35 Best React Libraries to Try in Your Projects in 2024

React continues to be the top choice for developers in web application development. Its flexibility and robust nature allow developers to create dynamic, user-centric interfaces that keep users engaged. But even the most powerful framework thrives with a rich ecosystem of supporting libraries.

These React libraries act as pre-built toolboxes, offering a vast array of functionalities to streamline development, enhance UI components, and tackle specific challenges. Whether you’re building a simple website or a complex web application, there’s a React library out there to empower your project.

If you’re developing applications with React, you should master key libraries, which can simplify app integration and improve functionality.

Whether you’re a React developer or just starting out, this curated list explores 25 of the top libraries you should consider using into your projects in 2024.

We’ll explore these libraries for core functionalities like routing and state management, explore UI component libraries with diverse design aesthetics, and introduce tools for animation, testing, payments, and even incorporating AR/VR experiences.

List of best React Libraries in 2024

Routing and Navigation in Reactjs

1. React Router:

A fundamental library for managing navigation within your React applications. It keeps your UI components in sync with the URL structure.

2. Create-React-App

A popular boilerplate library for creating React applications with zero configuration, enabling developers to quickly set up and scaffold new projects with modern build tools and best practices

React UI Component Libraries:

These libraries provide pre-built, reusable components that streamline development and ensure a consistent UI style:

3.Ant Design

This React library has a full suite of high-quality components with a focus on enterprise applications. It offers a clean and professional aesthetic, perfect for building modern and feature-rich web interfaces.

4. Tailwind UI (not strictly a React library)

While not a pure React library, Tailwind CSS pairs exceptionally well with React. It provides a utility-first approach to styling, giving you granular control over component appearance without the burden of maintaining a separate stylesheet.

5. Semantic UI React

This React library leverages Semantic UI’s concepts of self-describing HTML classes to create components that are both easy to use and inherently semantic. This promotes accessibility and improves code readability.

6. React Bootstrap

A familiar choice for many software developers, React Bootstrap brings the popular Bootstrap framework to the React world. It offers a wide range of pre-built components styled according to Bootstrap’s conventions, ensuring a consistent look and feel.

7. Fabric React

Developed by Microsoft, Fabric React provides a complete set of UI components designed for building modern and user-friendly web applications that align with Microsoft’s Fluent Design System.

8. Styled Components

This library takes a unique approach by allowing you to style components directly within your React code using tagged template literals. This promotes tight coupling between styles and components, leading to maintainable and reusable UI elements.

9. React DnD

This library empowers front-end developers to create drag-and-drop functionalities within your React applications. It simplifies the process of handling drag events, making it easy to implement features like reordering lists or building interactive dashboards.

Popular React UI libraries

10 Onsen UI:

This library caters specifically to building hybrid mobile apps with React. It offers a collection of mobile-optimized UI components that adhere to Material Design or flat design principles, allowing you to create native-feeling mobile experiences using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

11. Rebass:

This lightweight React library focuses on providing foundational styling components for building responsive UIs. It utilizes CSS-in-JS for theming and customization, offering flexibility while maintaining a core set of reusable components. Rebass is ideal for projects that require a more granular approach to styling or those seeking a smaller library footprint.

12. Material-UI:

A powerhouse React library built on top of Google’s Material Design principles, Material-UI provides a vast collection of beautifully crafted, customizable UI components.

These components follow Material Design guidelines, ensuring a consistent and user-friendly experience for your applications. Material-UI is a popular choice for building modern and visually appealing web interfaces.

React Animation Libraries

Animations can breathe life into your React applications, enhancing user experience and highlighting key interactions. Here, we’ll explore some popular React animation libraries that can help you achieve stunning visual effects:

13. React Motion:

This library offers a powerful API for creating complex animations in React. It utilizes a declarative approach, allowing you to define the animation’s starting and ending states, while React Motion handles the in-between transitions smoothly. React Motion is well-suited for experienced developers who require fine-grained control over animations.

14. Animated (React Native):

While primarily designed for React Native, the Animated library can also be used with React projects. It provides a performant way to create animations using core animation concepts like interpolations and timers. Animated is a solid choice for building smooth and efficient animations, especially when targeting mobile devices.

15. React Spinner:

This lightweight React library offers a collection of pre-built spinner components that can be easily integrated into your React applications. These spinners provide visual feedback to users during loading or processing phases, improving the overall user experience. React Spinner is a simple yet effective solution for adding basic loading animations to your projects.

Top React Form Libraries

User input forms are a vital part of most web applications. However, building them from scratch can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Here’s where React form libraries come in, offering a wealth of features to streamline form creation, validation, and data management:

16. React Hook Form:

This library offers a performant and intuitive API for building forms in React. It utilizes React hooks for state management and validation, leading to a concise and easy-to-learn approach. React Hook Form prioritizes clean code and a developer-friendly experience, making it a great choice for both beginners and experienced React developers.

17. Formik:

A well-established library in the React form landscape, Formik provides a powerful and flexible solution for form management. It offers features like form validation, error handling, and form submission handling, allowing you to build complex forms with ease. Formik utilizes a more traditional Redux-inspired approach to form state management, which might be preferable for developers familiar with these concepts.

18. React Select:

While not a full-fledged form library, React Select is a powerful component specifically designed for creating dropdown menus and selection fields. It offers features like searching, filtering, and customizability, making it a valuable asset when building complex forms that require user selection functionalities. React Select can be easily integrated with other form libraries like Formik or React Hook Form.

React State Management Libraries

As React applications grow in size and complexity, managing application state effectively becomes paramount. React’s built-in state management capabilities are sufficient for smaller projects, but larger applications often benefit from dedicated state management libraries. Here, we’ll explore three popular options: Redux, MobX, and Recoil.

19. Redux:

A well-established and battle-tested library, Redux offers a structured and predictable approach to state management. It utilizes a unidirectional data flow architecture with a single source of truth for your application state. Redux enforces immutability, ensuring predictable state updates and simplifying debugging.

While Redux offers a powerful set of features, it does have a steeper learning curve due to its emphasis on boilerplate code and middleware setup.

20. MobX:

This library takes a more reactive approach to state management. MobX utilizes observable data stores, where any change to the data automatically triggers a re-render of components that depend on it.

This leads to a more intuitive development experience but can sometimes result in unexpected behavior if not carefully managed. MobX is a good choice for smaller to medium-sized applications where developer productivity and ease of use are priorities.

21. Recoil:

A relative newcomer compared to Redux and MobX, Recoil offers a lightweight and performant approach to state management. It leverages React’s Context API to provide global state access, while also offering features for managing derived state and atom (primitive value) updates.

Recoil is a strong option for developers seeking a balance between ease of use and scalability, making it well-suited for both small and large applications.

Top React Testing Libraries

Building robust React applications requires a focus on testing. Here, we’ll explore three popular React testing libraries that empower you to write effective and maintainable tests:

22. React Testing Library:

This lightweight library promotes writing tests that mimic user interactions with your application. It focuses on testing actual DOM elements users would encounter, rather than internal implementation details of your components. This approach leads to more reliable tests that are less prone to breakage as your components evolve.

23. Enzyme:

A flexible testing utility that provides a rich set of features for traversing the React component tree and manipulating its state. Enzyme allows for testing both rendered output and component internals. While powerful, this flexibility can sometimes lead to tests that are too tightly coupled to component implementation details.

24. Jest:

Not strictly a React library, Jest is a popular testing framework that provides a robust foundation for unit testing in JavaScript environments. It offers features like mocking, snapshot testing, and a user-friendly test runner, making it a valuable companion for testing React components alongside React Testing Library or Enzyme.

React Payment Libraries

Integrating secure payment gateways into your React applications is essential for e-commerce functionality. Here, we explore four popular React payment libraries that streamline the process:

25. Stripe:

A widely adopted payment gateway offering a robust API and developer-friendly tools. Stripe provides features like accepting credit cards, ACH payments, and alternative payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Its React library simplifies integration and allows for customization of the payment flow.

26. PayPal:

A household name in online payments, PayPal offers a convenient way for users to pay with their existing accounts. Their React library enables easy integration of PayPal buttons and checkout experiences within your React application.

27. Braintree:

Owned by PayPal, Braintree provides a complete payment processing platform with features similar to Stripe. Its React library streamlines integration and offers functionalities for accepting various payment methods, including credit cards, mobile wallets, and local payment options.

28. Square:

Well-known for its point-of-sale solutions, Square also offers a developer-friendly API for online payments. Their React library simplifies integrating Square payments into your application, allowing users to pay with credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Utility and Development Experience Libraries

29. Vite:

This next-generation bundler is revolutionizing the React development experience. Vite offers lightning-fast hot module replacement (HMR), even for large codebases. Its pre-built assets and server-side rendering capabilities further enhance development speed. Vite simplifies your development workflow by eliminating the need for complex configuration, allowing you to focus on writing code.

30 Bun:

As an all-in-one JavaScript runtime, Bun goes beyond bundling. It offers a streamlined approach to building web applications, allowing you to write JavaScript, TypeScript, and JSX directly in your project files.

Bun also incorporates a built-in server and automatic file reloading, eliminating the need for separate development servers. While still under development, Bun presents an exciting option for developers seeking a simplified and performant development experience.

React Augment Reality/ Virtual Reality (AR/ VR) Libraries

React’s flexibility extends beyond traditional web applications. With the help of AR/VR libraries, you can create immersive experiences that blur the lines between the physical and digital worlds. Here, we explore some popular React libraries that empower you to build AR/VR applications:

31. React 360:

This library simplifies the creation of VR experiences. It leverages web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build interactive 360-degree environments. React 360 offers features like stereoscopic rendering for depth perception, ambient audio, and integration with VR platforms like Oculus and WebVR.

32. Viro React:

This library caters to both AR and VR development using React Native. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for building immersive experiences, including 3D object creation, scene manipulation, and interaction with physical objects using ARKit and ARCore. Viro React offers a familiar React Native syntax, making it ideal for developers comfortable with this framework.

33. Tremor:

This library targets augmented reality experiences on mobile devices. It utilizes JavaScript and WebGL to create interactive AR elements that seamlessly overlay onto the real world captured through the device’s camera. Tremor offers features like markerless AR (no physical markers required) and face tracking, allowing for innovative AR interactions.

34. Planby:

(Not strictly a React library, but can be integrated with React) This WebAssembly-based library focuses on creating high-performance 3D experiences for the web. It excels at rendering large-scale 3D environments, making it suitable for AR applications that require displaying complex 3D models in the real world. Planby can be integrated with React projects for building interactive AR experiences.

35. Modalize:

While not strictly an AR/VR library, Modalize provides a valuable component for building AR/VR user interfaces. It offers a performant and customizable modal component that can be used to display additional information or controls within your AR/VR experiences, ensuring a smooth user experience.

Conclusion

By strategically incorporating these top React libraries into your web application development workflow, you can significantly enhance the functionality, user experience, and overall maintainability of your React applications in 2024. Remember, the key is to choose the right tools for the job by partnering with React development company or hire ReactJS developers and leverage the vast ecosystem React offers to build exceptional web experiences.