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react-testing-library VS styled-components

Compare react-testing-library VS styled-components and see what are their differences

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react-testing-library logo react-testing-library

[`React Testing Library`][gh] builds on top of `DOM Testing Library` by adding

styled-components logo 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.
  • react-testing-library Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-08-21
  • styled-components Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-27

react-testing-library features and specs

  • Focused on user-centric testing
    React Testing Library encourages tests that closely resemble how users interact with an application. This approach makes tests more reliable and meaningful.
  • Reduces coupling to implementation details
    By encouraging developers to interact with components via the DOM, the library minimizes dependencies on component internals, making tests less prone to breaking from refactors.
  • Improved test readability
    Tests written with React Testing Library are generally easier to read and understand because they focus on what the user sees and does, rather than the internal logic of the components.
  • Comprehensive query options
    The library provides a wide range of query methods (e.g., getByText, getByRole), which makes it easy to select elements in ways that resemble how users think.
  • Active community and well-maintained
    React Testing Library has a strong, active community and it's maintained by experienced developers who keep the library up-to-date with React's evolution.

Possible disadvantages of react-testing-library

  • Limited support for non-DOM testing
    The library is heavily focused on DOM interactions, making it less suited for testing non-DOM logic or scenarios that don't involve user interactions.
  • Can be slower
    Tests that involve the DOM can be slower compared to tests that interact directly with component methods and state, which can lead to longer test execution times.
  • Learning curve for traditional testers
    Developers who are used to testing implementation details with other tools (like Enzyme) might find it challenging to adjust to the user-centric approach advocated by React Testing Library.
  • Potential for less granular control
    Because the library encourages testing through the UI, developers might find it harder to test specific, isolated internal behaviors of components that aren't directly visible to users.
  • Dependencies on browser APIs
    The library's reliance on browser APIs means that tests may behave differently in different environments or may require polyfills for certain features, leading to potential inconsistencies.

styled-components features and specs

  • Component-Scoped Styling
    Styles are encapsulated within components, ensuring that styles do not leak or conflict with other parts of the application.
  • Dynamic Styling
    Enables dynamic styling with the help of JavaScript variables and props, allowing for highly customizable components.
  • CSS Syntax
    Allows developers to write actual CSS code within JavaScript, making it easier for those familiar with CSS to adapt.
  • Automatic Vendor Prefixing
    Automatically adds vendor prefixes to CSS properties, ensuring cross-browser compatibility without additional configuration.
  • Theming Support
    Provides a built-in theming solution, making it easier to implement and switch between different themes in the application.
  • Server-Side Rendering
    Supports server-side rendering, improving initial page load times and SEO.

Possible disadvantages of styled-components

  • Bundle Size
    Styled-components can add to the overall bundle size, potentially affecting performance, especially in large projects.
  • Learning Curve
    Requires developers to learn the styled-components library and its API, which can be a hurdle for new team members or those unfamiliar with CSS-in-JS.
  • Performance Overhead
    The runtime cost of parsing and injecting styles can impact performance, particularly in larger applications or with frequent style changes.
  • Tooling and Ecosystem
    While improving, the ecosystem around styled-components (e.g., linting, debugging) is not as mature as traditional CSS or CSS preprocessor tools.
  • CSS-in-JS Limitations
    Some CSS features, like advanced selectors or cascading, may be more cumbersome or less intuitive to implement compared to traditional CSS approaches.

Analysis of react-testing-library

Overall verdict

  • React Testing Library is highly regarded in the React community for its simplicity and effective approach to testing React components. It’s known for promoting good testing practices that result in reliable and maintainable code.

Why this product is good

  • React Testing Library is considered good because it encourages testing practices that closely resemble how users interact with the application. It emphasizes testing components from the user's perspective and discourages testing implementation details, which can lead to more robust and maintainable tests.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking to improve the reliability of their React applications
  • Teams interested in adopting user-centric testing methodologies
  • Projects that prioritize maintainable and understandable test code

Analysis of styled-components

Overall verdict

  • Styled-components is considered a good choice for many React projects, especially for large applications where modularity and maintainability of styles are important. It has a strong community, extensive documentation, and is widely adopted in the industry.

Why this product is good

  • Styled-components is a popular library for styling React applications. It allows developers to write CSS-in-JS, which means that styles are written in JavaScript and scoped to individual components. This approach offers several benefits, such as easier style management, dynamic styling capabilities, and the ability to leverage JavaScript's full power for styles. Styled-components also supports theming, making it easier to develop consistent design systems.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking to implement a consistent design system with theming capabilities
  • Large-scale React applications where component-based styling is essential
  • Projects that require dynamic styling based on props or state
  • Teams familiar with or willing to adopt a CSS-in-JS approach

react-testing-library videos

+ Add

React unit testing with Jest & React-testing-library

More videos:

  • Review - Test a React Component that renders a list with react-testing-library

styled-components videos

No styled-components videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to react-testing-library and styled-components)

react-testing-library

styled-components

Developer Tools
42 42%
Developer Tools
58% 58
Automated Testing
100 100%
Automated Testing
0% 0
Design Tools
0 0%
Design Tools
100% 100
Javascript UI Libraries
35 35%
Javascript UI Libraries
65% 65

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

styled-components might be a bit more popular than react-testing-library. We know about 170 links to it since March 2021 and only 133 links to react-testing-library. 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-testing-library mentions (133)

  • Migrating from AngularJS to React
    Additionally, I wrote Jest and Enzyme unit tests to demonstrate how to go about unit testing the components, as test driven development (TDD) is another methodology my organization subscribes to. Jest is a unit testing framework that actually shipped with React if you use the Create React App CLI to make a new React project. And at the time, Enzyme was created by Airbnb and added additional functionality to Jest... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • How To Convert HTML CSS JS To React JS
    After converting your components, take some time to test your application. Make sure everything is working as expected. React’s development server automatically reloads your application whenever you save changes, which makes testing a lot easier. Tools like Jest and React Testing Library are also available to help you write tests for your components. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • How To Write Unit Test Cases In React JS
    React Testing Library: For testing React components from a user’s point of view, visit the React Testing Library documentation. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Top 20 Modern React Libraries To Supercharge Your Next Big Project
    Resource: React Testing Library Documentation. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Next.js Testing Guide: Unit and E2E Tests with Vitest & Playwright
    In this article, you will write unit tests in Next.js client components and synchronous server components using Vitest and React Testing Library, and you will write end-to-end tests for your async server components using Playwright. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
View more

styled-components mentions (170)

  • The CSS Odyssey: Why I Turned back to CSS After Trying Everything Else
    Diving into CSS-in-JS wasn't really a technical choice. My wife, as a UX designer, had good words about Material Design, so I headed to MUI without thinking too much. At that time, Emotion was the first-class citizen there. Meanwhile, my company's UI component library chose styled-components for styling. Both are widely used CSS-in-JS libraries. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • 11 Interview Questions You Should Know as a React Native Developer in 2025 📈🚀
    Using the same CSS-in-JS approach as React, you can use libraries like Styled Components to style your components. This allows you to write CSS directly in your JavaScript files (personally not a fan of using these). - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • CSS-in-JS: Pros and cons
    The 2016 release of styled-components popularized the approach, offering a clean syntax and React integration. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Woovi monorepos best practices
    This detail implies if any dependencies can be resolved correctly and if not have a version conflict. As the example we have the styled-components lib, it can have a problem with type Symbol reference where the library doesn´t find your properties of themes because, in your internal code, it uses the symbolObject which is a unique object that refers your set configs. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Top 20 Modern React Libraries To Supercharge Your Next Big Project
    Resource: Styled Components Documentation. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing react-testing-library and styled-components, you can also consider the following products

Jest - Jest is a delightful JavaScript Testing Framework with a focus on simplicity.

Tailwind CSS - A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

Storybook - Storybook is an open source tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, and Angular. It makes building stunning UIs organized and efficient.

Sass - Syntatically Awesome Style Sheets

Enzyme - Enzyme is a JavaScript testing utility for React.

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

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