jotai vs @tanstack/react-query

@tanstack/react-query is downloaded 13.0× more often than jotai (225,327,948 vs 17,318,930 per month), so it has the larger community and more answered questions online. jotai ships 71% less gzipped JavaScript (3.8 kB vs 13.3 kB), which matters if bundle size is a priority. Both projects are actively maintained.

Metricjotai@tanstack/react-query
Weekly downloads4,384,35551,850,189✓
Monthly downloads17,318,930225,327,948✓
GitHub stars21,18149,542✓
Minified size9.1 kB✓45.1 kB
Minified + gzipped3.8 kB✓13.3 kB
Dependencies0✓1
Open issues7✓172
Last commit2026-06-012026-06-02✓
Latest version2.20.05.100.14
LicenseMITMIT

When to choose which

jotai

Bottom-up atomic state for React.

Choose it when: Fine-grained, composable state where you build up from small atoms and want derived/async state with Suspense.

  • + Fine-grained reactivity
  • + Great derived & async atoms
  • + Tiny
  • - Atomic mental model takes adjusting
  • - Can sprawl in big apps

@tanstack/react-query

Async server-state: caching, refetching and mutations.

Choose it when: Managing data from an API — caching, background refetch, pagination, mutations. It complements (not replaces) a client store.

  • + Best-in-class server cache
  • + Great devtools
  • + Handles refetch/stale data
  • - Not for client/UI state
  • - More config than SWR

Feature comparison

Featurejotai@tanstack/react-query
ParadigmAtoms (bottom-up)Async server cache
First-class TypeScript✓ Yes✓ Yes
Works outside ReactPartialPartial
Dedicated devtools✓ Yes✓ Yes
Built-in async / server state✓ Yes✓ Yes
BoilerplateLowLow

jotai

👻 Primitive and flexible state management for React

DetailsGitHubnpm

@tanstack/react-query

Hooks for managing, caching and syncing asynchronous and remote data in React

DetailsGitHubnpm

Related comparisons

jotai vs @reduxjs/toolkit@reduxjs/toolkit vs @tanstack/react-queryjotai vs reduxredux vs @tanstack/react-queryjotai vs react-reduxreact-redux vs @tanstack/react-queryjotai vs zustand@tanstack/react-query vs zustand

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Data from npm, Bundlephobia and GitHub. Last updated 2026-06-02.