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Krish Kakadiya
Krish Kakadiya

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Why Solid.js Might Be the Most Underrated Frontend Superpower in 2025 (And How to Start Using It Today)

#webdev #solidjs #react #learning

Hey fellow frontend devs, let's be real for a second.

You're building yet another dashboard or e-commerce app. You fire up React (or Next.js because SSR is non-negotiable in 2025), write some components, throw in useState/useEffect everywhere, and suddenly your bundle is ballooning, re-renders are happening like fireworks, and your Lighthouse score is crying in the corner.
Sound familiar?

In 2025, the conversation has shifted. While React remains the king of ecosystems and job listings, and Svelte keeps winning hearts with its "write less, do more" compiler magic, there's a quiet powerhouse that's been stealing benchmarks and developer minds: Solid.js.

It's like React's reactivity model but without the virtual DOM tax, delivering React like ergonomics with Svelte-level performance. If you've been sleeping on Solid.js, 2025 is the year to wake up.
In this post, I'll break down why Solid.js feels like the perfect "future proof" choice right now, how its fine-grained reactivity works under the hood, and give you a practical starter guide with real code examples.

The Pain Point: React's Hidden Cost in 2025

React's virtual DOM diffing was revolutionary in 2013. But in 2025, with massive apps, concurrent features, and Server Components, we still pay a price:

  • Unnecessary re-renders cascade through component trees
  • Bundle sizes creep up with client-side hydration
  • Profiling tools become your best friend (and worst enemy)

Alternatives like Svelte compile away the framework entirely, and Qwik resumable architecture skips hydration drama. But many of us love React's mental model hooks, JSX, unidirectional data flow.

Enter Solid.js: It gives you the best of both worlds.

Solid.js uses fine-grained reactivity with signals (inspired by libraries like MobX or Preact Signals, but baked in). Instead of re-rendering entire components, Solid updates only the DOM nodes that actually changed.

Think of it like this analogy:

  • React is like repainting an entire room every time someone moves a chair.
  • Solid.js is like having smart paint that only refreshes the exact spot where the chair moved.
  • Result? Blazing-fast updates, tiny runtime (~7-10KB gzipped), and no VDOM overhead.

How Solid.js Reactivity Actually Works (No Magic, Just Signals)

At its core, Solid uses primitives like createSignal, createEffect, and createMemo.
Here's a simple counter example:
tsx

import { createSignal, createEffect } from 'solid-js';

function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = createSignal(0);

  // This effect runs only when count changes
  createEffect(() => {
    console.log(`Count is now: ${count()}`);
  });

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Count: {count()}</p>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count() + 1)}>
        Increment
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}
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Notice something missing? No useState+ useEffect dependency array hell.

  • count() is a getter that tracks dependencies automatically
  • Updates are surgical — only the text node inside {count()} re-renders
  • No component re-execution unless signals force it

For derived state, use createMemo:
tsx

const [firstName, setFirstName] = createSignal('Krish');
const [lastName, setLastName] = createSignal('Dev');

const fullName = createMemo(() => `${firstName()} ${lastName()}`);
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fullName() recomputes only when firstName or lastName changes no wasteful recalculations.

Tailwind + Solid.js = Developer Joy in 2025

Pair it with** Tailwind CSS v4 (now even faster with native Oxide engine) and you get utility classes that feel native in Solid's JSX.
Add **Vite + solid-js/vite plugin, and your dev server is instant. No more waiting for HMR in large React apps.

Pros in 2025:

  • Unmatched runtime performance (often beats Svelte in fine-grained updates)
  • React-like syntax (easy transition for React devs)
  • Tiny runtime, zero VDOM
  • Growing ecosystem: SolidStart (full-stack like Next.js), stores, primitives, etc.
  • TypeScript first-class

Cons:

  • Smaller community than React (but growing fast in 2025)
  • Fewer ready-made component libraries (but Headless UI + Tailwind works great)

In 2025, frontend isn't about picking "the one true framework" anymore. It's about choosing the right tool for the job. If performance, clean reactivity, and modern DX matter to you (and they should), give Solid.js a weekend. You might just find your new favorite.

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