State Management in React: Zustand vs Redux vs Context in 2026

I've inherited over 20 React codebases in my career. Every single one had state management problems — but not the kind you'd expect. The issue was never "we picked the wrong library." It was "we picked a library without understanding what problem we were actually solving."

Here's what I've learned: the state management tool matters far less than the state management strategy. But since everyone still asks "should I use Zustand or Redux?", let me give you a framework that actually works.

The Three Questions That Decide Everything

Before you npm install anything, answer these:

1. How much state is truly global? Most apps have less global state than developers think. User auth, theme, maybe a notification queue. If you can count your global state slices on one hand, you don't need Redux.

2. How complex are your state transitions? If your state changes are mostly "fetch data, put it somewhere, display it" — that's simple. If you have multi-step wizards, optimistic updates with rollbacks, or undo/redo — that's complex.

3. How many developers will touch the state layer? Solo developer or small team? Conventions live in your head. Team of 10? You need enforced patterns or chaos follows.

When to Use React Context

Context is not a state management library — it's a dependency injection mechanism. Use it for values that change infrequently and need to be accessible anywhere in the tree.

Perfect for:

• Theme (light/dark mode)
• Authenticated user object
• Locale/language preferences
• Feature flags

The pattern that works:

// contexts/auth-context.tsx
interface AuthState {
  user: User | null;
  isLoading: boolean;
}

const AuthContext = createContext<AuthState | undefined>(undefined);

export function AuthProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  const [user, setUser] = useState<User | null>(null);
  const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(true);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Subscribe to auth state
    const unsubscribe = onAuthStateChanged(auth, (user) => {
      setUser(user);
      setIsLoading(false);
    });
    return unsubscribe;
  }, []);

  return (
    <AuthContext.Provider value={{ user, isLoading }}>
      {children}
    </AuthContext.Provider>
  );
}

export function useAuth() {
  const context = useContext(AuthContext);
  if (!context) throw new Error("useAuth must be used within AuthProvider");
  return context;
}

Why people get burned:

Context re-renders every consumer when any value in the context changes. Put your entire app state in a single context, and every keystroke in a form re-renders your header, sidebar, and footer. I've seen this tank performance in production more times than I can count.

Rule of thumb: If a value changes more than once per second, don't put it in Context.

When to Use Zustand

Zustand is my default recommendation for 80% of apps. It's essentially "what if useState was global and performant?" — and that simplicity is its superpower.

Perfect for:

• Apps with 2-10 global state slices
• Teams that want minimal boilerplate
• Prototypes that need to move fast but stay clean
• Apps where most state is server state (handled by TanStack Query)

The pattern that works:

// stores/use-app-store.ts
interface AppState {
  sidebarOpen: boolean;
  toggleSidebar: () => void;

  notifications: Notification[];
  addNotification: (n: Notification) => void;
  dismissNotification: (id: string) => void;
}

export const useAppStore = create<AppState>((set) => ({
  sidebarOpen: true,
  toggleSidebar: () => set((s) => ({ sidebarOpen: !s.sidebarOpen })),

  notifications: [],
  addNotification: (n) =>
    set((s) => ({ notifications: [...s.notifications, n] })),
  dismissNotification: (id) =>
    set((s) => ({
      notifications: s.notifications.filter((n) => n.id !== id),
    })),
}));

Why it wins:

• No providers. No wrapping your app in context providers.
• Selective subscriptions. useAppStore(s => s.sidebarOpen) only re-renders when sidebarOpen changes. Context can't do this.
• Tiny API. create, set, get. That's almost the entire library.
• DevTools. Add devtools middleware and you get Redux DevTools for free.

When people outgrow it:

When you need middleware for every action (logging, analytics, validation). When state transitions become multi-step sagas. When you need time-travel debugging as a first-class feature. At that point, you need Redux.

When to Use Redux Toolkit

Redux in 2026 is not the Redux from 2018. Redux Toolkit eliminated 90% of the boilerplate that made people hate it. If you need Redux, you need Redux Toolkit — never vanilla Redux.

Perfect for:

• Large apps with 10+ interconnected state slices
• Teams of 5+ developers who need enforced patterns
• Apps with complex async flows (sagas, thunks with dependencies)
• Apps that need deterministic state for testing or debugging

The pattern that works:

// features/cart/cart-slice.ts
interface CartState {
  items: CartItem[];
  status: "idle" | "loading" | "error";
}

const initialState: CartState = {
  items: [],
  status: "idle",
};

const cartSlice = createSlice({
  name: "cart",
  initialState,
  reducers: {
    addItem: (state, action: PayloadAction<CartItem>) => {
      const existing = state.items.find(i => i.id === action.payload.id);
      if (existing) {
        existing.quantity += 1;
      } else {
        state.items.push({ ...action.payload, quantity: 1 });
      }
    },
    removeItem: (state, action: PayloadAction<string>) => {
      state.items = state.items.filter(i => i.id !== action.payload);
    },
  },
  extraReducers: (builder) => {
    builder
      .addCase(syncCart.pending, (state) => {
        state.status = "loading";
      })
      .addCase(syncCart.fulfilled, (state, action) => {
        state.items = action.payload;
        state.status = "idle";
      });
  },
});

The real advantage:

Redux's strict unidirectional data flow isn't a limitation — it's a feature. When five developers are touching the same state, having a single, predictable way state can change prevents an entire category of bugs.

The Decision Matrix

| Factor | Context | Zustand | Redux Toolkit | |--------|---------|---------|---------------| | Global state slices | 1-3 | 2-10 | 10+ | | Update frequency | Low | Any | Any | | Team size | 1-3 | 1-8 | 5+ | | Boilerplate | Minimal | Minimal | Moderate | | DevTools | No | Via middleware | Built-in | | Learning curve | None | 30 minutes | 2-4 hours | | Bundle size | 0 KB | ~1 KB | ~11 KB | | Server state | No | Possible | Possible |

The Most Important Rule

Don't manage server state in your state management library. This is the single biggest mistake I see in React apps. API responses, cached data, loading states for fetches — all of this belongs in TanStack Query (React Query), not in Redux or Zustand.

// DON'T do this
const useStore = create((set) => ({
  users: [],
  isLoading: false,
  fetchUsers: async () => {
    set({ isLoading: true });
    const users = await api.getUsers();
    set({ users, isLoading: false });
  },
}));

// DO this
function useUsers() {
  return useQuery({
    queryKey: ["users"],
    queryFn: api.getUsers,
  });
}

TanStack Query handles caching, revalidation, loading states, error states, and background refetching. Recreating all of that in Zustand or Redux is reinventing the wheel — badly.

My Recommendation

For most startups in 2026: Zustand + TanStack Query. Zustand for the small amount of truly global client state. TanStack Query for everything that comes from or goes to a server. Context for theme and auth. You'll cover 95% of use cases with zero state management headaches.

Save Redux for when you genuinely need it. You'll know when that is — and if you're not sure, you don't need it yet.