Not every app needs Redux. Not every bug needs Zustand.
Yet so many React developers (me included) jump to global state tools too early — and pay for it with bloated code and hard-to-follow flows.
Here’s what I wish I’d known earlier:👇
The 80/20 Rule of State Management:
🔹 80% of your state should stay local — where it belongs.
🔹 Only 20% truly needs global sync and control.
🧠 My personal tool progression (the hard way):
➡️ useState → For simple local state
➡️ useReducer → When logic got messy
➡️ Context → Sharing across 3–5 components
➡️ Zustand/Redux → When true global, persistent state was unavoidable
Here’s a simple cheat sheet I use now:👇
✅ Stick with local state when:
• State is used in a single component
• Logic is easy to test and reason about
• No cross-page sync is needed
⚙️ Reach for external tools when:
• You’re syncing state across routes or sessions
• You need undo/redo, throttling, persistence
• You’re hitting performance limits from context nesting or prop drilling
Zustand is lean and intuitive.
Redux is powerful but comes with overhead.
Context is great — until it’s not.
The tool isn’t the problem. Knowing when to use it is.
💬 What’s your biggest React state management mistake?
Let’s make the community smarter, one insight at a time.
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