Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Rax VS SolidJS

Compare Rax VS SolidJS and see what are their differences

Rax logo Rax

🎩 A universal React-compatible render engine (by Alibaba)

SolidJS logo SolidJS

A declarative, efficient and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
  • Rax Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-09-04
  • SolidJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-16

Rax features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Rax allows developers to write once and deploy across multiple platforms including web, Weex, and Node.js, increasing versatility and reducing development time.
  • Lightweight
    Rax is designed to be minimal in size compared to larger frameworks like React, which can improve load times and performance for applications.
  • Fast Performance
    With optimizations similar to React Fiber, Rax offers quick rendering which is crucial for improving user experience on different devices.
  • Alibaba Supported
    As a project backed by Alibaba, Rax benefits from ongoing development, maintenance, and possibly more direct industry relevance or use cases, particularly in e-commerce.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Rax utilizes popular technologies and concepts from the React ecosystem, making it easier for developers familiar with React to transition or adopt it.

Possible disadvantages of Rax

  • Smaller Community
    Compared to more established frameworks like React or Vue, Rax has a smaller community, which can result in fewer resources, tutorials, and third-party libraries.
  • Potential for Limited Support
    As a less widespread framework, finding support, whether through official channels or community forums, may pose a challenge.
  • Niche Use Cases
    Primarily developed by Alibaba for its specific use cases, Rax may not cater to all types of projects, making it less versatile for generic application development.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its similarities to React, developers may encounter a learning curve if they need to understand Rax's unique features and optimizations.
  • Resource Availability
    Due to its relatively new status in the global market, there could be fewer books, courses, and documentation compared to more dominant frameworks.

SolidJS features and specs

  • Reactivity
    SolidJS uses fine-grained reactivity, which allows it to track dependencies efficiently and update the UI exactly when and where it needs to, improving performance.
  • Performance
    SolidJS has performance close to vanilla JavaScript due to its compilation process that optimizes the rendering path with no virtual DOM, resulting in highly efficient updates.
  • Simplicity
    The API of SolidJS is designed to be intuitive and simple, leveraging familiar concepts from JavaScript and React, making it easier to understand and work with.
  • Compatibility
    SolidJS is designed to work seamlessly with JSX, allowing developers who are familiar with React to transition smoothly and utilize existing JSX component structures.
  • Size
    SolidJS is lightweight, often resulting in smaller bundle sizes compared to other frameworks like React, which can lead to faster load times and better performance on the client-side.

Possible disadvantages of SolidJS

  • Community Size
    SolidJS has a relatively smaller community compared to more established libraries like React, which can result in less available support and fewer third-party libraries and resources.
  • Learning Curve
    Even with its simplicity, SolidJS introduces concepts like fine-grained reactivity, which can be unfamiliar to developers who are used to the virtual DOM approach of other frameworks.
  • Ecosystem
    Although growing, SolidJS currently has a less mature ecosystem compared to React and Vue, which means fewer tools, plugins, and integrations available for rapid development.
  • Tooling
    While improvements are being made, SolidJS might not have as sophisticated tooling and IDE support as more established frameworks, potentially affecting developer productivity.
  • Compatibility Concerns
    SolidJS's innovative reactivity model may lead to compatibility challenges with certain existing libraries or plugins that were designed with virtual DOM conception in mind.

Analysis of SolidJS

Overall verdict

  • SolidJS can be an excellent choice for developers looking for a highly performant, reactive UI library, especially for projects where size and speed are critical factors.

Why this product is good

  • SolidJS is considered a good JavaScript library for building user interfaces due to its fine-grained reactivity system, which provides high performance with minimal overhead. It compiles templates into highly optimized JavaScript code, ensuring efficient updates. SolidJS embraces a component model similar to React, making it a familiar choice for developers experienced with that library, while offering improvements in speed and efficiency. Additionally, SolidJS's small bundle size makes it an attractive option for lightweight applications.

Recommended for

  • Developers who need high performance and efficiency
  • Projects requiring small bundle sizes
  • Teams familiar with React concepts seeking an efficient alternative
  • Applications where fast updates and minimal overhead are crucial

Rax videos

NATE'S AMAZING RAX ADVENTURE ! Visiting The Elusive RAX RESTAURANT in Lancaster Ohio

More videos:

  • Review - Visiting a #Rax Roast Beef restaurant - What remains of a once thriving fast food chain
  • Tutorial - RAx Tutorials - How to use RAx Review Assistant Tool

SolidJS videos

Is SolidJS Better Than React?

More videos:

  • Review - React vs SolidJS, Fight!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Rax and SolidJS)
JavaScript Framework
37 37%
63% 63
Javascript UI Libraries
34 34%
66% 66
Development
54 54%
46% 46
JS Library
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, SolidJS seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 22 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.

Rax mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Rax yet. Tracking of Rax recommendations started around Mar 2021.

SolidJS mentions (22)

  • SonicScan - A Music Fingerprinting and Identification App
    Then I learned Tauri and used my favourite frontend framework SolidJS with TailwindCSS and DaisyUI to build the UI with MotionOne to add animations and Tauri to build the desktop/web/android/ios app. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Creating a Browser Extension using SolidJS + WXT II
    Import { createSignal } from "solid-js"; Import solidLogo from "@/assets/solid.svg"; Import wxtLogo from "/wxt.svg"; Import "./App.css"; Function App() { const [count, setCount] = createSignal(0); return ( <> - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • 💎 of solid-primitives, part 1: context
    Solid.js is already pretty powerful, but even so, there are things it cannot do out of the box. Here's where the community comes in and provides packages to enhance your development experience: solid-primitives. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • The zen of state in Solid.js
    Solid.js is a frontend framework that is known for its superficial similarities and otherwise vast differences to react. One of its best parts is its signals-based state management. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Deploy a solid-start app on github pages
    Solid-start is the long awaited meta-framework for Solid.js. Since it entered its second beta after a rewrite, there were a few breaking changes, so the previous article on this one's topic was no longer valid. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Rax and SolidJS, you can also consider the following products

Glimmer - Fast and light-weight UI components for the web

Svelte - Cybernetically enhanced web apps

Preact.js - Preact is a fast 3kB alternative to React with the same modern API. Components & Virtual DOM.

Vue.js - Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces

Deku - Functional view library for building UI components as an alternative to React

Zepto - World's Simplest AI Powered Cloud-based Data Analytics Tool.