Are You Quietly Thinking of Leaving React? Some Devs Already Have

If you have been building with React for a while, you may have felt it too, that quiet itch. Nothing dramatic, nothing loud, just a subtle feeling that something in frontend development has started to feel heavier than it should. React still works, but it no longer feels exciting. And that is exactly why more developers are exploring Solid and Svelte.

This shift is not coming from beginner hype. It is coming from mid-level and senior devs who have shipped production apps, wrestled with state management, chased render bugs at 2 AM, and finally asked the question: is there a simpler way to build modern interfaces?

Why Devs Are Looking Beyond React

React did not fall off. It matured. And with maturity came patterns, abstractions, and "best practices" that sometimes feel like puzzle pieces forced to fit. Hooks can become tangled fast. Performance tuning often means memorizing patterns rather than solving problems. And then there is the dependency bloat, most React projects eventually feel like they are held together by NPM tape.

Solid and Svelte stepped in with a different philosophy: what if frontend development could feel light again?

• Solid: looks like React at first glance, but is faster and more predictable
• Svelte: compiles to tiny vanilla JS, no Virtual DOM required
• Both: fewer re-renders, clearer state flow, less mental overhead

Solid feels like the framework React would have been if it started today. Signals replace hooks. State is obvious. Re-renders are easy to track. Meanwhile Svelte takes a more minimalist path: write components like you think, not how the framework forces you to think.

Will You Switch?

No one is telling you to jump ship. React is still dominant for a reason: ecosystem depth, hiring relevance, massive community. But exploring alternatives is no longer a controversial act. It is a smart move. The best developers are always learning, always curious, and never married to a tool.

Maybe this is not a goodbye to React. Maybe it is just time to explore what comes next. Even if you stay, testing Solid or Svelte will sharpen how you think about frontend architecture. And if you ever decide to switch, you will not be early, you will simply be ready.