JSX.lol - Does anybody actually like React?

The End

In my experience, React (et al) is almost always the wrong solution. React has its place, I’m sure, but it has turned into the proverbial hammer that makes everything look like a nail. I also know that React can be done well, but it seems to almost never be done well.

JS-heavy approaches are not compatible with long-term performance goals

In reality, for any decently sized JS-heavy project, you should expect that what you build will be slower than advertised, it will keep getting slower over time while it sees ongoing work, and it will take more effort to develop and especially to maintain than what you were led to believe, with as many bugs as any other approach.

Critical Security Vulnerability in React Server Components

On November 29th, Lachlan Davidson reported a security vulnerability in React that allows unauthenticated remote code execution [...] This vulnerability was disclosed as CVE-2025-55182 and is rated CVSS 10.0.

Why use React?

By default, you get the dreaded hydration pattern—do all the computing on the server in JavaScript (yay!), serve up HTML straight away (yay! yay!) …and then serve up all the same JavaScript that’s on the server anyway (ya—wait, what?).

I Built the Same App 10 Times: Evaluating Frameworks for Mobile Performance

React’s mobile strategy inherently drives teams toward platform capture. The web offers an alternative: no gatekeepers, no platform fees, direct distribution.

Is it Time to Regulate React?

React’s core failure is compounded by confusing API design for which documentation is indecisive, essays are written, and correct usage is endlessly debated.

React Won by Default – And It's Killing Frontend Innovation

When teams need a new frontend, the conversation rarely starts with “What are the constraints and which tool best fits them?” It often starts with “Let’s use React; everyone knows React.” That reflex creates a self-perpetuating cycle where network effects, rather than technical fit, decide architecture.

The React Blog Post: Reflections and Reactions

To dismiss this entire problem as a "skill issue" and imply all is good now because an external library solved an issue that React will allow you to do is very curious to me. [...] You would think you can come back to a technology after three years and still be able to work on it - I mean, how much can it change? In any other stack, that might be true, but in frontend development, and React especially so - it's too naive to think that.

Tech Founder? Entrepreneur? This is why you should avoid React.js in your app

React isn’t just slow — it’s a bloated ecosystem with technical debt baked into its DNA. Yet despite this, it keeps being chosen. Why?

React Still Feels Insane And No One Is Talking About It

It would be too easy to just say React is, well, downright insane, and go on with our lives. But as reasonable primates, I believe we can do better. We can try to understand it.

Conferences, Clarity, and Smokescreens

My day-to-day consulting work, along with high-visibility industry data, shows that the React community is mired in a deep, measurable quality crisis. But attendees of React Summit who didn't already know wouldn't hear about it.

Next.js 15.1+ is unusable outside of Vercel

Next.js has become a Vercel vendor lock-in disguised as an open-source framework. Save yourself the headache and choose something else for your "next" project.

Why Silicon Valley CTOs Are Secretly Moving Away from React

Several CTOs mentioned a surprising problem: while React developers are plentiful, truly skilled ones who understand the deeper patterns are increasingly rare and expensive. [...] Several companies reported that their most experienced engineers were getting frustrated with the growing complexity and leaving for roles using other technologies.

HTML is better than React!?

[...] baseline HTML that gets progressively enhanced into something better when JS is available… 1. Gives people a more usable experience earlier in the process. 2. Ensures that on slow connections your site doesn’t seem like trash. 3. Means that if something goes wrong, people can still use your site.

You should know this before choosing Next.js

Last weekend, Vercel disclosed a critical security vulnerability with Next.js. This type of issue is normal, but the way Vercel chose to handle it was so poor, reckless and disrespectful to the community that it has exacerbated my concerns about the governance of the project.

Stop Using and Recommending React

I have used React for a long time. Trust me when I tell you: There is no reason to use it and a lot of reasons against it.

Moving on from React, a Year Later

Maybe it’s the changing interest rates or political winds, but I think the “fat client” era JS-heavy frontends is on its way out. The hype around edge applications is misplaced and unnecessary for building many different flavors of successful businesses. Many interactions...