@linaria/core is a zero-runtime CSS-in-JS library that offers a seamless way to style your components using JavaScript. It allows you to write CSS directly in your JavaScript files, eliminating the need for a build step or runtime CSS processing. Linaria provides excellent performance by extracting styles at build time and generating minimal CSS output.
Aphrodite is a JavaScript library for managing CSS styles in a dynamic and efficient way. It allows developers to write styles using JavaScript objects and provides a unique approach to inline styles by generating CSS classes at runtime. Aphrodite offers features like automatic vendor prefixing, media queries, and pseudo-selectors, making it easy to create responsive and cross-browser compatible styles.
Aphrodite has been around for longer and has gained popularity in the React community. It has a significant user base and is widely used in production applications. On the other hand, @linaria/core is a relatively newer library but has been gaining popularity due to its unique approach to styling in React.
Styling Approach
Aphrodite is a CSS-in-JS library that provides a JavaScript API for defining and managing styles. It uses inline styles and generates unique class names at runtime. @linaria/core, on the other hand, takes a different approach and allows you to write CSS-in-JS using standard CSS syntax. It uses a build-time CSS extraction process and generates optimized CSS files.
Performance
In terms of performance, @linaria/core has an advantage over Aphrodite. Since @linaria/core extracts CSS at build time, it eliminates the runtime overhead of generating and applying inline styles. This can result in faster rendering and smaller bundle sizes compared to Aphrodite.
Developer Experience
Both libraries provide a good developer experience, but they have different approaches. Aphrodite offers a JavaScript API for defining styles, which can be familiar to developers who prefer working with JavaScript objects. @linaria/core allows you to write styles using standard CSS syntax, which can be more intuitive for developers with a background in CSS. Additionally, @linaria/core provides better type support and works well with TypeScript.
Integration and Compatibility
Aphrodite works well with React and can be easily integrated into existing React projects. It also has good compatibility with other CSS-in-JS libraries. @linaria/core is specifically designed for React and provides seamless integration with React components. It also supports server-side rendering (SSR) and works well with popular bundlers like webpack and Rollup.
Community and Maintenance
Both libraries have active communities and are actively maintained. Aphrodite has been around for longer and has a larger community, which means more resources and community support. @linaria/core, being a newer library, has a smaller community but is growing steadily and has a dedicated team behind it.
