Head-to-Head: Stitches React vs Aphrodite Analysis
@stitches/react
v1.2.8(over 1 year ago)
@stitches/react is a CSS-in-JS library that aims to provide an easier and more efficient way to style React components. It allows you to write your styles using JavaScript, with familiar CSS concepts like variables, nesting and media queries, but with added benefits like runtime CSS generation and CSS props support. With @stitches/react, you can create and reuse custom styles with minimal file size, and easily customize your app's theme using an intuitive API.
Alternatives: styled-components, emotion, radium
Tags: css-in-jsreactstylesperformancetheme
aphrodite
v2.4.0(about 4 years ago)
Aphrodite is a JavaScript library for styling web applications. It provides an inline styling system that generates CSS at runtime. Unlike traditional CSS, Aphrodite provides a way to define styles dynamically using JavaScript objects. This allows for granular control over styles and enables styling based on dynamic data.
Alternatives: styled-components, emotion, jss
Tags: javascriptcss-in-jsstylingruntime-css
Fight!
Popularity
@stitches/react and Aphrodite are both popular npm packages in the React ecosystem, but they have different levels of popularity. Aphrodite has been around for longer and has established itself as a popular choice for styling in React projects. However, @stitches/react is a newer package that has gained attention and popularity for its innovative approach to styling in React.
Styling Approach
@stitches/react and Aphrodite have different approaches to styling in React. Aphrodite uses inline styles and uses JavaScript objects to generate CSS classes at runtime. This allows for dynamic and flexible styling. On the other hand, @stitches/react is a CSS-in-JS library that uses template literals to write CSS directly in JavaScript. This approach provides a more familiar CSS syntax and enables features like TypeScript support, theming, and static extraction of styles.
Performance
In terms of performance, Aphrodite performs well as it generates CSS classes at runtime and leverages the browser's built-in style sheet caching. However, @stitches/react provides excellent performance optimizations. It generates atomic CSS, which means each style rule is represented as a unique class and can be reused throughout the application. This reduces CSS duplication and improves rendering performance.
Scalability
Both packages can scale well in large applications, but they have different scaling mechanisms. Aphrodite relies on JavaScript runtime and generates CSS classes dynamically, which can cause some performance impact in extremely large applications. @stitches/react, with its atomic CSS approach, scales better in terms of styles, as it generates highly optimized and reusable CSS classes.
Developer Experience
@stitches/react provides a great developer experience with its familiar CSS syntax and powerful features like theming and TypeScript support. It also has comprehensive documentation and a growing community. Aphrodite, being an established package, also has good documentation and community support, but lacks some modern features and syntax enhancements that @stitches/react offers.
Integration
Both packages can be easily integrated into a React project. Aphrodite integrates seamlessly with React and works well with other styling solutions like CSS modules. @stitches/react is specifically designed for React and provides a smooth integration process. It also supports integration with popular UI component libraries like Material-UI and Tailwind CSS.
