Why I'd use zustand instead of redux for most usecases

If you’ve ever dealt with Redux in a React project, you know the pain boilerplate, action types, reducers, thunk/saga setup just to manage a bit of state. Let me talk about Zustand, a minimal, flexible, and way more enjoyable state management library.
Why Zustand is way better than Redux:
Zero Boilerplate
With Redux, you write actions, reducers, action creators, and maybe middleware to handle async logic.
With Zustand, you just define a store — no magic strings, no switch statements.tsxCopyEdit// Zustand example const useStore = create((set) => ({ count: 0, increment: () => set((state) => ({ count: state.count + 1 })), }));
Hooks-Based and Intuitive
Zustand uses React hooks out of the box. No need forconnect
,mapStateToProps
, or context wrappers.tsxCopyEditconst count = useStore((state) => state.count);
No Provider Needed
Unlike Redux, you don't have to wrap your app in a provider. The store is global, yet isolated per hook call, which also makes it test-friendly.Async Made Easy
Redux often requires middleware likeredux-thunk
orredux-saga
for async.
Zustand just lets you call async code inside your store:tsxCopyEditfetchData: async () => { const data = await fetch(...).then(res => res.json()); set({ data }); }
Built-in Devtools Support
Zustand supports Redux DevTools, so you don’t lose time-travel debugging or inspecting state changes.Smaller Bundle Size & Better Performance
Zustand is tiny (<1kB gzipped) compared to Redux + Toolkit + DevTools + Thunk. And because it avoids unnecessary re-renders, it's very performant by default.Flexible and Scalable
Zustand scales beautifully for small to medium-large apps. It’s perfect for local component state, shared global state, or anything in between — without the complexity Redux adds.
When Redux might still make sense:
You already use Redux Toolkit and have a large codebase built on it.
You need strict structure and patterns for a large team to follow.
You rely heavily on middleware and side-effect handling like sagas.
Summary
So I think that zustand brings the simplicity of useState to global state and that’s a big win.
Unless you're maintaining a legacy Redux app or need very specific middleware, Zustand is the modern way to manage state in React.
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Written by

Saad Khaleeq
Saad Khaleeq
Creative. Fast Learner. Super Passionate. Highly Enthusiastic.