How to Manage State in React: Comparing Context API, Redux, and Zustand

State management is a critical part of building React applications. As applications grow in complexity, developers need efficient ways to manage state across multiple components. This guide compares three popular state management solutions: Context API, Redux, and Zustand.

1. Context API: Built-in React State Sharing

The Context API is React’s built-in solution for sharing state between components without prop drilling (manually passing props through every level of the component tree).

Key Features:

• Built-in: No extra libraries are needed.
• Ideal for Small Apps: Perfect for apps with limited state-sharing requirements.
• Simple API: Provides Provider and Consumer components (or useContext hook).

How It Works:

• Create a Context:

const MyContext = React.createContext();

• Provide State:

function App() {
  const [state, setState] = useState("Hello World");

  return (
    <MyContext.Provider value={{ state, setState }}>
      <Child />
    </MyContext.Provider>
  );
}

• Consume State: