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React Helmet VS React Router

Compare React Helmet VS React Router and see what are their differences

React Helmet logo React Helmet

A document head manager for React. Contribute to nfl/react-helmet development by creating an account on GitHub.

React Router logo React Router

React Router is a routing for React.js, that synchronizes the components of application with the URL & supports server side rendering.
  • React Helmet Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03
  • React Router Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-26

React Helmet features and specs

  • SEO Optimization
    React Helmet allows for dynamic manipulation of document head elements, enabling improved SEO by updating meta tags, title, and other head elements on the fly.
  • Server-Side Rendering Support
    React Helmet integrates well with server-side rendering, ensuring that head elements are properly rendered, which is crucial for SEO and faster page loads.
  • Ease of Use
    Provides a simple API for managing head tags declaratively within React components, making it easy for developers to use without needing to manipulate the DOM directly.
  • Integration with React Ecosystem
    Seamlessly integrates with React applications, supporting React component patterns and life cycles which makes it a natural choice for handling head management in React apps.

Possible disadvantages of React Helmet

  • Additional Dependency
    Adding React Helmet to a project introduces an extra dependency that developers have to maintain, potentially increasing the bundle size.
  • Client-Side Only Limitations
    React Helmet manipulations occur after the JavaScript has run, which could lead to a brief delay in updating head content, potentially affecting initial page load content.
  • Potential Overhead
    For small applications or simple websites, the overhead of including a library like React Helmet might be unnecessary, leading to increased complexity without significant benefits.
  • Complexity with Nested Components
    Managing head tags across deeply nested components can be complex and may require additional architectural considerations to ensure head changes are predictable and manageable.

React Router features and specs

  • Declarative Routing
    React Router allows developers to define their routes in a declarative fashion using JSX, making the code more readable and easier to manage.
  • Dynamic Routing
    React Router enables dynamic route configuration, allowing routes to be created and changed at runtime based on application state.
  • Nested Routes
    It supports nested routes, allowing developers to build complex user interfaces with different layout components easily.
  • Components First
    Since routes are expressed as components, React Router integrates seamlessly with the rest of the React ecosystem, fostering a component-first development approach.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Offers a rich set of features, including route parameters, query strings, programmatic navigation, and route guards.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Being a popular routing library, React Router is backed by a strong community with extensive resources, plugins, and third-party solutions.
  • Active Maintenance
    Continuously maintained and updated by Remix Software, ensuring compatibility with the latest React features and improvements.

Possible disadvantages of React Router

  • Learning Curve
    Although powerful, React Router has a relatively steep learning curve, especially for beginners who are new to React.
  • Complexity
    Implementing certain advanced features or configurations, like authentication guards or nested dynamic routes, can become complex and may lead to overly verbose code.
  • State Management Limitations
    React Router handles routing, but it needs to be integrated with a state management solution for handling application state across different routes, which can add complexity.
  • Overhead for Small Projects
    For smaller projects or simple applications, React Router might introduce unnecessary complexity, and a simpler routing solution may be more appropriate.
  • Dependency on React
    As a library specifically for React, it cannot be used with other frameworks or libraries directly, limiting flexibility if you wish to switch from React in the future.

React Helmet videos

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

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React Router videos

React Router v5: Philosophy and Introduction

More videos:

  • Review - React router with hooks ( useHistory useParam useLocation )
  • Review - Nested routes with React Router v5

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to React Helmet and React Router)
Design Tools
52 52%
48% 48
Javascript UI Libraries
27 27%
73% 73
Development Tools
45 45%
55% 55
Developer Tools
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 React Helmet and React Router

React Helmet Reviews

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React Router Reviews

React UI Components Libraries: Our Top Picks for 2023
React Router comes with documentation that you can refer to know how to get started with this tool. You can also access the tutorial available on the official home page to learn more. It has 2.4 million GitHub users, 3..6 million npm downloads, and boasts 600+ contributors from across the world.
Source: kinsta.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, React Helmet should be more popular than React Router. It has been mentiond 20 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.

React Helmet mentions (20)

  • React SEO: How to Build Search-Friendly Pages in React
    React-helmet is the industry standard for meta tags optimization. It allows every page to have its own custom meta tags, what we have seen is a major victory for React SEO. The library also allows for the addition of Open Graph, which directly impacts the shareability of your content on potentially highly viral spaces such as social networks. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • 🚀 Why Single-Page Applications (SPAs) Are Taking Over the Web – Are You Ready?
    ✅ Meta tags & structured data – Use React Helmet for better metadata. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Top 20 Modern React Libraries To Supercharge Your Next Big Project
    Resource: React Helmet Documentation. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • 14 Must-Have React Libraries Every Beginner Developer Should Know in 2025: 🚀
    Manage document head dynamically: Dynamically manage your app’s metadata (titles, descriptions, etc.). Ideal for boosting SEO and optimizing social media previews. 🛠️ 🔗github.com/nfl/react-helmet. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • A guide to React 19’s new Document Metadata feature
    Document Metadata is convenient and secure because it is built into React, whereas SEO libraries like React Helmet have security issues. React Helmet hasn't had a GitHub commit since 2020, though it still garners about 1 million weekly downloads on npm. Despite its popularity, the project was abandoned due to data integrity and leakage issues. Consequently, Scott Taylor, the developer of React Helmet, archived it... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
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React Router mentions (11)

  • I Built an App with Remix in 30 Minutes
    Remix is built on top of React Router, which is an easy-to-use routing library that integrates seamlessly into your React applications. React Router supports nested routes, so you can render the layout for child routes inside parent layouts. This is one of the things I love. Done this way, routing just makes sense. It’s easy and intuitive to implement. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • 13 Must Know Libraries for a React Developer
    React Router is the most popular library to implement routing in React apps. It has more than 50K stars on GitHub and more than 10 million weekly downloads on NPM and it's built by the same team behind the popular Remix framework of React. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Few static pages and react for dashboard setup
    This would be easiest with a router library, like react-router (the most popular one for React apps). Here's a good tutorial for implementing authenticated routes that includes industry-standard details like if the user opens the app to an authenticated route and gets redirected to the login page and then logs in, redirect them back to the authenticated page they first attempted to access. Source: over 2 years ago
  • The Complete Guide for Setting Up React App from Scratch (feat. TypeScript)
    React-router-dom(v6.4.4): contains bindings for using React Router in web applications. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Does anyone know where I can find good examples of documentation for GitHub repositories, frameworks, or developer tools? I am looking for material that I can study so that I can create good writing samples.
    I suggest you look at React Router. It's a stable and popular routing library. The tutorial is great. I taught myself React and I absolutely loved this library's documentation. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing React Helmet and React Router, you can also consider the following products

styled-components - styled-components is a visual primitive for the component age that also helps the user to use the ES6 and CSS to style apps.

Ant Design - An enterprise-class UI design language and React implementation with a set of high-quality React components, one of best React UI library for enterprises

PrimeReact - JavaScript Framework Components

Vue.js - Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces

React Hot Loader - Tweak React components in real time. Contribute to gaearon/react-hot-loader development by creating an account on GitHub.

AngularJS - AngularJS lets you extend HTML vocabulary for your application. The resulting environment is extraordinarily expressive, readable, and quick to develop.