Livewire 3 vs Inertia.js: which to choose in 2024
Starting a new web app with a small team (3 developers, all PHP-strong, JS is secondary). Need to build a moderately complex UI: data tables, multi-step forms, real-time updates.
Should we go Livewire 3 or Inertia.js?
If the team is PHP-strong and wants to minimize context switching, Livewire 3 is the better fit. You write PHP for both server logic and UI state. The wire: directives are learnable in a day.
Inertia.js gives you a proper Vue or React component model which handles complex UI state better. If you have any JS developers or plan to grow the team with frontend skills, Inertia opens more doors.
Real-time updates with Livewire 3 wire:poll or Livewire events is simpler to implement than Echo + broadcasting in Inertia. For dashboard-style UIs with frequent data refresh, Livewire is less setup.
The server roundtrip on every Livewire action can feel slow on high-latency connections. Inertia only calls the server on navigation or explicit form submit. For interactive UIs, Inertia is snappier.
Livewire 3 is a significant improvement over v2. The hydration model is different and wire:navigate makes page transitions feel like an SPA. Try v3 if you ruled it out based on v2 experience.
We use both on different projects. Simple admin panels and forms: Livewire. Complex interactive UIs with lots of client state: Inertia + Vue. No strong preference, pick based on the UI complexity of the specific project.
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