XState and Zustand represent fundamentally different approaches to state management in JavaScript applications. XState is a sophisticated state machine library that enforces explicit state transitions through finite state machines and statecharts, making complex workflows predictable and visualizable. Zustand is a minimalist state management solution built around React hooks, offering a simple API with no boilerplate and excellent performance characteristics.
This comparison matters because choosing the wrong tool creates technical debt: overengineering with XState when you need simple state, or underengineering with Zustand when your application has complex state transitions. XState targets applications with intricate workflows like multi-step forms, authentication flows, and animation sequences. Zustand serves developers building simple to medium-scale applications who need fast, lightweight state management without architectural overhead.
Choose Zustand for the vast majority of applications. If your state management needs are straightforward—global settings, user data, UI state, shopping carts—Zustand delivers exactly what you need without ceremony. Its 3KB footprint, zero boilerplate, and hook-based API mean you're productive immediately. Most applications don't have state complexity that justifies architectural overhead, and Zustand's simplicity is its superpower. For teams prioritizing velocity and maintainability in typical CRUD applications, Zustand is the clear winner.
Choose XState when your application domain has genuine state complexity: multi-step wizards with conditional branching, authentication flows with multiple paths, animation sequences with timing constraints, or form validation with interdependent fields. If you need to visualize state flows for stakeholders, prevent impossible states by design, or your team struggles with ad-hoc state management creating bugs, XState's state machines provide structure that pays for itself. The learning curve is real, but for complex workflows, explicit state machines prevent entire categories of bugs that simple stores allow. Consider XState Store if you want event-based architecture without full state machine weight.