Application development is all about choosing the right tools and frameworks that help you save development time and costs. When it comes to web app development, you must first understand how to choose the right technology stack for your application. Taking this decision requires you to have knowledge of how major frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue are different from each other. We recently wrote a blog on when and why you should choose Reactjs for web development. In this blog, we dig deeper and present to you top React libraries in 2020 that can be very beneficial while developing a Reactjs based application.The libraries/components are classified on the basis of their functionalities.Table of Content

One of the key features of a web app is its ability to seamlessly navigate users from one page to another. However, this task becomes a bit complicated for the Single Page Apps (SPAs). An SPA must be able to directly render that part of UI where the user interacts with the app while navigating through various sections.Therefore, SPAs use routers as guiding tools. The function of a router is to translate the browser address into related pages, thus helping the users to navigate through the web application. The SPAs resort to a very industrious approach of routing in which whenever a user takes an action on the web app, it collects new data.

1. React Router

React Router is a collection of navigational components that keep the UI of an application in sync with its URL. Thus, it ensures effortless navigation. Its API is simple yet effective with robust in-built features like lazy code loading, dynamic route matching, and location transition handling. Furthermore, it provides strong nesting support and server-side rendering.

Top React Libraries in 2020 For CLIs and Boilerplates

In simple terms, Boilerplates refer to the reusable blocks of code using which the developers can set up multiple libraries at once. It also allows them to generate identical copies for other projects that can be reused later.

2. Create React App

Create React App is a CLI tool that doesn’t require any building configuration. So it gives Reactjs developers a great head start when working on React projects as it enables the developers to generate their own boilerplates. The tool assembles the components and files needed to build, test, and launch an application. In this way, it drastically reduces the time and effort invested in the development process. One can initiate the app building process by simply running a single command and no more complexities are involved.

Top React UI Component Libraries in 2020

An interactive and enticing user interface is a major factor in improving the retention rate of a web application. React has a good deal of UI component libraries for building captivating and feature-rich interfaces smoothly.

3. Ant-design

Ant-design is a UI library consisting of a set of tools for building elegant user interfaces. It has an extensive customer base and consolidates resources from NPM, Webpack, Babel and DVA. This React library offers a smooth user experience by allowing the developers to nest their UI components. It works better with internal desktop applications and is based on several unitary specifications.

4. React Bootstrap

React Bootstrap is a Bootstrap library-based UI toolkit. It gives Reactjs developers more control over reusing and integrating UI components. Moreover, it has a lot of themes and resources readily available for use. The library is instinctive to use because of the Bootstrap themes and stylesheet. As a result, developers can code quickly and more productively with the help of reusable coding methods.

5. Material UI

Material UI is a set of components created by Google and is based on Material Design guidelines. It contains many accessible and editable UI widgets to create captivating, consistent, and light user interfaces. The components of Material UI are self-sustaining in nature and only implement the styles they need to display. This leads to performance enhancements in the applications. In addition to that, it has very strong community support.

6. Semantic UI for React

Semantic UI React is a jQuery-based component library that provides additional functionality to the pipelines used by the developers. The library contains a bundle of prebuilt components that are designed particularly to generate Semantic-friendly code.It is a declarative API and strongly adheres to the flexible React ecosystem. Additionally, its shorthand props reduce the burden of hasty coding.

Top React Libraries in 2020 For Animation

The traditional way of implementing animations in a web app is through CSS. However, at times, many developers are limited by the use of CSS and look for additional tools for animation. Reactjs saved the day by offering an easy-to-use declarative UI that goes by the name React Transition Group. It permits the developers to execute the animations while creating a web app. Other examples of prominent React animation libraries are:

7. React-motion

React-motion is a well-known React animation library that employs spring configuration for defining animations. Thus, it relieves the developers of their concerns regarding controlled duration and complexities. The library streamlines the development flow within React components with the help of damping, stiffness, and precision methods. Moreover, its spring API bridges the gap between imperative and declarative approaches and guarantees a secured & shared transition.

8. React Native Reanimated

React Native Reanimated was created by re-writing the native animated API from scratch to make way for gesture-based interactions in the applications. The earlier React Native API faced problems in implementing gesture-based interactions. Therefore, this library was created as a better substitute.What’s better is that this library performs animations directly on the native thread instead of JS thread. Furthermore, it is backward compatible. This implies that the developers don’t have to recreate the animations for a specific component if and when they migrate to this library from the Animated API.

Why Choose Reactjs For Your Next Project: Features and Benefits

Top React Library in 2020 For Building Forms

It is always easier to use a form element with a library instead of building it from scratch. Reactjs has several form libraries that can be used for better and faster creation of customized components including inputs, buttons, and even new components.

9. React Hook Form

React Hook Form is minimalistic and independent form library, mostly used with React hooks API. It is the most popular form library for Reactjs and is built with TypeScript. React Hook Form aligns the UI to the existing HTML standards which simplify form validation. Moreover, it unites the uncontrolled components with native HTML inputs. The library easily integrates with external React UI component libraries and Reactjs state management libraries.

Top React Libraries in 2020 For Code Formatting

Out of many code formatting libraries for React, the following two are our absolute favorites:

10. ES-Lint

ES-Lint is a pluggable and configurable code analysis tool for JavaScript. In the React ecosystem, this library identifies the creases in JS codes that do not follow the standard guidelines. It improves the code by making it more consistent and bug-free. In addition to that, ES-Lint enhances the code quality by assessing the patterns in code and resolving the errors by auto-fixing the code.

11. Prettier

Prettier is a code formatting tool that strictly abides by the current formatting rules. It supports multiple coding languages and integrates with most editors. It examines the files for issues and auto-reformates to make it consistent with the rules for indentation, quotes, etc.Termed as an opinionated code formatter, Prettier provides support for JavaScript, JSX, Angular, TypeScript, CSS, HTML, JSON, and many more.

Top React Libraries in 2020 For State Management

The purpose of state management libraries is to keep the state of all users uniform across different web forms. Meaning, a user can continue from the exact same location or page on a mobile device as he/she left it on desktop.

12. Redux

Redux is a state management solution for JavaScript applications. It’s a predictable state container and an autonomous library. Although it is primarily deployed with React UI components, it can also be used with Angular, Vue, Ember, and other frameworks. Redux is useful for both the front-end and the back-end libraries. The library makes it possible to connect the pieces of state to React components. Thus, it removes the need for callback or props. Reactjs developers love to work with Redux as it facilitates writing coherent codes, operates well in different environments, and supports easy testing. It also allows developers to edit the code live while working on a project. React Native, a mobile app development framework, has its official Redux library named React-Redux.

13. MobX

MobX is a robust library created to simplify state management. Moreover, it makes state management more scalable by transparently applying functional reactive programming. The principle behind MobX is simple enough: anything which is derivable from the application state should be derived automatically and efficiently. The library acts as an easier and simpler substitute for Redux. It is mainly used for quick-to-build and plain apps with lesser boilerplate code.

Top React Library in 2020 For Payment Options

With ever-increasing trends of remote shopping and simplicity of online payments, the numbers of online transactions have comfortably overtaken the cash transactions. The payment SDKs of Reactjs ecosystem offer a trustworthy solution for online payment to the end-users.

14. Stripe Elements

Stripe elements or API is primarily a feature of Stripe.js. It is a contemporary and adaptable UI components library for payment solutions in the Reactjs ecosystem. Stripe API boasts the features of data privacy and fast response with appropriate authentication. It runs on a single interface approach for Apple Pay, Google Pay, and payment request API.Stripe API proves its qualitative worth by offering a powerful performance of payment form and ease of making a custom form. It quickly responds to the payment acceptance and confirmation tasks with the help of dynamic card elements such as CVC, expiry, etc. Furthermore, it supports responsive design and language translation to suit the needs of the customer.

Which is the best React library in 2020?

We wish we knew the answer but the truth is there isn’t any one library that we can consider the best. That’s why we chose to write about top React libraries in 2020 on the basis of different categories. To reiterate what we said at the beginning of this blog, you must possess an in-depth knowledge of a lot of factors when it comes to building a web application in the right way.If you would like to get a free consultation from our expert software development consultants, drop your project details here and we will help you find the most efficient solution for web app development. Let’s work together to build smarter, more performant apps in 2020!

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Krunal Shah

Krunal Shah is the CTO and Co-founder at Third Rock Techkno. With extensive experience gained over a decade, Krunal helps his clients build software solutions that stand out in the industry and are lighter on the pocket.

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