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Reactotron VS Chrome DevTools

Compare Reactotron VS Chrome DevTools and see what are their differences

Reactotron logo Reactotron

A CLI & OS X app for inspecting ReactJS & React Native apps

Chrome DevTools logo Chrome DevTools

Get started with Google Chrome's built-in web developer tools.
  • Reactotron Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21
  • Chrome DevTools Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-05

Reactotron features and specs

  • Real-time Debugging
    Reactotron offers real-time inspection of React and React Native applications, allowing developers to view app state, API requests, and logs immediately.
  • Enhanced Logging
    Provides advanced logging features, making it easier to track down bugs by allowing developers to log important events and data.
  • State Management
    Supports popular state management libraries like Redux and MobX, enabling developers to monitor and manipulate the application state in real-time.
  • Performance Tracking
    Allows developers to track performance metrics and UI rendering times, which can help identify bottlenecks and optimize applications.
  • Customizable
    Developers can customize Reactotron to fit their specific needs by adding plugins to extend its functionality.

Possible disadvantages of Reactotron

  • Setup Complexity
    The initial setup can be complex, especially for beginners, as it requires configuration within the application.
  • Overhead
    Adding Reactotron to a project may introduce some performance overhead during development, as it tracks a lot of information.
  • Limited Production Use
    Reactotron is designed for development and not recommended for use in production environments, limiting its utility for live apps.
  • Compatibility Issues
    There may be compatibility issues with newer versions of React or third-party libraries, requiring developers to find or wait for updates.
  • Learning Curve
    While powerful, Reactotron has a learning curve associated with understanding and effectively using all its features.

Chrome DevTools features and specs

  • Comprehensive Debugging
    Chrome DevTools offers a range of debugging tools, including breakpoints, watch expressions, and call stack analysis, facilitating efficient error detection and correction.
  • Performance Profiling
    It provides tools like the Performance panel, which helps developers analyze rendering performance and identify bottlenecks in code execution and resource loading.
  • Network Monitoring
    The Network panel allows developers to monitor resource requests, inspect headers, and analyze network performance to optimize loading times.
  • Responsive Design Mode
    DevTools includes a responsive design mode that makes it easy to test and ensure website functionality across different screen sizes and resolutions.
  • Integrated Console
    The integrated JavaScript console allows for the execution of JavaScript code snippets, inspection of variables, and logging, which aids in dynamic testing and debugging.

Possible disadvantages of Chrome DevTools

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For beginners, the vast array of tools and features available in Chrome DevTools can be overwhelming and challenging to master.
  • Performance Overheads
    Running DevTools, particularly the performance and memory profiling tools, can sometimes add overhead to the application, affecting real-time performance assessment.
  • Browser Dependency
    Since Chrome DevTools is specific to the Chrome browser, developers may need to learn other tools for compatible debugging across different browsers.
  • Limited Automation
    While DevTools is excellent for manual debugging, it lacks extensive built-in capabilities for automated testing and scripting, often requiring additional tools.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running DevTools can be resource-intensive, potentially affecting system performance, especially on lower-end hardware.

Reactotron videos

Reactotron - Your Robo Tour Through Awesomeness

Chrome DevTools videos

Inspect Network Activity - Chrome DevTools 101

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Reactotron and Chrome DevTools)
Developer Tools
51 51%
49% 49
Software Development
27 27%
73% 73
Automated Testing
0 0%
100% 100
React
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Chrome DevTools seems to be a lot more popular than Reactotron. While we know about 51 links to Chrome DevTools, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Reactotron. 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.

Reactotron mentions (2)

Chrome DevTools mentions (51)

  • How to scrape TikTok using Python
    Let's look at what happens under the hood when we scroll a TikTok page. I recommend studying network activity in DevTools to understand what requests are going to the server. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Most Effective Approaches for Debugging Applications
    A structured debugging process is essential for tackling bugs methodically, reducing guesswork and preventing hasty fixes that introduce new problems. The process begins with reproducing the bug under controlled conditions to understand its triggers, followed by isolating the problematic component—be it a function, API endpoint, or database query. Tools like Chrome DevTools for web applications, GDB for C/C++... - Source: dev.to / 7 days ago
  • F45 Broke My Beloved Strava Integration So I Wrote My Own
    This is the most unorthodox part of this whole process. There is no advertised public API for Lionheart that I know of or a functional website; the only place to get the data is the F45 mobile app. I used a Proxy to see if I could intercept the app's requests to their servers to find a usable payload. This process is similar to using the Network tab in Chrome's Developer Tools. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • 🚀 Build Better Projects: 10 Online Tools for Debugging & Testing You Can’t Miss!
    ➡️ Learn more about Chrome DevTools. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • How to identify and fix memory leaks in react
    This memory leak can be detected by tracking the heap size in DevTools or using the React Developer Tools to see if the component is unmounted but still holding onto memory. On inspection of the error we get on the devTool, we see this error:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Reactotron and Chrome DevTools, you can also consider the following products

PrimeNG - UI Library for Angular2+

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Laravel Voyager - The missing Laravel admin

GitHub - Originally founded as a project to simplify sharing code, GitHub has grown into an application used by over a million people to store over two million code repositories, making GitHub the largest code host in the world.

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

puppeteer - Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium...