Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

GSAP VS React Spring

Compare GSAP VS React Spring and see what are their differences

GSAP logo GSAP

GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform) is a suite of JavaScript tools for high-performance animations that work in all major browsers.

React Spring logo React Spring

Bring your components to life with simple spring animation primitives for React
  • GSAP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-11-22
  • React Spring Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-07

GSAP features and specs

  • Performance
    GSAP is designed for high-performance animations and is highly optimized to handle more animations simultaneously with smoother transitions compared to other libraries.
  • Ease of Use
    It features a user-friendly API that simplifies creating complex animations with minimal code.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    GSAP ensures consistent behavior across all major browsers, including older versions, offering a reliable solution for animations.
  • Flexibility
    The library supports a wide range of animation types, including tweens, timelines, and more, making it versatile for various use cases.
  • Community and Support
    GSAP has a strong community and extensive documentation, plus active forums where users can get help and share insights.
  • Plugins
    It offers a variety of plugins, such as ScrollTrigger, MorphSVG, and Draggable, which extend its capabilities for more advanced animations.
  • Compatibility with Frameworks
    GSAP integrates well with popular JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular, making it a great choice for modern web applications.

React Spring features and specs

  • Flexible Animations
    React Spring offers a highly flexible animation system that can handle various types of animations, from simple transitions to complex sequences, making it ideal for a wide range of animation needs.
  • Declarative API
    The library provides a declarative API, which aligns well with React's component-based architecture, allowing developers to create animations in a straightforward and intuitive manner.
  • Performance Optimized
    React Spring is designed with performance in mind, using physics-based calculations to ensure smooth and realistic animations, which can enhance user experience without sacrificing performance.
  • Interoperability
    React Spring is interoperable with other libraries and can easily integrate into existing projects, allowing developers to incrementally add animations without significant refactoring.
  • Active Community
    The library benefits from an active community, providing ample resources, community support, and regular updates which help in keeping the library up to date with the latest best practices.

Possible disadvantages of React Spring

  • Learning Curve
    For developers new to physics-based animation systems, React Spring can have a steep learning curve, requiring time to understand its concepts and implementation details.
  • Complexity
    For simple animations, React Spring may be considered overkill, introducing unnecessary complexity compared to CSS transitions or other simpler animation solutions.
  • Bundle Size
    Inclusion of React Spring can increase the bundle size of an application, which could be a concern for performance, especially in projects where minimizing bundle size is critical.
  • Limited Native Support
    As React Spring is specifically tailored for web-based animations, it has limited support for native applications compared to some other animation libraries that cater to both web and native platforms.
  • Dependency Management
    Using React Spring introduces an additional dependency in the project, which requires management and updating to maintain compatibility with React and other package updates.

GSAP videos

GSAP 3.0 Crash Course - JavaScript Animation Library

More videos:

  • Review - Getting Started with GSAP TweenMax (Tutorial) - Animating a Landing Page

React Spring videos

No React Spring videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GSAP and React Spring)
Javascript UI Libraries
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
77 77%
23% 23
Animation
0 0%
100% 100
Charting Libraries
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GSAP and React Spring

GSAP Reviews

We have no reviews of GSAP yet.
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React Spring Reviews

Top 7 React Animation Libraries in 2022
export default function App() { return (
); } Explore Now2. react-springSource: react-springFeatures of react-springInstallation// NPM npm install react-spring // Yarn yarn add react-springUsageimport React from 'react'; import './style.css'; import { useSpring,...
Best React animation library: Top 7 libraries compared
React Spring is a modern animation library that is based on spring physics. It’s highly flexible and covers most animations needed for a user interface. React Spring inherits some properties from React Motion, such as ease of use, interpolation, and performance.
7 Useful React Animation Libraries for Web Development
React Spring is a modern react animation library that uses spring physics as its foundation. It is quite adaptable and includes the majority of animations required for a user interface. React Spring derives some features from React Motion, including interpolation, performance, and ease of use.
Source: www.atatus.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GSAP seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 80 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.

GSAP mentions (80)

  • Webflow makes GSAP 100% free – plus more updates
    GSAP – A wildly robust JavaScript animation library built for professionals [https://gsap.com]. - Source: Hacker News / 16 days ago
  • Bring Your Scroll to Life: A Beginner’s Guide to Scroll-Based Animations with GSAP
    I'm using a component-based framework (like Astro) along with Tailwind CSS classes and GSAP to build our animation experience. Here’s a quick overview of our file structure:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Some platforms to post your animations on the web
    You can use web technologies directly themselves to create very rich animations for the web. Sometimes only CSS alone is all you need. Many examples online. Sometimes a library like Motion or GASP can help speed web animations. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • 8 Essential Tools Every Modern Web Developer Should Know
    GSAP stands as the gold standard for web animations. This JavaScript animation library offers unprecedented control over HTML elements, SVGs, and Canvas animations. What sets GSAP apart is its exceptional performance and cross-browser compatibility. Whether you're creating simple transitions or complex, timeline-based animations, GSAP provides a robust API that makes smooth, professional animations achievable... - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • p5.js
    GSAP[1] is pretty much the industry standard, I think. You have to pay for some of its more advanced features. There's also Anime.js[2] and Scene.js[3] - but I've never played with them so can't vouch for their usefulness. Both have had code updates in the past year. (Self-promotion time) I had a lot of fun adding an animation/tween system to my canvas library[4] a while back. Building out the code to run such... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
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React Spring mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of React Spring yet. Tracking of React Spring recommendations started around May 2023.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GSAP and React Spring, you can also consider the following products

Anime.js - Lightweight JavaScript animation library

Framer Motion - A truly simple production-ready React animation library

Three.js - A JavaScript 3D library which makes WebGL simpler.

React Motion - A spring that solves your animation problems..

Pixi.js - Fast lightweight 2D library that works across all devices

Remotion.dev - Create MP4 motion graphics in React. Leverage CSS, SVG, WebGL and more technologies to render videos programmatically!