Why I Stopped Using Redux (And What I Use Instead)

I remember the first time I opened a Redux project. It was 2019, and I spent three hours just trying to understand why I needed actions, reducers, and a store just to toggle a boolean. The boilerplate was overwhelming, but everyone said it was the "industry standard," so I learned it.

Five years later, I removed Redux from my last project. Here's why.

The Breaking Point

Last year, I was building a dashboard with real-time data updates. The requirements seemed simple:

• Fetch user data
• Update a chart when filters change
• Sync state across three components

My Redux implementation required:

• 3 action files
• 2 reducer files
• 4 selector functions
• A middleware for the async logic
• 200+ lines of code

And debugging? A nightmare of console logs and Redux DevTools stack traces.

What I Switched To

I tried Zustand on a whim. The same dashboard feature took 40 lines.

// store.ts
import { create } from 'zustand'

interface DashboardState {
  filters: Filter[]
  data: DataPoint[]
  setFilters: (filters: Filter[]) => void
  fetchData: () => Promise<void>
}

export const useDashboardStore = create<DashboardState>((set, get) => ({
  filters: [],
  data: [],
  setFilters: (filters) => {
    set({ filters })
    get().fetchData()
  },
  fetchData: async () => {
    const { filters } = get()
    const data = await api.fetch({ filters })
    set({ data })
  },
}))