects its ubiquity across the entire stack. The type safety and improved developer experience it provides has made it important for large React applications.

Check out the article Mastering TypeScript: Benefits and Best Practices to get an understanding of TypeScript and best practices for using it effectively in your projects.

JavaScript (Node.js) at 62% remains the most common choice for React developers who need backend functionality. The ability to use the same language across the stack reduces context switching and enables code sharing between frontend and backend.

Traditional backend languages like Python (26%), Java (22%) and PHP (20%) still play important roles, particularly in organizations with existing backend infrastructure or when integrating React frontends with established systems.

Testing Libraries

Testing remains a crucial part of professional React development, with Jest maintaining its position as the standard at 70% usage. Jest’s popularity stems from its zero-configuration setup, powerful mocking capabilities and excellent integration with React projects.

Testing Library (54%) has become the preferred way to test React components, promoting testing practices that focus on user behavior rather than implementation details. Its philosophy of testing components the way users interact with them has led to more maintainable and reliable test suites.

Storybook (50%) serves a dual purpose. While not strictly a testing tool, it’s become invaluable for component development and visual testing. The ability to develop components in isolation and document their various states makes it easier to build robust component libraries.

Vitest (46%) is gaining rapid adoption as a Jest-compatible testing framework that leverages Vite’s speed advantages. For teams already using Vite, Vitest provides a natural testing solution with minimal configuration.

Schema & Validation Libraries

Data validation has become increasingly important in React applications, especially as TypeScript adoption has grown. While TypeScript provides compile-time type checking, runtime validation remains essential for handling user input, API responses and form data. The survey results show clear preferences emerging in this space.

Zod has established itself as the dominant choice with 67% usage and for good reason. Its TypeScript-first approach allows developers to define schemas that serve double duty, providing runtime validation while automatically inferring TypeScript types. This eliminates the need to maintain separate type definitions and validation schemas:

const userSchema = z.object({
  name: z.string().min(2),
  email: z.string().email(),
  age: z.number().positive().int()
});

// TypeScript type is automatically inferred
type User = z.infer<typeof userSchema>;

// Runtime validation
const result = userSchema.safeParse(userData);

Yup maintains solid adoption at 40%, particularly among teams with existing codebases. Before Zod’s rise, Yup was the go-to validation library for React applications, especially when paired with form libraries like Formik. Its expressive API and extensive validation methods continue to serve many production applications well, though the lack of native TypeScript inference has led some teams to migrate to newer alternatives (like Zod).

KendoReact Free

Building on the theme of essential tools for React development, Progress KendoReact Free represents a significant shift in the component library landscape for 2025. This new offering brings more than 50 enterprise-grade components from the KendoReact library to the open-source community without licensing costs. The free tier includes everything from data grids and form inputs to date pickers and layout components, all built with TypeScript, accessibility and professional theming in mind.

For more information about KendoReact Free and to explore the complete component library, check out the official documentation at Get Started with KendoReact Free.

Wrap-up

The React ecosystem shows trends toward simplicity, performance, and developer experience. Tools like Vite, Zustand and Vercel have gained popularity by reducing complexity while maintaining power and flexibility. At the same time, established solutions like Next.js, Jest and TypeScript continue to provide stable foundations for building production applications.

For more detailed insights into React trends, developer sentiment, and emerging patterns, be sure to explore the complete State of React 2024 survey results at https://2024.stateofreact.com/en-US/.