Head-to-Head: Stitches React vs Astroturf Analysis
@stitches/react
v1.2.8(over 2 years ago)
@stitches/react is a CSS-in-JS library that offers a seamless way to style React components using a minimalistic and high-performance approach. It provides a utility-first API for defining styles with a focus on developer experience and maintainability. With @stitches/react, you can create dynamic and responsive designs by composing styles using a constraint-based system.
Astroturf is a zero-runtime CSS-in-JS solution for styling React components. It allows developers to write CSS directly in JavaScript using familiar CSS syntax, which is then transformed into efficient, scoped CSS at build time. Astroturf provides a seamless integration with React components, enabling the use of dynamic styles, theming, and CSS variables.
Alternatives:
styled-components-+
emotion-+
linaria-+
goober-+
stitches-+
styletron-+
jss-+
aphrodite-+
glamorous-+
radium-+
Tags: javascriptreactcss-in-jsstylingbuild-time
Fight!
Popularity
@stitches/react and Astroturf both have a growing community and are gaining popularity. However, Astroturf has been around for slightly longer and has gained more traction in the CSS-in-JS ecosystem.
Approach
@stitches/react is a CSS-in-JS library that prioritizes runtime performance and developer experience. It offers a minimal, type-safe API and uses modern CSS techniques like CSS variables. Astroturf, on the other hand, focuses on functional CSS-in-JS and aims to provide a zero-runtime solution by leveraging static analysis at build time.
Developer Experience
@stitches/react provides a seamless developer experience with excellent TypeScript support, auto-completion, and type safety. It also offers a clear and concise API that allows for easy styling and theming. Astroturf offers a similar developer experience with support for TypeScript and features like hot-reloading and composition. However, its API may require additional configuration and is based on decorators, which might not be preferred by some developers.
Performance
@stitches/react is designed to provide high runtime performance with minimal overhead. It generates optimized CSS during runtime and has a small bundle size. Astroturf, on the other hand, aims to eliminate any runtime overhead and generates all styles at build time through static analysis. This can result in faster initial loads and better overall performance, especially for large projects.
Customization and Extensibility
@stitches/react has a flexible API that allows for customization and extends beyond basic styling. It provides theming options, CSS variables, and mixins, allowing developers to create reusable style utilities. Astroturf also provides customization options but focuses more on creating atomic and functional CSS styles. It offers support for defining style composition and injection points for advanced customization.
Community and Ecosystem
Both libraries have an active community and good documentation. However, Astroturf has a larger set of integrations, tools, and plugins available due to its longer time in the CSS-in-JS ecosystem. @stitches/react is gaining popularity and has a growing ecosystem, but it may have fewer resources and integrations compared to Astroturf.
