React Query vs SWR, I'm Really Torn
I'm starting a new project and currently choosing a server state management library. I can't decide between React Query and SWR. React Query has many features and a large community, while SWR is lightweight and said to work well with Next.js. I'm mainly planning to build a dashboard-style app, so real-time data updates are important. I'd appreciate advice from anyone with experience.
5 answers
Are you also looking for features like caching strategies or optimistic updates beyond data fetching? React Query handles these systematically, whereas SWR is more minimal, sometimes requiring you to implement them yourself. The choice seems to depend on your project's scale.
I had a similar dilemma, but I ended up choosing SWR. Since I'm using Next.js, it required almost no configuration. For a dashboard, handling real-time updates with hooks like useSWRSubscription worked pretty well. Its lightweight nature is a big plus.
After trying both, I realized that if 'real-time' is truly important, it's better to directly connect WebSocket or SSE instead. The polling features of the libraries themselves have limitations. I recommend using React Query or SWR as supplementary tools.
I personally keep using React Query's Devtools because I find them incredibly useful. When debugging dashboards, they immediately show which data is stale, making it easy to catch real-time update issues. SWR is good too, but React Query wins hands down when it comes to debugging.
I've used both libraries, and for dashboards, I recommend React Query. Features like refetchInterval for real-time updates or WebSocket integration are much more intuitive than SWR. In particular, its cache invalidation strategy is powerful, making it easy to manage complex data dependencies.