MobX vs Redux: A Comparison

Posted on by Ronald Caldwell | Updated:
Category: Other | Tags: Comparison, MobX, Redux
Reading Time: 5 minutes

MobX is a testing library that makes state management scalable and simple using transparently applying functional reactive programming (TFRP). This type of programming helps to maintain the state's consistency. It works on the principle that everything that can be determined from the application state is deduced automatically.

Redux is a javascript library that manages the state of an application. Redux assists in the creation of applications that behave consistently across all platforms. It also simplifies the writing, testing, and debugging of code for developers.

What is MobX?

MobX is a state management tool that helps you manage your app's local state.

Some of MobX's founding principles are:

  • MobX can have many stores that contain an application's state. 
  • A derivation is anything derived from the state without further involvement.
  • Any piece of code that alters the state is an action.
  • When the state changes, all derivations update automatically and atomically.

MobX Performance

MobX gets its performance from smartness rather than fast data structures. When an observable array is changed, MobX determines which actions and components must be presented for any computation you write to be consistent. 

MobX can be incredibly quick. It creates considerably more fine-grained event listeners than developers can manually because it optimizes dependency trees, which some programmers don’t bother. However, you must consider MobX in the context of your state's entire lifecycle. Nothing will beat plain arrays and constructor functions if you want to create objects and arrays fast.

What is Redux?

Redux is a well-known state management system combining Flux concepts with functional programming. Some of Redux's fundamental concepts are:

  • Redux has a single store that serves as a single point of truth.
  • The store's state is unchangeable.
  • Changes to the store are triggered by actions.
  • Reducers are responsible for updating the state.

Redux Performance

Redux may process actions through middleware and reducers (including object duplication for immutable modifications), alert subscribers after actions are dispatched, and update UI components based on state changes.

While each of these could become a performance concern in sufficiently complex circumstances, the way Redux is built isn't inherently slow or inefficient. React Redux has been significantly modified to avoid unnecessary re-renders, and React-Redux v5 is arguably better than prior versions.

Redux may not be as efficient right out of the box when compared to competing libraries. For best rendering performance in a React application, the state should be kept in a normalized format. Many individual components connect to the store rather than just a few, and a connected list of components should offer item IDs to their child list items. This scheme allows the list items to look up their data by ID.

Overall, this minimizes the amount of rendering necessary. Memorized election functions are a key performance factor.

In terms of architecture, anecdotal data suggests that Redux works effectively for projects of various sizes and teams.

MobX vs Redux State Management in React

For JavaScript and React apps, Redux is a popular data store. The idea is that data should only move in one direction, stored as a single source of truth. Because of the design concept's simplicity and comparatively simple implementation, Redux has grown in popularity.

Redux’s foundational principle is a store is a single object with fields for each data selection. You update the data by triggering an action that specifies how the data is updated. Then you use reducers to analyze the actions and update the data. Reducers are functions that perform actions on data and return a new state rather than altering the existing one.

In small applications, you may not need a global data store. You can use a mix of local state and context to manage state. But as your application scales, you may encounter situations where it would be valuable to store information centrally so that it will persist across routes and components. In that situation, Redux gives you a standard way to store and retrieve data in an organized manner.

In Redux, injecting both state and actions into props.

export default connect(mapStateToProps, { newContact,
  saveContact,
  fetchContact,
  updateContact
})(ContactFormPage);


In MobX, inject is used to inject the collection of stores. Stores will be available in props as a result of this. There is no need to provide state and actions individually.

class ContactFormPage extends Component {
  # accessing store via props
  const { contactStore:store } = this.props.stores;
  return (
      <ContactForm
        store={store}
        form={this.form}
        contact={store.entity}
      />
  )}

Some foundational parameters for Redux and Mobx are shown below.

1. Maintenance & Scalable: Redux is more scalable and manageable due to the inclusion of pure functions and the functional programming model. As a result, Redux can easily control things.

2. Debug process: Compared to MobX, debugging in Redux is a better experience because it has more developer tools and less abstraction. The Redux becomes more predictable with the flux paradigm. Debugging in MobX is much more difficult due to increased abstraction and average developer tools.

3. Learning curve: MobX is simple to learn because it has a gradual learning curve. Because of the high level of abstraction, it is simple to understand, and JavaScript developers familiar with OOP ideas will have a firm grasp of MobX. Redux is based on the functional programming paradigm, making it difficult to grasp immediately.

4. Community: Compared to MobX, Redux has a vast community. As a result, Redux delivers excellent community support to developers at any time and in any location.

5. Impure vs pure: The state in MobX can be rewritten, making the state impure. You may quickly update states with new values using this method. Redux uses pure functions. The states are read-only in this case and can't be changed directly. A new state is substituted for the existing one.

6. Observable vs plain data: Redux employs regular Javascript data to store values, whereas MobX uses an observable. Redux manually tracks all updates.

7. Store: A store is a location that keeps data. MobX contains many logically segregated stores. Redux has a single, huge store that keeps all states. In Redux, data is normalized, while in MobX, data is maintained denormalized.

When to Use MobX vs Redux

Using MobX

State is the data with which your app components work. It stores a component's data and determines what a component renders. How the state is updated and delivered from one component to another is known as state management. It can be difficult to monitor and interact with data in an application, necessitating state management libraries.

Building your state management tool is time-consuming and complicated, so you might want to utilize a state management library. Handling all of the data for your application might be a little overwhelming, especially as your application develops in size and complexity. It's crucial to note that state isn't the only data a component may render. It can also render props passed down to it.

Using Redux

States will no longer need to be pulled up when utilizing Redux with React. This makes it easier to determine which action is responsible for each change.

The component does not need to provide any state or method for its child components to communicate data. Redux is in charge of everything, significantly reducing the app's complexity and making it easier to maintain. This is the most important reason to utilize Redux, though not the only one.

Final Thoughts

Comparing MobX vs Redux, both libraries manage the state of an application in some way. Both are frequently used in conjunction with front-end libraries like React and Angular to make user interfaces more interactive and display changing data over time.

Beginners should choose Mobx because it is basic and straightforward to understand. Those with a great understanding of functional programming skills may prefer Redux because of its popularity among developers.
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Avatar for Ronald Caldwell

About the Author: Ronald Caldwell

Ron is a Technical Writer at Liquid Web working with the Marketing team. He has 9+ years of experience in Technology. He obtained an Associate of Science in Computer Science from Prairie State College in 2015. He is happily married to his high school sweetheart and lives in Michigan with her and their children.

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