Did Zustand Quietly Replace Redux Toolkit for Modern React?

Is Redux Toolkit Dying While Zustand Takes Over React State?

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Let’s be honest — if you’re working with React long enough, you eventually face the same question we all do:

“How should I handle state?”

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I’ve been through that decision more times than I care to admit. And after using both Redux Toolkit (RTK) and Zustand in real production projects — ranging from messy legacy enterprise codebases to fast-moving startup SaaS apps — I’ve got a lot to say.

This isn’t a theoretical comparison. I’ll walk you through how these two state management tools feel in the real world — the tradeoffs, the pain points, and when one makes your life better than the other.

The Classic State Management Dilemma

When you’re building small React apps, you can get pretty far just using useState and useContext. You don’t even think about "global state."

But then:

• You add authentication.
• You need API caching.
• You manage a cart, or complex forms, or user preferences.
• You’re fetching data…