Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Refine VS RedwoodJS

Compare Refine VS RedwoodJS and see what are their differences

Refine logo Refine

A React Framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards & B2B apps with unmatched flexibilty.

RedwoodJS logo RedwoodJS

Redwood is an opinionated, full-stack, JavaScript/TypeScript web app framework designed to keep you moving fast as your app grows from side project to startup.
  • Refine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-11-18

Refine is a meta React framework that enables the rapid development of a wide range of web applications. From internal tools, admin panels, B2B apps and dashboards, it serves as a comprehensive solution for building any type of CRUD applications.

It's internal hooks and components simplifies the development process and eliminates the repetitive tasks by providing industry-standard solutions for crucial aspects of a project, including authentication, access control, routing, networking, state management, and i18n.

Refine is headless by design and offers unlimited styling and customization possibilities, empowering developers to create tailored and fully functional applications that meet specific project requirements.

  • RedwoodJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-08

Refine

Website
refine.dev
$ Details
Platforms
Web Browser React Native Remix Electron NextJS ReactJS
Release Date
2021 September

RedwoodJS

$ Details
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

Refine features and specs

  • Backend Agnostic
  • Decoupled UI
  • Native Typescript Core
  • Powerful Default UI
  • Routing
  • Authentication
  • Rest API Integration
  • GraphQL API Integration
  • Developer tools
  • SSR Support

RedwoodJS features and specs

  • Full-Stack Solution
    RedwoodJS offers an opinionated full-stack framework that integrates seamlessly from frontend to backend, streamlining development with tools and conventions for building web applications.
  • GraphQL Integration
    RedwoodJS uses GraphQL as a data layer, providing a powerful and flexible querying mechanism that allows for efficient data fetching and management.
  • Developer Experience
    The framework emphasizes a great developer experience with features like automated code generation, a built-in CLI, and fast iteration cycles through hot-reloading.
  • JAMstack Architecture
    RedwoodJS supports the JAMstack architecture, promoting scalable, secure, and high-performance web applications by decoupling frontend and backend.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    An active and growing community contributes plugins, packages, and resources, fostering knowledge sharing and enhancements for the framework.

Possible disadvantages of RedwoodJS

  • Maturity
    As a relatively new and evolving framework, RedwoodJS may face issues with stability, missing features, and less established best practices compared to more mature frameworks.
  • Learning Curve
    Beginners might encounter a steep learning curve due to the framework's use of modern technologies and architectures like GraphQL and the JAMstack.
  • Opinionated Defaults
    While opinionated defaults can speed up development, they might also limit flexibility and require developers to adapt to Redwood's specific way of doing things.
  • Ecosystem Size
    Its ecosystem is smaller compared to more established frameworks, meaning fewer third-party packages, plugins, and community resources are available.
  • Hosting and Deployment
    Deploying RedwoodJS applications can be challenging due to its novel architecture and integrated technologies, which might require specific hosting solutions and configurations.

Analysis of Refine

Overall verdict

  • Refine is a robust and efficient framework that is well-suited for developers looking to build scalable web applications. Its flexibility and ease of use make it a strong choice for many projects, particularly those with complex requirements.

Why this product is good

  • Refine (refine.dev) is considered a good tool due to its powerful capabilities for developing and managing enterprise-scale web applications. It provides a highly customizable and modular architecture, which allows developers to integrate different services and libraries seamlessly. With its intuitive design, it enhances productivity and simplifies complex tasks, making repetitive tasks easier to automate. The active community and extensive documentation also support developers in overcoming challenges and implementing best practices.

Recommended for

  • Developers working on enterprise-scale applications
  • Teams requiring a modular and customizable framework
  • Projects that demand seamless integrations with existing services
  • Developers seeking a productivity-boosting tool with strong community support

Refine videos

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RedwoodJS videos

RedwoodJS - a full-stack JavaScript Framework with advantages of JAMstack architecture

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Refine and RedwoodJS)
Developer Tools
56 56%
44% 44
Open Source
74 74%
26% 26
Web Frameworks
44 44%
56% 56
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Refine and RedwoodJS.

What makes your product unique?

Refine's answer

Refine's unparalleled flexibility with data providers makes it a unique choice. Whether you're integrating with REST, GraphQL, or any other data source, Refine streamlines the process.

Another defining feature is its built-in UI integrations. This means you can create polished and responsive user interfaces with ease. Plus, with a thriving community and extensive developer support, you're never alone when using Refine.

Refine simplifies data management and CRUD operations, allowing you to focus on building your application's core functionality. Its robust security features and authentication support ensure your data is protected.

What truly sets Refine apart is its headless architecture. This design philosophy empowers you to customize every aspect of your application, giving you complete control over its look and feel.

Real-time capabilities are another standout feature. This means you can easily incorporate live updates and collaboration features into your apps.

With comprehensive documentation and tutorials, getting started and mastering Refine is a straightforward process. The active open-source community ensures regular updates and improvements.

Refine is suitable for projects of enterprise-level solutions. Its scalability makes it a versatile choice for developers and organizations alike.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Refine's answer

It provides a headless architecture, giving developers complete freedom to customize the frontend using any UI library or framework, which is not always the case with other solutions.

Secondly, Refine's data provider support is extensive, with a wide range of options, making it easier to integrate with various backends. Additionally, it has a rapidly growing community and extensive documentation, ensuring excellent support and resources for users. The real-time features, along with built-in UI integration for popular libraries, simplify complex tasks.

Refine is backed by an active development team that regularly releases updates and improvements. In summary, Refine offers flexibility, comprehensive support, and a strong community, making it a compelling choice in the competitive landscape of web application development frameworks.

How would you describe your primary audience?

Refine's answer

Refine's primary audience consists of developers and teams who are focused on building Enterprise web applications, particularly those in need of admin panels, internal tools, or dashboards. Refine can be use for any type of CRUD apps.

These developers typically have a background in Typescript and React and are looking for a framework that provides flexibility, extensibility, and efficiency in building data-centric applications.

Refine is popular among enterprises and businesses that require scalable and maintainable solutions for their data management needs.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Refine and RedwoodJS

Refine Reviews

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RedwoodJS Reviews

10 Best Next.js Alternatives to Consider Today
RedwoodJS is a full-stack framework leveraging React, GraphQL, and Prisma to create modern web applications. With a focus on convention over configuration, RedwoodJS promotes best practices and ensures a consistent development experience. Its integrated stack simplifies the development process, making it an excellent choice for those who appreciate a batteries-included...

Social recommendations and mentions

RedwoodJS might be a bit more popular than Refine. We know about 47 links to it since March 2021 and only 39 links to Refine. 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.

Refine mentions (39)

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RedwoodJS mentions (47)

  • UmiJS: the Shaolin of web frameworks
    đź§™ In general, UmiJS provides developers with a clever Angular/RedwoodJS-like approach with out-of-the-box tools and scripts for streamlined web development in big teams. The corresponding inevitably huge amount of abstractions and hidden complexity brings a decent level of obscurity and magic, which might be good or bad, depending on the number of dedicated wizards of high level in your team. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Why Ruby on Rails still matters
    If we were keeping in the JS ecosystem, there’s Redwood [0] which has around a while. [0] https://redwoodjs.com/ not comparable to Rails or Django’s definition of “a while” but it’s quite mature. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Let's talk metaframeworks
    RedwoodJS. Batteries-included React- and RSC-based full-stack web framework for startups. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • What's New in Ruby on Rails 8
    I think there's a new and healthy rivalry between Ruby, Python, and JS for web backends! - Ruby and Rails now has all of the things mentioned above and more. I do have concerns that Rails will evolve in directions where bundled frontends have less official support, with the continued centralization of 37signals/DHH [0] and their controversial removal of Typescript from Turbo [1] (and bundling in general for... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Chakra UI Hackathon 22’ Recap
    Sponsors: One specific element of a successful event is the sponsors. While planning, it was evident we would need sponsors for the event. We're so grateful to those who decided to partner with us and support this Hackathon. Thank you to RedwoodJS and Chakra UI Pro. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Refine and RedwoodJS, you can also consider the following products

ToolJet - Open-source alternative for Retool

Next.js - A small framework for server-rendered universal JavaScript apps

PocketBlocks - In PocketBlocks, all you need to do is drag and drop pre-built or self-customized components onto the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) canvas to make an app, PocketBlocks helps you build an app quickly and focus on the business logic.

Amplication - Instantly generate Node.js apps with GraphQL and REST API

Appsmith - Appsmith is an open source web framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and workflows.

Wasp-lang Alpha - Develop web apps in React & Node.js with no boilerplate