Top 8 Widely Used React Libraries You Need to Know in 2025

import { createStore } from 'redux';
// Reducer
const counterReducer = (state = { count: 0 }, action) => {
  switch (action.type) {
    case 'INCREMENT':
      return { count: state.count + 1 };
    case 'DECREMENT':
      return { count: state.count - 1 };
    default:
      return state;
  }
};
// Create Store
const store = createStore(counterReducer);
// Dispatch Actions
store.dispatch({ type: 'INCREMENT' });
console.log(store.getState()); // { count: 1 }

import { BrowserRouter as Router, Route, Routes, Link } from 'react-router-dom';
function App() {
  return (
    <Router>
      <nav>
        <Link to="/">Home</Link>
        <Link to="/about">About</Link>
      </nav>
      <Routes>
        <Route path="/" element={<Home />} />
        <Route path="/about" element={<About />} />
      </Routes>
    </Router>
  );
}
function Home() {
  return <h1>Home Page</h1>;
}
function About() {
  return <h1>About Page</h1>;
}

import axios from 'axios';
axios.get('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts')
  .then(response => console.log(response.data))
  .catch(error => console.error('Error fetching data:', error));

4. Styled Components

Styled Components allows you to write CSS directly inside your JavaScript code using tagged template literals. It scopes the styles to the components they belong to, making it easier to manage styles without worrying about global CSS conflicts.

Key Benefits:

• CSS-in-JS: Write actual CSS inside JavaScript files.
• Scoped Styles: Styles are tied to the component, avoiding global conflicts.
• Dynamic Styling: Easily apply styles based on props or state.

import styled from 'styled-components';
const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: #4caf50;
  color: white;
  border: none;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  font-size: 16px;
  border-radius: 5px;
  cursor: pointer;
  &:hover {
    background-color: #45a049;
  }
`;
function App() {
  return (
    <div>
      <Button>Click Me</Button>
    </div>
  );
}

5. Ant Design (antd)

Ant Design is a popular UI library that provides a collection of high-quality, customizable React components. It offers a set of pre-designed components like buttons, tables, forms, and more, which follow Ant Design’s consistent design system. It’s perfect for building modern, responsive web applications quickly.

Key Benefits:

• Pre-built Components: A wide range of UI components that save time on design and development.
• Customizable: Allows customization with themes and styles to fit your app’s design.
• Responsive: Designed with mobile-first principles, making your app look good on all devices.

import { Button, Table } from 'antd';
const columns = [
  { title: 'Name', dataIndex: 'name', key: 'name' },
  { title: 'Age', dataIndex: 'age', key: 'age' },
];
const data = [
  { key: 1, name: 'John Doe', age: 32 },
  { key: 2, name: 'Jane Smith', age: 28 },
];
function App() {
  return (
    <div>
      <Button type="primary">Click Me</Button>
      <Table columns={columns} dataSource={data} />
    </div>
  );
}

6. React Query

React Query is a data-fetching and state management library for handling asynchronous operations, such as fetching data from an API. It helps manage server state, caching, synchronization, and background data fetching in a simple, declarative way.

Key Benefits:

• Automatic Caching: Caches data to avoid unnecessary network requests.
• Background Fetching: Keeps data up-to-date by fetching in the background.
• Simple API: Makes working with server data as simple as local state.
  

import { useQuery } from 'react-query';
import axios from 'axios';
function App() {
  const { data, error, isLoading } = useQuery('posts', () =>
    axios.get('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts').then(res => res.data)
  );
  if (isLoading) return <p>Loading...</p>;
  if (error) return <p>Error: {error.message}</p>;
  return (
    <ul>
      {data.map(post => (
        <li key={post.id}>{post.title}</li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
}

7. Lodash

Lodash is a utility library that provides helpful functions for common programming tasks, such as manipulating arrays, objects, and strings. It simplifies tasks like deep cloning, debouncing, and throttling, improving code quality and reducing boilerplate.

Key Benefits:

• Utility Functions: Offers a wide variety of helper functions for common tasks.
• Performance Optimizations: Includes methods like debouncing and throttling to optimize performance.
• Works Well with React: Helps with tasks that come up often in React development.

import _ from 'lodash';
const users = [
  { id: 1, name: 'Alice' },
  { id: 2, name: 'Bob' },
  { id: 1, name: 'Alice' },
];
const uniqueUsers = _.uniqBy(users, 'id');
console.log(uniqueUsers); // [{ id: 1, name: 'Alice' }, { id: 2, name: 'Bob' }]

8. React Hook Form

React Hook Form is a lightweight library for managing forms in React. It focuses on minimizing re-renders and providing easy integration with other libraries, while maintaining a simple API. It’s perfect for handling form validation, submission, and tracking form state with minimal effort.

Key Benefits:

• Minimal Re-renders: Optimizes performance by reducing unnecessary re-renders.
• Easy Integration: Easily integrates with external UI libraries and validation solutions.
• Simple API: Provides an easy way to manage form state and validation.
  

import { useForm } from 'react-hook-form';
function App() {
  const { register, handleSubmit, watch, formState: { errors } } = useForm();
  const onSubmit = data => console.log(data);
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <input {...register('name', { required: true })} placeholder="Name" />
      {errors.name && <p>Name is required</p>}
      <button type="submit">Submit</button>
    </form>
  );
}

Conclusion

In conclusion, understanding the third-party libraries used in React can significantly enhance your development process. These libraries simplify complex tasks, save time, and improve app functionality. Whether it’s managing state with Redux, handling routes with React Router, or styling with Ant Design, these tools enable you to build apps more efficiently. If you’re looking to hire a React developer, leveraging these libraries will allow your team to focus on creating exceptional user experiences without getting bogged down by repetitive tasks.

React JS

Tapan Agrawal

Software Engineer