@tanstack/react-table and react-data-grid represent fundamentally different philosophies for building data tables in React. TanStack Table is a headless UI library that provides table state management and logic through hooks, leaving all rendering and styling decisions entirely to you. react-data-grid, built by Comcast, is a complete grid component that ships with built-in UI, styling, and virtualization out of the box. Both are TypeScript-first libraries actively maintained for modern React applications.
The choice between these libraries hinges on a critical tradeoff: flexibility versus convenience. TanStack Table targets developers who need pixel-perfect design control and are willing to invest setup time building custom table markup. react-data-grid appeals to teams that need enterprise-grade grid features immediately, with minimal configuration overhead. Understanding your project's design constraints and timeline will determine which approach serves you better.
Choose react-data-grid for most production applications where you need a robust, feature-complete data grid quickly. The built-in functionality, virtualization, and minimal setup overhead make it the pragmatic choice for dashboards, admin panels, and business applications. Unless you have strict design requirements that conflict with react-data-grid's structure, the time savings and battle-tested features justify accepting some customization constraints. The library's self-contained nature also means fewer dependency conflicts and simpler maintenance.
Choose @tanstack/react-table when design flexibility is non-negotiable—specifically when you're building a product with a unique design system, need to render tables as cards or custom layouts, or must integrate deeply with existing component libraries. The investment in setup time pays off only if you genuinely need that rendering control. TanStack Table also makes sense for learning purposes or if you're already invested in the TanStack ecosystem. But be realistic: most developers underestimate the effort required to replicate basic grid features like resizing and editing from scratch.