Redux vs Context API: When to use them

The simplest way to pass data from a parent to a child in a React Application is by passing it on to the child's props. But an issue arises when a deeply nested child requires data from a component higher up in the tree. If we pass on the data through the props, every single one of the children would be required to accept the data and pass it on to its child, leading to prop drilling, a terrible practice in the world of React.

To solve the prop drilling issue, we have State Management Solutions like Context API and Redux. But which one of them is best suited for your application? Today we are going to answer this age-old question!

What is the Context API?

Let's check the official documentation:

In a typical React application, data is passed top-down (parent to child) via props, but such usage can be cumbersome for certain types of props (e.g. locale preference, UI theme) that are required by many components within an application. Context provides a way to share values like these between components without having to explicitly pass a prop through every level of the tree.

Context API is a built-in React tool that does not influence the final bundle size, and is integrated by design.

To use the Context API, you have to:

Create the Context

const Context = createContext(MockData);

Create a Provider for the Context

const Parent = () => {
    return (
        <Context.Provider value={initialValue}>
            <Children/>
        </Context.Provider>
    )
}

Consume the data in the Context

const Child = () => {
    const contextData = useContext(Context);
    // use the data
    // ...
}

So What is Redux?

Of course, let's head over to the documentation:

Redux is a predictable state container for JavaScript apps.

It helps you write applications that behave consistently, run in different environments (client, server, and native), and are easy to test. On top of that, it provides a great developer experience, such as live code editing combined with a time-traveling debugger.

You can use Redux together with React, or with any other view library. It is tiny (2kB, including dependencies), but has a large ecosystem of addons available.

Redux is an Open Source Library which provides a central store, and actions to modify the store. It can be used with any project using JavaScript or TypeScript, but since we are comparing it to Context API, so we will stick to React-based Applications.

To use Redux you need to:

Create a Reducer

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

export const slice = createSlice({
    name: "slice-name",
    initialState: {
        // ...
    },
    reducers: {
        func01: (state) => {
            // ...
        },
    }
});

export const { func01 } = slice.actions;
export default slice.reducer;

Configure the Store

import { configureStore } from "@reduxjs/toolkit";
import reducer from "./reducer";

export default configureStore({
    reducer: {
        reducer: reducer
    }
});

Make the Store available for data consumption

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
import App from './App.jsx'
import store from './store';

ReactDOM.render(
    <Provider store={store}>
        <App />
    </Provider>,
    document.getElementById("root")
);

Use State or Dispatch Actions

import { useSelector, useDispatch } from 'react-redux';
import { func01 } from './redux/reducer';

const Component = () => {
    const reducerState = useSelector((state) => state.reducer);
    const dispatch = useDispatch();
    const doSomething = () = > dispatch(func01)  
    return (
        <>
            {/* ... */}
        </>
    );
}
export default Component;

That's all Phew! As you can see, Redux requires way more work to get it set up.

Comparing Redux & Context API

Context API	Redux
Built-in tool that ships with React	Additional installation Required, driving up the final bundle size
Requires minimal Setup	Requires extensive setup to integrate it with a React Application
Specifically designed for static data, that is not often refreshed or updated	Works like a charm with both static and dynamic data
Adding new contexts requires creation from scratch	Easily extendible due to the ease of adding new data/actions after the initial setup
Debugging can be hard in highly nested React Component Structure even with Dev Tool	Incredibly powerful Redux Dev Tools to ease debugging
UI logic and State Management Logic are in the same component	Better code organization with separate UI logic and State Management Logic

From the table, you must be able to comprehend where the popular opinion Redux is for large projects & Context API for small ones come from.

Both are excellent tools for their own specific niche, Redux is overkill just to pass data from parent to child & Context API truly shines in this case. When you have a lot of dynamic data Redux got your back!

So you no longer have to that guy who goes:

Wrapping Up

In this article, we went through what is Redux and Context API and their differences. We learned, Context API is a light-weight solution which is more suited for passing data from a parent to a deeply nested child and Redux is a more robust State Management solution.

Happy Developing!

Thanks for reading

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