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date-fns VS React Boilerplate

Compare date-fns VS React Boilerplate and see what are their differences

date-fns logo date-fns

date-fns provides the most comprehensive yet simple and consistent toolset for manipulating JavaScript dates in a browser & Node.js.

React Boilerplate logo React Boilerplate

Offline-first, highly scalable foundation for your next app
  • date-fns Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-30
  • React Boilerplate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-18

date-fns features and specs

  • Lightweight
    date-fns is designed to be lightweight, with a modular structure that allows developers to only import the functions they need, reducing overall bundle size.
  • Modular
    The library is highly modular, which means you can include only the specific functionalities you need, leading to better optimization and faster load times for your applications.
  • Immutable
    date-fns functions operate in an immutable way, meaning they do not change the original date objects but return new date objects, avoiding potential side effects.
  • Comprehensive
    date-fns provides a comprehensive set of date-related functions, covering a wide range of use cases from simple date manipulation to complex date calculations.
  • Localization
    The library has built-in support for internationalization and localization, making it easier to format dates in various locales and languages.
  • Ease of Use
    With a consistent and straightforward API, date-fns is easy to learn and use, making it accessible to both beginners and experienced developers.
  • Well-maintained
    date-fns is actively maintained with frequent updates and a supportive community, ensuring it stays up-to-date with the latest JavaScript standards and practices.

Possible disadvantages of date-fns

  • Not as Rich as Moment.js
    Compared to Moment.js, date-fns lacks some of the more advanced date manipulation features and utilities, potentially requiring additional work for certain use cases.
  • Learning Curve
    While simpler than some alternatives, there is still a learning curve to fully understand and utilize the modular approach and various functions provided by date-fns.
  • No Time Zones Support
    Date-fns does not provide built-in support for time zones, which can be a limitation for applications that require robust time zone handling.
  • Function Overhead
    The functional approach, while flexible, can lead to a higher overhead in function calls compared to some object-oriented approaches, potentially impacting performance in heavily date-manipulation-centric applications.
  • Dependency Management
    Because of its modularity, managing imports and ensuring all necessary parts of the library are included can sometimes be cumbersome and error-prone.
  • Interoperability
    Interoperability with other date libraries is not always straightforward, and transitioning from libraries like Moment.js can require significant code changes.

React Boilerplate features and specs

  • Established Structure
    React Boilerplate provides a well-organized and consistent project structure, making it easier for developers to follow best practices and maintain a scalable codebase.
  • Advanced Configuration
    The boilerplate offers a comprehensive setup with support for modern JavaScript features, including Webpack, Babel, and ESLint, reducing the need for manual configuration.
  • Redux Integration
    React Boilerplate comes with built-in support for Redux, helping manage application state efficiently and seamlessly.
  • Performance Optimization
    The boilerplate includes performance-focused tools and configurations such as code splitting, which helps in optimizing the application's performance.
  • Community and Documentation
    Being a popular project, React Boilerplate has extensive documentation and an active community, providing plenty of resources and support.
  • Testing Setup
    It includes testing frameworks like Jest and Enzyme, which facilitate writing and running tests for your React components and applications.

Possible disadvantages of React Boilerplate

  • Complex Initial Setup
    The extensive initial setup and configuration process might be daunting for beginners or developers unfamiliar with advanced React and Webpack configurations.
  • Overhead for Small Projects
    For small or simple projects, the boilerplate might feel like overkill, introducing unnecessary complexity and overhead.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its comprehensive nature and numerous built-in features, there can be a steep learning curve for developers who are new to the ecosystem.
  • Maintenance
    Keeping up with updates and changes in all included libraries and tools can be time-consuming and may require regular maintenance to ensure compatibility and security.
  • Customization Difficulties
    Altering the default configurations and structures to fit unique needs can sometimes be challenging and may require in-depth knowledge of the underlying tools.

Analysis of date-fns

Overall verdict

  • Yes, date-fns is a good choice for date manipulation in JavaScript applications. It is efficient, lightweight, and well-maintained, making it suitable for both small and large projects.

Why this product is good

  • Date-fns is considered a good library because it offers over 200 functions for manipulating JavaScript dates in a consistent and reliable manner. It focuses on immutability and provides a functional approach to date manipulation, which can help avoid common pitfalls associated with mutable objects. It's also modular, allowing developers to include only the functions they need, reducing the overall bundle size.

Recommended for

  • Developers seeking a lightweight, modular date library.
  • Projects where tree-shaking capabilities are important to reduce bundle size.
  • Teams that prefer a functional programming approach to date manipulation.
  • Applications needing comprehensive date manipulation capabilities without the overhead of larger libraries like Moment.js.

Analysis of React Boilerplate

Overall verdict

  • React Boilerplate is a solid choice for developers looking to kickstart their React projects with a robust and comprehensive setup. It is particularly beneficial for projects that require scalability and performance optimizations from the start. However, it might be overkill for small or simple applications, where a lighter setup could be more efficient.

Why this product is good

  • React Boilerplate is considered good by many developers because it provides a well-structured framework for building scalable and maintainable React applications. It includes best practices and optimizations out of the box, such as Redux for state management, code splitting for performance, and built-in tools for testing, linting, and transpiling. This allows developers to focus more on building features rather than configuring and setting up the infrastructure.

Recommended for

    React Boilerplate is recommended for mid to large-scale React projects, teams that value architecture and maintainability, and developers who want to enforce coding standards and best practices from the beginning. It's also ideal for projects that anticipate a need for additional features, as its modular structure allows for easier expansion.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to date-fns and React Boilerplate)
Javascript UI Libraries
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
17 17%
83% 83
JS Library
100 100%
0% 0
React
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, date-fns should be more popular than React Boilerplate. It has been mentiond 77 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

date-fns mentions (77)

  • Supporting RTL language layout in your web application
    You can also choose to use a library like date-fns to handle date and time localization. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Say Goodbye to JavaScript’s DST Date Confusion
    These issues can also occur in date-time libraries such as moment.js, date-fns, Day.js, and luxon. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Day 8: D-8 🎱
    Do you know how many days left till Christmas? Well this little handy library certainly does! - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Release Radar · September 2024: Major updates from the open source community
    JavaScript seems to be the flavour of the month, and here's another JavaScript project for you. date-fns provides the most comprehensive and consistent toolset for manipulating JavaScript dates in a browser & Node.js. The latest version comes ten years after the very first release. There are no breaking changes in the release, and it comes with added time zone support, meaning you can select which time zone to... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Date Formatting: Carbon, date-fns, and Vanilla JS
    Working with dates and times is an essential part of web development. Whether you're building a blog, an e-commerce site, or a personal project, handling and formatting dates correctly can greatly enhance user experience. In this blog, we'll explore date formatting using three different methods: Carbon (PHP), date-fns (JavaScript), and Vanilla JS Date. We'll provide examples for each to help you understand how to... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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React Boilerplate mentions (10)

  • Redux developers, please stop doing this!
    I worked on a React project in 2019, I believe it was built on top of the react-boilerplate template, and the developer experience with Redux was so bad that I became a Vue developer. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Top 5 React Boilerplates to Know in 2023
    2 React Boilerplate is a reliable and well-designed boilerplate in the Javascript UI Libraries, with 28.2k ratings on GitHub. The super-rich component and font base, together with Redux, Mocha, Redux-Saga, Jest, React Router, PostCSS, and reselect are all included. They support SEO indexing. Concentrating on app development and performance is more than enough. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Redux Sagas firing multiple times if injected in different containers
    We are using https://github.com/react-boilerplate/react-boilerplate and have a classic store layout with multiple components. Source: about 3 years ago
  • react-boilerplate authentication login page flashes on page reload
    I'm working on an app with a login page and the rest of the pages of the app (should be logged in to view). I'm using react-boilerplate. From this example, I edited my asyncInjectors.js file to have redirectToLogin and redirectToDashboard methods:. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Identity Server 4 Social Login for SPA
    I'm working on application using a Web API(asp.net core) and a SPA (react-boilerplate). I'm starting work in user registration/login and one of the requirements is to allow for user to sign in with facebook, google, etc. Source: about 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing date-fns and React Boilerplate, you can also consider the following products

Moment.js - Parse, validate, manipulate, and display dates in JavaScript

mvpbase - An MVP boilerplate marketplace where you can find developers and designers to make the first version of your SaaS product.

Day.js - 2kB JavaScript date utility library

React Native Desktop - Build OS X desktop apps using React Native

Luxon - Application and Data, Libraries, and Javascript Utilities & Libraries

Static Site Boilerplate - A better workflow for building modern static websites.