--- title: The Biggest setState() Myth in Flutter (And What... description: A common Flutter myth claims that setState() rebuilds the entire widget tree, causing performance concerns. In reality, setState() only calls markNeedsBuild()... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-biggest-setstate-myth-in-flutter-and-what-actually-happens--vmyk0o5xq twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Biggest setState() Myth in Flutter (And What Actually Happens) | daily.dev og:description: A common Flutter myth claims that setState() rebuilds the entire widget tree, causing performance concerns. In reality, setState() only calls markNeedsBuild()... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-biggest-setstate-myth-in-flutter-and-what-actually-happens--vmyk0o5xq og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/VMYk0o5xQ.png og:image:alt: The Biggest setState() Myth in Flutter (And What Actually Happens) 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. # The Biggest setState() Myth in Flutter (And What Actually Happens) **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 4 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A common Flutter myth claims that setState() rebuilds the entire widget tree, causing performance concerns. In reality, setState() only calls markNeedsBuild() on the affected element, marking it dirty for the next frame. Flutter then rebuilds only the relevant subtree and compares old vs. new widgets, repainting only what actually changed. The key distinction is that widget rebuild does not equal redraw. Using const widgets allows Flutter to skip rebuilds entirely. The post concludes that setState() is not inherently a performance problem, and teases a Part 2 on why experienced developers still prefer state management libraries like Bloc or Riverpod for code maintainability reasons. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [setState\(\) Was Never the Problem. So Why Do I Still Use State Management?](https://daily.dev/posts/setstate-was-never-the-problem-so-why-do-i-still-use-state-management--6esnaa99a) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Understanding Widget Tree, Element Tree, and Render Tree in Flutter](https://daily.dev/posts/understanding-widget-tree-element-tree-and-render-tree-in-flutter-0fn2krkdq) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Widget Tree vs Element Tree vs Render Tree in Flutter](https://daily.dev/posts/widget-tree-vs-element-tree-vs-render-tree-in-flutter-sg3krudt6) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How Flutter Renders Under the Hood: BuildContext and Element Tree Explained](https://daily.dev/posts/how-flutter-renders-under-the-hood-buildcontext-and-element-tree-explained-dua41pm6p) · freeCodeCamp · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#flutter](https://daily.dev/tags/flutter), [#dart](https://daily.dev/tags/dart) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-biggest-setstate-myth-in-flutter-and-what-actually-happens--vmyk0o5xq) ```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":"The Biggest setState() Myth in Flutter (And What Actually Happens)","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-biggest-setstate-myth-in-flutter-and-what-actually-happens--vmyk0o5xq","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-biggest-setstate-myth-in-flutter-and-what-actually-happens--vmyk0o5xq"},"datePublished":"2026-07-20T21:03:18.539Z","dateModified":"2026-07-20T21:19:11.491Z","description":"A common Flutter myth claims that setState() rebuilds the entire widget tree, causing performance concerns. In reality, setState() only calls markNeedsBuild()...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1KxV4ohY--/f_auto/v1722860400/public/Placeholder%2007","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1KxV4ohY--/f_auto/v1722860400/public/Placeholder%2007","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Medium","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":"Medium","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/medium","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-biggest-setstate-myth-in-flutter-and-what-actually-happens--vmyk0o5xq","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"flutter,dart","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Medium","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Biggest setState() Myth in Flutter (And What Actually Happens)"}]} ```