If you were to step back into the React ecosystem in 2025 after a few years away, you might feel like you've wandered into a frontier town—chaotic,...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
Totally right, the bad things this endless possibilities still with us many years. I am working on a legacy company system: React created 7 -> 3 years ago, package.json around 300LOC. So much unknown dependency. I would like to recreate that project administrative part with: React + vite + tailwind + express + DynamoDB + S3Bucket + JSDoc. I try to keep my dependency minimal as possible.
The only reason of don't drop the React framework from the project, because another collegues are know React well and don't expert on frameworkless development.
React is a golden standard. ( not the fastest, but the main problem in that app is not the FE but the BE speed. )
I hit this wall 2 years ago, too many choices. Thought it was just a noob feeling. Appreciate your article and perspective. It's gotten out of control.
Martin, this post perfectly captures the state of React in 2025—so many tools, so much flexibility, and decision paralysis is real. The “no single default” problem is both React’s biggest strength and biggest challenge.
✅ Next.js & Remix as “opinionated defaults” makes sense—they handle SSR, routing, and data fetching elegantly. Next.js scales well, while Remix keeps things closer to web fundamentals.
✅ Vite + TanStack Router is an underrated powerhouse for devs who want full control over their stack.
✅ Shadcn + Tailwind is a killer UI combo—developer-friendly, scalable, and avoids the usual component-library bloat.
My Question: Is React Still Too Fragmented?
On one hand, the ecosystem has matured, with frameworks like Next.js, Remix, and Astro solving real-world problems. But the constant innovation means the “best stack” keeps changing. Maybe that’s why React still feels like the Wild West?
For a deeper dive into Remix, this article by Rafael Goulart is a solid read:
🔗 scalablepath.com/react/remix-frame...
Again, great post—appreciate the insights! Looking forward to seeing how React evolves this year.
Appreciate the feedback. To answer your question. This is the strength and complexity of React. React is NOT a framework it is rendering library. Remix or Next are frameworks and more of a stable solution.
In my opinion it's this flexibility that will allow it to remain relevant for longer than other frameworks. Because it's built to plug pieces in and out, it will be incredibly rare for your project to outgrow React.
Yes, it is still a wild west, too many options or choices. Thanks for sharing...
Probably it is worse in such vast ecosystem as React, but I guess all major frameworks trying to be as universal as possible and do not force "the way".
I am currently putting together a wrapper of modules and utilities around Nuxt (from Vue.js ecosystem), do I dont have to keep maintaining the (almost) same stack across multiple projects
For that problem I recently came across zagjs.com/ and it seems interesting for that problem
My 2cents;
Optimize your workflow by prioritizing robust, streamlined solutions over feature-bloated applications with unnecessary complexity.
Great article! Thank you for sharing. How difficult is it to pick up up Next.js if you already know React?
If you already know React nextjs should be pretty straightforward. Their documentation quick start is pretty good.
For someone coming to it from just react focus on the new "app" router. The main "hard" part is server components, but that is all of React right now. You can opt out of most of it by using "use client" until you figure it out
Thank you for the tips!