Jotai is a simple and scalable state management library for React applications. It offers a minimalistic and flexible approach to managing state by using atoms, derived atoms, and actions. Jotai leverages React's context API to provide a lightweight and efficient solution for state management without the need for additional dependencies like Redux or MobX.
MobX-State-Tree is a state management library for React applications that combines the simplicity and ease of MobX with a structured, transactional, and strongly typed approach to managing application state. It provides a powerful and flexible way to define and manipulate complex application state trees, making it easier to manage and reason about the state of your application.
Jotai is a newer state management library that follows a more functional and atomic approach to state management. It is based on the concept of atoms and derived atoms, providing a simple and flexible way to manage state. MobX-State-Tree, on the other hand, is a more mature library that offers a model-based approach to state management, allowing you to define complex data structures with built-in features like actions, views, and reactions.
Developer Experience
Jotai is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It has a minimal API surface and is designed to be lightweight and performant. MobX-State-Tree, while powerful, can have a steeper learning curve due to its more complex features and concepts. It offers a lot of functionality out of the box, but this can sometimes lead to a more verbose setup.
Performance
In terms of performance, Jotai is designed to be highly performant, especially for scenarios where you need fine-grained control over state updates. MobX-State-Tree also offers good performance but may introduce more overhead due to its rich feature set. The choice between the two may depend on the specific performance requirements of your application.
Community and Ecosystem
MobX-State-Tree has been around longer and has a larger community and ecosystem compared to Jotai. This means that MobX-State-Tree has more resources, tutorials, and community support available. Jotai, being newer, is still growing its community and ecosystem, but it has been well-received by developers looking for a simpler state management solution.
Scalability
Both Jotai and MobX-State-Tree are scalable solutions for state management. MobX-State-Tree's model-based approach can be beneficial for larger, more complex applications where you need to define clear data structures and relationships. Jotai's atomic state management can also scale well, especially for applications that require fine-grained control over state updates.