--- title: React State vs Refs – Differences and Use Cases | daily.dev description: A thorough comparison of React state and refs, exploring their suitability for specific scenarios. canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/react-state-vs-refs-differences-and-use-cases-5nq4y6y2s twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: React State vs Refs – Differences and Use Cases | daily.dev og:description: A thorough comparison of React state and refs, exploring their suitability for specific scenarios. og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/react-state-vs-refs-differences-and-use-cases-5nq4y6y2s og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/5nQ4y6y2S.png og:image:alt: React State vs Refs – Differences and Use Cases og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # React State vs Refs – Differences and Use Cases **[freeCodeCamp](https://daily.dev/sources/freecodecamp)** · 5 min read · 83 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary A thorough comparison of React state and refs, exploring their suitability for specific scenarios. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@pauloclemente** · 0 upvotes > Thanks, good snippets! **@philipealmeida** · 0 upvotes > it's always good know the difference btw useState and useRef, thanks for share --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#javascript](https://daily.dev/tags/javascript), [#react](https://daily.dev/tags/react), [#react-hooks](https://daily.dev/tags/react-hooks) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/react-state-vs-refs-differences-and-use-cases-5nq4y6y2s) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"React State vs Refs – Differences and Use Cases","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/react-state-vs-refs-differences-and-use-cases-5nq4y6y2s","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/react-state-vs-refs-differences-and-use-cases-5nq4y6y2s"},"datePublished":"2024-04-11T16:21:40.412Z","dateModified":"2024-05-09T09:28:18.744Z","description":"A thorough comparison of React state and refs, exploring their suitability for specific scenarios.","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/128612f5ab4a5493dd3e6745b0a47d54?_a=AQAEufR","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/128612f5ab4a5493dd3e6745b0a47d54?_a=AQAEufR","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"freeCodeCamp","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"freeCodeCamp","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1628412854/logos/freecodecamp","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/freecodecamp"},"commentCount":2,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/react-state-vs-refs-differences-and-use-cases-5nq4y6y2s","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":83},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}],"keywords":"webdev,javascript,react,react-hooks","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"freeCodeCamp","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/freecodecamp"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"React State vs Refs – Differences and Use Cases"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/react-state-vs-refs-differences-and-use-cases-5nq4y6y2s","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Thanks, good snippets!","datePublished":"2024-04-16T13:30:17.032Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/5nQ4y6y2S#c-zJx7mGWWR","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Paulo Clemente","url":"https://daily.dev/pauloclemente","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLnwZFmopRJMIYrGW90kUxWmvGuvLwdVl9Sr8616uWCGA=s96-c"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"it’s always good know the difference btw useState and useRef, thanks for share","datePublished":"2024-04-28T19:45:54.944Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/5nQ4y6y2S#c-oKnelvguC","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip","url":"https://daily.dev/philipealmeida","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJkV_MTLDJvWLdEO8s_iJ5vWLnmrtn9yZoyhHZ_bAEXGA1rgV_erA=s96-c"}}]} ```