Why You Probably Don't Need Redux (or Zustand) in Modern Next.js Applications

For a long time, my React projects always started the same way:

npm install @reduxjs/toolkit react-redux

Later, that changed to:

npm install zustand

Not because every project needed it—but because it had become a habit.

After building several applications with Next.js 16 and the App Router, I realized something:

Many applications don't need a global state library anymore.

Modern Next.js has completely changed how we fetch, update, and cache data.

Instead of putting every API response into Redux or Zustand, we now have:

• Server Components
• Server Actions
• Built-in data caching
• URL-based state
• React's built-in hooks (useState, useReducer, useContext)

For many projects, that's all you need.

That doesn't mean Redux or Zustand are bad choices.

They're still excellent for applications with complex client-side interactions like:

• Real-time dashboards
• Page builders
• Whiteboard apps
• Audio/video players
• Drag-and-drop interfaces
• Collaborative tools

The important thing is choosing the right tool for the problem—not installing a state library because every tutorial does.

I wrote this article to explain these concepts in simple terms with practical examples, especially for developers learning modern Next.js.

I'd love to hear how you're approaching state management in 2026.

Do you still use Redux or Zustand by default, or do you rely more on Server Components and local state?

📖 Read the full article:

👉 https://codecareer4u.com/blogs/why-you-dont-need-redux-or-zustand-in-modern-nextjs