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Discussion on: Why we went with PreactJs to power the dev.to frontend

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dan_abramov profile image
Dan Abramov

When you say “faster” do you mean the smaller bundle size, or were there actual interactions that Preact handled faster?

In my anecdotal experience (and from speaking to people who did this in some companies) replacing React with Preact in interactive apps can actually make the interactions slower.

I’m not saying this to bash Preact but I’m just curious what specific measurements you did. I’m sure we both understand “closer to metal” is just marketing—both use the same language and similar data structures 🙂. Although again, I can see that for a small app the bundle size difference can be worth it.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Yes, primarily talking about bundle size. As a web app with our characteristics and outlook, this is a big priority. This could change depending on how browsers and the market/product evolve, but it seems like the right route for now.