styled-components

Pros of Emotion

• Smaller bundle size and better performance
• More flexible with object styles and composition
• Better TypeScript support out of the box

Cons of Emotion

• Less intuitive API for some developers
• Fewer third-party ecosystem tools and extensions
• Requires additional setup for server-side rendering

Code Comparison

Styled Components:

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: ${props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white'};
  color: ${props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'blue'};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

Emotion:

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: ${props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white'};
  color: ${props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'blue'};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`

Both libraries offer similar syntax for creating styled components, with minor differences in implementation. Emotion provides additional ways to define styles, such as using objects:

const Button = styled.button({
  backgroundColor: props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white',
  color: props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'blue',
  padding: '10px 20px',
})

This object syntax can be more convenient for some developers and allows for easier composition of styles.

Pros of CSS Modules

• Simpler learning curve for developers familiar with traditional CSS
• Better performance due to static extraction of CSS at build time
• Easier integration with existing CSS and build systems

Cons of CSS Modules

• Less dynamic styling capabilities compared to styled-components
• Requires additional build configuration and tooling
• Limited runtime manipulation of styles

Code Comparison

CSS Modules:

/* styles.module.css */
.button {
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
}

import styles from './styles.module.css';

const Button = () => <button className={styles.button}>Click me</button>;

styled-components:

import styled from 'styled-components';

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
`;

const MyComponent = () => <Button>Click me</Button>;

Both CSS Modules and styled-components offer solutions for component-scoped CSS in React applications. CSS Modules provides a more traditional approach with separate CSS files and class name hashing, while styled-components offers a more integrated, JavaScript-centric solution with dynamic styling capabilities. The choice between them often depends on project requirements, team preferences, and existing codebase structure.

Pros of Tailwind CSS

• Rapid development with pre-defined utility classes
• Consistent design system out of the box
• Smaller bundle size due to purging unused styles

Cons of Tailwind CSS

• Steeper learning curve for utility-first approach
• Can lead to cluttered HTML with many class names
• Less flexibility for custom designs without configuration

Code Comparison

Tailwind CSS:

<button class="bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-700 text-white font-bold py-2 px-4 rounded">
  Button
</button>

styled-components:

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: #3b82f6;
  color: white;
  font-weight: bold;
  padding: 0.5rem 1rem;
  border-radius: 0.25rem;
  &:hover {
    background-color: #1d4ed8;
  }
`;

Tailwind CSS uses utility classes to style elements directly in HTML, while styled-components allows for writing CSS-in-JS with more flexibility and dynamic styling. Tailwind CSS excels in rapid prototyping and maintaining a consistent design system, whereas styled-components offers more customization and cleaner HTML structure. The choice between the two often depends on project requirements and team preferences.

Pros of Stitches

• Near-zero runtime, with styles generated at build time
• TypeScript-first approach with better type inference
• Atomic CSS-in-JS for improved performance and smaller bundle sizes

Cons of Stitches

• Steeper learning curve due to its unique API
• Less community support and ecosystem compared to Styled Components
• Limited dynamic styling capabilities

Code Comparison

Styled Components:

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: ${props => props.primary ? 'blue' : 'white'};
  color: ${props => props.primary ? 'white' : 'blue'};
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

Stitches:

const Button = styled('button', {
  backgroundColor: 'white',
  color: 'blue',
  padding: '10px 20px',
  variants: {
    primary: {
      true: {
        backgroundColor: 'blue',
        color: 'white',
      },
    },
  },
});

Both Styled Components and Stitches offer powerful CSS-in-JS solutions, but they cater to different needs. Styled Components provides a more familiar API and extensive ecosystem, while Stitches focuses on performance and type safety. The choice between them depends on project requirements and developer preferences.

Pros of vanilla-extract

• Type-safe CSS with TypeScript integration
• Zero-runtime CSS-in-JS for better performance
• Static extraction of CSS at build time

Cons of vanilla-extract

• Steeper learning curve for developers used to traditional CSS
• Less dynamic styling capabilities compared to runtime CSS-in-JS
• Requires a build step, which may complicate some workflows

Code Comparison

vanilla-extract:

import { style } from '@vanilla-extract/css';

export const button = style({
  backgroundColor: 'blue',
  color: 'white',
  padding: '10px 20px',
});

styled-components:

import styled from 'styled-components';

const Button = styled.button`
  background-color: blue;
  color: white;
  padding: 10px 20px;
`;

Both vanilla-extract and styled-components offer ways to create reusable, scoped CSS styles in JavaScript. vanilla-extract focuses on type safety and zero-runtime performance, while styled-components provides a more dynamic, runtime-based approach to styling. The choice between them depends on project requirements, team preferences, and performance considerations.