Frontend System Design: Redux Toolkit vs Zustand vs Jotai

Source: Dev.to

Why this comparison matters

As your React app grows, local state quickly becomes insufficient. You start dealing with:

• Shared data across screens
• Async API calls
• Caching
• Global UI state
• Predictable debugging

High‑level mental models

Architecture diagrams

flowchart TB
  UI -->|dispatch| Store
  Store --> Reducers
  Reducers --> Store
  Store -->|select| UI

flowchart TB
  UI --> Store
  Store --> UI

flowchart TB
  UI --> Atom1
  UI --> Atom2
  Atom1 --> Atom3

Redux Toolkit

Redux Toolkit is the official, opinionated way to use Redux. It enforces:

• Single source of truth
• Immutable updates
• One‑way data flow
• Predictability

import { createSlice } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';

const usersSlice = createSlice({
  name: 'users',
  initialState: [],
  reducers: {
    setUsers: (state, action) => action.payload,
  },
});

Pros

• ✅ Best for large teams
• ✅ Powerful debugging with Redux DevTools

Cons

• ❌ More boilerplate than alternatives

Zustand

Zustand is a minimal global‑state library built on hooks. No reducers are required.

import create from 'zustand';

const useUserStore = create(set => ({
  users: [],
  setUsers: users => set({ users }),
}));

Pros

• ✅ Extremely simple API
• ✅ Very low boilerplate

Cons

• ❌ No enforced structure, which can lead to inconsistency in larger codebases

Jotai

Jotai is based on atomic state. Each piece of state is independent and composable.

import { atom } from 'jotai';

const usersAtom = atom([]);
const filteredUsersAtom = atom(get =>
  get(usersAtom).filter(u => u.active)
);

Pros

• ✅ Fine‑grained re‑renders (atom‑level reactivity)
• ✅ Great for highly reactive UI

Cons

• ❌ Mental model can be harder to grasp for newcomers

Side‑by‑side feature comparison

Re‑render strategies

Takeaways

• Jotai offers the most granular updates.
• Redux Toolkit provides the strongest predictability guarantees.
• Zustand is the simplest to adopt.

When to choose which library

Decision guide

• App size – Larger, long‑living apps benefit from Redux Toolkit’s structure.
• Team size – Bigger teams need strong conventions (Redux) or clear boundaries (Zustand).
• Complex UI state – Choose Jotai for fine‑grained reactivity.
• Speed & simplicity – Zustand shines for rapid development.

Real‑world use‑case mapping

Interview‑ready summary

• Redux Toolkit: Best for enterprise‑scale apps, offers devtools and strong conventions, but adds boilerplate.
• Zustand: Minimal API, great for small to medium projects, no enforced patterns.
• Jotai: Atomic state, ideal for UI‑heavy scenarios where performance matters, requires a different mental model.

Further reading

• System design articles: systemdesignwithzeeshanali
• Source code: