htmx and React are two frontend libraries that address various demands and preferences, and there’s been a lot of buzz around them. In this article, we’ll take a look at both libraries and provide a practical summary of each one’s goal, features, benefits, and drawbacks.
At the end of this article, we’ll compare htmx and React using principles like ease of integration, learning curve, development methodology, and use cases. The purpose of this comparison is to help you decide which library is most suited to your project.
htmx, which stands for “HTML extensions,” is a lightweight JavaScript library that extends HTML through attributes, allowing you to achieve dynamic behaviors without writing much JavaScript. It was created by Carson Gross to enhance server-rendered HTML pages, making it easy to add interactivity with minimal effort.
htmx is particularly useful if your projects requires simple enhancements to existing pages, such as adding AJAX-driven updates, handling form submissions more gracefully, CSS transitions, WebSockets, and even events sent on the server.
htmx enhances the capabilities of HTML by introducing new attributes that allow for dynamic, AJAX-like behavior directly within HTML. This is the most straightforward and visible aspect of htmx’s extension mechanism.
Attributes prefixed with hx- — such as hx-get, hx-post, and others — allow HTML elements to issue HTTP requests, handle responses, and update the DOM without writing JavaScript. So, you can define how and when an element should make a request to the server, what kind of request it should be, and how you want to handle the response.
For example, let’s take a look at this code below:
<div id="blog-posts"> <!-- Blog posts will be loaded here --> </div> <button hx-get="/api/v1/blog-posts" hx-trigger="click" hx-target="#blog-posts" hx-swap="beforeend" > Load More </button>
In the code above:
hx-get attribute specifies the URL from which to fetch more blog postshx-trigger attribute indicates that the request should be made when the button is clickedhx-target attribute specifies that the response should be inserted into the #blog-posts divhx-swap attribute with the value beforeend means that the new content will be appended to the end of the target elementWhen the user clicks the Load More button, htmx will issue a GET request to /api/v1/blog-posts, fetch the new blog posts, and then append them to the #blog-posts div without reloading the page.
Also, htmx doesn’t follow the React rule of using JavaScript to dynamically update the DOM based on the application’s state, which is managed within the JavaScript environment. Instead, in htmx, the server responds with HTML, and then you can use HTML itself to manage both the message — or the content to be displayed — and the state.
So, when a server responds with HTML in an htmx context, this HTML can include both the updated content and any necessary state information.
Another thing to note about htmx is that it does not require client-side functionality to update the interface states based on server responses. Instead, htmx relies exclusively on the server to update the state.
As a result, some developers refer to htmx as the opposite of a JavaScript framework. While a JavaScript framework typically manages states on the client side and then updates the HTML display, htmx does the exact opposite.
Some of the primary features of htmx include:
As you can see, htmx is a great alternative to frontend frameworks and libraries like React that offers many crucial features to address modern development needs. It emphasizes both UX and DX with its approach to server efficiency, reactivity, and more.
Like any framework or library, htmx is not a perfect solution. Some of its strengths include that it:
However, some drawbacks you should be aware of include:
That being said, htmx could be a great choice depending on your needs. To understand this better, let’s next look at who should use htmx and why.
One of the reasons to use htmx is its ability to integrate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into a single, cohesive library. This allows developers to create rich, interactive user interfaces that are easy to maintain and update.
But what about backend developers who love flexibility — for example, working with other server-side languages that are not influenced by JavaScript? htmx solves that by enabling you to render that HTML content and provide an SPA-like experience with whatever server-side language you choose.
Another reason to use htmx is its support for two-way data binding. This means that changes made to data in your application are automatically reflected in the UI, and vice versa. This makes building responsive, real-time applications that react quickly to user input easier.
Understanding who should use htmx comes down to three things:
Now that we’ve explored htmx in depth, let’s briefly review React and then compare the two libraries.
React, as you likely know, is a JavaScript library for developing user interfaces. It introduces component-based architecture, which allows developers to create reusable UI elements. React’s virtual DOM helps enable efficient updates, which makes it suitable for apps that require heavy user interactions and dynamic data changes.
Its primary features include:
Some of the pros of React include:
Meanwhile, some cons of React are that:
If you’d like to review any React concepts before moving on, feel free to check out our React article archives.
The way React handles state management differs from htmx. It uses a client-side state management approach. In React, each component can have its own state, which can be manipulated independently of other components. Hooks like useState and useReducer are used for managing local component state.
For instance:
Learn more →import React, { useState } from 'react';
function Counter() {
const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
return (
<div>
<p>You clicked {count} times</p>
<button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
Click me
</button>
</div>
);
}
In the code above, we have a functional component called Counter. The component uses the useState hook to manage the state of the component. The variable count keeps track of how many times the button has been clicked.
React also supports libraries like Redux, MobX, and many more for complex state management needs. They allow you to manage the global application state more efficiently and keep the state predictable and consistent across the application.
React is particularly suitable for developers who:
React should be your go-to for projects that require scalability and interactivity. It excels in scenarios where the UI is complex, with many moving parts that need to be kept in sync. React is also ideal when you want to build an SPA with a fluid UX that’s uninterrupted by page reloads.
When deciding between htmx and React for your web development project, it’s important to compare them based on several factors to determine which technology aligns best with your needs.
htmx is designed to work seamlessly with traditional SSR, allowing you to enhance HTML with interactive features using custom attributes. This makes it a plug-and-play solution that you can quickly integrate into existing projects without the need for a JavaScript-centric infrastructure.
Meanwhile, since React is a comprehensive UI toolkit, it often requires a more involved setup using tools such as webpack and Babel to transpile JSX and manage modules. You may also need additional configurations, especially in projects that were not initially architected with a JavaScript framework or library in mind.
Working with htmx is simple and direct, as it allows you to add dynamic behavior to web pages using attributes within your HTML. Reducing the need for extensive JavaScript can streamline your development process, especially for backend developers or teams that prefer to work within HTML code and avoid complex JavaScript frameworks.
React’s workflow, in contrast, is centered around a component-based architecture, where UI elements are encapsulated as reusable components. This approach can improve the organization and scalability of the codebase but may involve a steeper learning curve.
htmx has a simple learning curve, particularly if you’re already familiar with traditional web development approaches. It extends HTML by adding attributes that enable dynamic behavior, such as AJAX requests, directly within the markup.
React, while powerful, requires you to understand several concepts that can be overwhelming for newcomers. These include component state management, a virtual DOM, and JSX, a syntax extension that combines HTML with JavaScript.
Mastering React involves a higher initial investment in learning. In comparison, the htmx approach is less intimidating for developers who are not deeply entrenched in JavaScript.
htmx is ideal if your project requires dynamic interactivity without the overhead of a full frontend framework, or simple to moderate changes to server-rendered pages. Backend developers can also use htmx to create interaction without dealing with frontend code.
React is ideal for building single-page applications (SPAs) and complex web applications that demand a rich, interactive user experience. It excels in scenarios where advanced state management is needed and where the UI consists of many dynamic and interdependent components.
htmx’s approach to reactivity is straightforward and server-centric. It relies on making server requests for HTML snippets and swapping out parts of the page with the new content.
This process is declarative, with custom attributes in the markup indicating what should happen when an event occurs. For example:
<div hx-get="/update-content" hx-trigger="click"> Click to Update Content </div>
Here, clicking on the div will fetch content from /update-content and replace the div’s content with the response.
React’s approach to reactivity is more complex and involves a deeper understanding of JavaScript, components, and state management. Its reactivity is managed through the component lifecycle and stateful logic within the components. For example:
function Counter() {
const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
return (
<div>
<p>You clicked {count} times</p>
<button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
Click me
</button>
</div>
);
}
This component will re-render and update the displayed count each time the button is clicked.
htmx follows a traditional web development approach, enhancing server-rendered HTML. React adopts a modern, component-based architecture, encouraging developers to think differently about UI development.
htmx’s approach simplifies state management because it relies on server-rendered HTML for the UI. The server is responsible for maintaining the state and rendering the corresponding HTML based on the current state.
React, on the other hand, uses a client-side state management approach. Each React component has its own state, which you can manipulate independently of other components.
Since its first release in 2020, htmx has grown in popularity to over 30k stars on GitHub, which looks promising. However, it has yet to dethrone React, which boasts over 220k stars on GitHub.
As a more established framework, React also benefits from a rich ecosystem of tools and libraries that not only enhance productivity but also add to its complexity and supports you in creating highly responsive and performant applications.
You can find the similarities and differences between htmx and React that we discussed above summarized in the table below for easier comparison:
| htmx | React | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of integration | Integrates seamlessly with backend technologies and SSR | May require additional configurations, including using tools like webpack and Babel for easier setup and management |
| Development workflow | Reduces the need for extensive JavaScript in your project; easy to use by both frontend and backend developers | Component-based architecture may be harder to learn, but ultimately improves your app’s organization and scalability |
| Learning curve | Simple and direct | Initially steeper than htmx |
| Use cases | Apps that require dynamic interactivity, backend flexibility, or simple to moderate updates on the server side | SPAs and complex web apps with rich, interactive UIs, many components, or complex state management needs |
| Reactivity | Declarative process in which you make server requests to update page content | Managed through the component lifecycle and component logic |
| State management | Simple approach that relies on the server to maintain and render HTML for the UI based on the current state | Client-side approach that allows you to manipulate state for each component independently |
| Community & ecosystem | Over 30k stars on GitHub; smaller community as a newer library | Over 220k stars on GitHub; large, established, and involved community with a rich ecosystem of official and third-party tools and libraries |
While both htmx and React provide powerful tools for building web applications, they do so in different ways and are suited to different types of projects. You should choose between htmx and React based on the complexity of state management and reactivity needed for your particular project.
htmx’s server-side state management approach is more straightforward, making it suitable for applications where your server is responsible for managing the state and rendering the UI. React’s client-side state management approach is more flexible and powerful, making it suitable for complex, stateful applications that need client-side state management.
Install LogRocket via npm or script tag. LogRocket.init() must be called client-side, not
server-side
$ npm i --save logrocket
// Code:
import LogRocket from 'logrocket';
LogRocket.init('app/id');
// Add to your HTML:
<script src="https://cdn.lr-ingest.com/LogRocket.min.js"></script>
<script>window.LogRocket && window.LogRocket.init('app/id');</script>
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