React Performance: Small Fixes That Made a Big Impact

When you're building the first version of a React app, performance usually isn’t your top concern. Things feel snappy. It’s just React, right? Then, the app grows. New features get added, state becomes more complex, components nest deeper, and before you know it, something that used to be smooth starts to feel... sluggish. I’ve been there. Below are some of the most practical performance lessons I’ve learned while scaling React apps—things I wish I’d done earlier, and fixes that made a noticeable difference without overcomplicating the codebase. 1️⃣ Measure Before You Optimize It sounds obvious, but it’s often skipped. I used to reach for useMemo or React.memo way too early without knowing what was actually slowing things down. What actually helps:

Apr 7, 2025 - 11:59

React Performance: Small Fixes That Made a Big Impact

When you're building the first version of a React app, performance usually isn’t your top concern. Things feel snappy. It’s just React, right?

Then, the app grows. New features get added, state becomes more complex, components nest deeper, and before you know it, something that used to be smooth starts to feel... sluggish.

I’ve been there. Below are some of the most practical performance lessons I’ve learned while scaling React apps—things I wish I’d done earlier, and fixes that made a noticeable difference without overcomplicating the codebase.

1️⃣ Measure Before You Optimize

It sounds obvious, but it’s often skipped. I used to reach for useMemo or React.memo way too early without knowing what was actually slowing things down.

What actually helps: