More Rich Text Editor Libraries

Exploring alternative rich text editor libraries for different use cases and requirements.

Alternative Rich Text Editors

While Tiptap is an excellent choice for modern applications, there are several other rich text editor libraries available, each with unique features and design philosophies. This lesson explores popular alternatives to help you choose the right editor for your specific needs.

Draft.js

Draft.js is a rich text editor framework developed by Facebook (Meta) for React applications. It provides a foundation for building custom editors with complete control over content representation and manipulation.

Draft.js Logo

Key Features

  • React-First - Built specifically for React applications
  • Immutable Data - Uses immutable data structures for predictable state management
  • Content State - Represents content as structured data, not HTML
  • Flexible - Complete control over rendering and behavior
  • Extensible - Plugin system for custom functionality

Installation

yarn add draft-js react draft-js

Basic Usage

'use client'

import { useState } from 'react'
import { Editor, EditorState, RichUtils } from 'draft-js'
import 'draft-js/dist/Draft.css'

export default function DraftEditor() {
  const [editorState, setEditorState] = useState(() =>
    EditorState.createEmpty()
  )

  const handleKeyCommand = (command: string) => {
    const newState = RichUtils.handleKeyCommand(editorState, command)

    if (newState) {
      setEditorState(newState)
      return 'handled'
    }

    return 'not-handled'
  }

  const toggleBold = () => {
    setEditorState(RichUtils.toggleInlineStyle(editorState, 'BOLD'))
  }

  const toggleItalic = () => {
    setEditorState(RichUtils.toggleInlineStyle(editorState, 'ITALIC'))
  }

  return (
    <div className="border border-gray-300 rounded p-4">
      <div className="mb-2 flex gap-2">
        <button
          onClick={toggleBold}
          className="px-3 py-1 border rounded hover:bg-gray-100"
        >
          Bold
        </button>
        <button
          onClick={toggleItalic}
          className="px-3 py-1 border rounded hover:bg-gray-100"
        >
          Italic
        </button>
      </div>

      <Editor
        editorState={editorState}
        onChange={setEditorState}
        handleKeyCommand={handleKeyCommand}
      />
    </div>
  )
}

Custom Block Rendering

import { Editor, EditorState, RichUtils, ContentBlock } from 'draft-js'

function MyEditor() {
  const [editorState, setEditorState] = useState(() =>
    EditorState.createEmpty()
  )

  const blockStyleFn = (block: ContentBlock) => {
    switch (block.getType()) {
      case 'blockquote':
        return 'border-l-4 border-blue-500 pl-4 italic'
      case 'code-block':
        return 'bg-gray-900 text-white p-4 rounded font-mono'
      default:
        return ''
    }
  }

  return (
    <Editor
      editorState={editorState}
      onChange={setEditorState}
      blockStyleFn={blockStyleFn}
    />
  )
}

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Deep React integration
  • Immutable data structures prevent bugs
  • Battle-tested at Facebook scale
  • Excellent for custom implementations

Cons:

  • Steep learning curve
  • Requires more boilerplate code
  • Smaller ecosystem compared to others
  • Less active development recently

Best For

  • React applications requiring deep customization
  • Projects with complex content models
  • Teams familiar with immutable data patterns
  • Applications needing custom block types

Slate

Slate is a completely customizable framework for building rich text editors in React. It's designed to be more intuitive than Draft.js while maintaining flexibility.

Key Features

  • Fully Customizable - Complete control over data model and rendering
  • Plugin Architecture - Modular design with composable plugins
  • Schema-less - No predefined document structure
  • Nested Documents - Support for complex nested content
  • Collaborative - Built with collaboration in mind

Installation

yarn add slate slate-react slate-history

Basic Usage

'use client'

import { useState, useCallback, useMemo } from 'react'
import { createEditor, Descendant } from 'slate'
import { Slate, Editable, withReact } from 'slate-react'
import { withHistory } from 'slate-history'

const initialValue: Descendant[] = [
  {
    type: 'paragraph',
    children: [{ text: 'Start typing...' }],
  },
]

export default function SlateEditor() {
  const [value, setValue] = useState<Descendant[]>(initialValue)
  const editor = useMemo(() => withHistory(withReact(createEditor())), [])

  return (
    <div className="border border-gray-300 rounded p-4">
      <Slate editor={editor} initialValue={value} onChange={setValue}>
        <Editable
          placeholder="Enter some text..."
          className="focus:outline-none min-h-[200px]"
        />
      </Slate>
    </div>
  )
}

Custom Formatting

import { useCallback } from 'react'
import { createEditor, Editor, Transforms, Text } from 'slate'
import { Slate, Editable, withReact, RenderLeafProps } from 'slate-react'

function SlateWithFormatting() {
  const editor = useMemo(() => withReact(createEditor()), [])

  const renderLeaf = useCallback((props: RenderLeafProps) => {
    return <Leaf {...props} />
  }, [])

  const toggleBold = () => {
    const isActive = isMarkActive(editor, 'bold')
    if (isActive) {
      Editor.removeMark(editor, 'bold')
    } else {
      Editor.addMark(editor, 'bold', true)
    }
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={toggleBold}>Bold</button>
      <Slate editor={editor} initialValue={initialValue}>
        <Editable renderLeaf={renderLeaf} />
      </Slate>
    </div>
  )
}

function Leaf({ attributes, children, leaf }: RenderLeafProps) {
  if (leaf.bold) {
    children = <strong>{children}</strong>
  }

  if (leaf.italic) {
    children = <em>{children}</em>
  }

  return <span {...attributes}>{children}</span>
}

function isMarkActive(editor: Editor, format: string) {
  const marks = Editor.marks(editor)
  return marks ? marks[format] === true : false
}

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Highly flexible and customizable
  • Clean, intuitive API
  • Active development and community
  • Excellent TypeScript support

Cons:

  • Requires more initial setup
  • Steeper learning curve
  • Fewer pre-built plugins
  • More code required for basic features

Best For

  • Highly customized editing experiences
  • Complex document structures
  • Projects requiring unique editor behavior
  • Teams with strong React expertise

Quill

Quill is a powerful, API-driven rich text editor with a beautiful default UI. It's less focused on React specifically and works across frameworks.

Key Features

  • WYSIWYG - Beautiful default interface
  • Cross-Browser - Consistent behavior across browsers
  • Themes - Multiple built-in themes
  • Modules - Extensible through modules
  • Delta Format - Custom JSON-based format

Installation

yarn add quill react-quill
yarn add -D @types/quill

Basic Usage

'use client'

import { useState } from 'react'
import dynamic from 'next/dynamic'

const ReactQuill = dynamic(() => import('react-quill'), { ssr: false })
import 'react-quill/dist/quill.snow.css'

export default function QuillEditor() {
  const [value, setValue] = useState('')

  return (
    <div className="bg-white">
      <ReactQuill
        theme="snow"
        value={value}
        onChange={setValue}
        placeholder="Write something..."
      />
    </div>
  )
}

Custom Toolbar

import ReactQuill, { Quill } from 'react-quill'
import 'react-quill/dist/quill.snow.css'

const modules = {
  toolbar: [
    [{ header: [1, 2, 3, false] }],
    ['bold', 'italic', 'underline', 'strike'],
    [{ list: 'ordered' }, { list: 'bullet' }],
    [{ color: [] }, { background: [] }],
    ['link', 'image'],
    ['clean'],
  ],
}

const formats = [
  'header',
  'bold',
  'italic',
  'underline',
  'strike',
  'list',
  'bullet',
  'color',
  'background',
  'link',
  'image',
]

export default function QuillWithToolbar() {
  const [value, setValue] = useState('')

  return (
    <ReactQuill
      theme="snow"
      value={value}
      onChange={setValue}
      modules={modules}
      formats={formats}
    />
  )
}

Custom Formats

const Size = Quill.import('formats/size')
Size.whitelist = ['small', 'medium', 'large', 'huge']
Quill.register(Size, true)

const Font = Quill.import('formats/font')
Font.whitelist = ['arial', 'comic-sans', 'courier', 'georgia', 'times']
Quill.register(Font, true)

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Beautiful default UI
  • Easy to get started
  • Extensive documentation
  • Framework agnostic
  • Rich module ecosystem

Cons:

  • Less flexible than headless options
  • Customizing UI can be challenging
  • Delta format requires learning
  • Heavier bundle size

Best For

  • Quick implementations needing default UI
  • Content management systems
  • Comment sections and forums
  • Projects not requiring heavy customization

Lexical

Lexical is Meta's latest rich text editor framework, designed as a modern successor to Draft.js with improved performance and developer experience.

Key Features

  • High Performance - Optimized for speed and efficiency
  • Extensible - Plugin-based architecture
  • Accessible - Built-in accessibility features
  • Collaborative - First-class collaboration support
  • Framework Agnostic - Works with React, Vue, vanilla JS

Installation

yarn add lexical @lexical/react

Basic Usage

'use client'

import { $getRoot, $getSelection } from 'lexical'
import { LexicalComposer } from '@lexical/react/LexicalComposer'
import { PlainTextPlugin } from '@lexical/react/LexicalPlainTextPlugin'
import { ContentEditable } from '@lexical/react/LexicalContentEditable'
import { HistoryPlugin } from '@lexical/react/LexicalHistoryPlugin'
import { OnChangePlugin } from '@lexical/react/LexicalOnChangePlugin'
import LexicalErrorBoundary from '@lexical/react/LexicalErrorBoundary'

const theme = {
  paragraph: 'mb-2',
  text: {
    bold: 'font-bold',
    italic: 'italic',
    underline: 'underline',
  },
}

function onError(error: Error) {
  console.error(error)
}

export default function LexicalEditor() {
  const initialConfig = {
    namespace: 'MyEditor',
    theme,
    onError,
  }

  return (
    <LexicalComposer initialConfig={initialConfig}>
      <div className="border border-gray-300 rounded p-4">
        <PlainTextPlugin
          contentEditable={
            <ContentEditable className="focus:outline-none min-h-[200px]" />
          }
          placeholder={
            <div className="text-gray-400 absolute top-4 left-4 pointer-events-none">
              Enter some text...
            </div>
          }
          ErrorBoundary={LexicalErrorBoundary}
        />
        <HistoryPlugin />
        <OnChangePlugin
          onChange={(editorState) => {
            editorState.read(() => {
              const root = $getRoot()
              const selection = $getSelection()
              console.log(root, selection)
            })
          }}
        />
      </div>
    </LexicalComposer>
  )
}

Rich Text Features

import { RichTextPlugin } from '@lexical/react/LexicalRichTextPlugin'
import { ContentEditable } from '@lexical/react/LexicalContentEditable'
import { HistoryPlugin } from '@lexical/react/LexicalHistoryPlugin'
import LexicalErrorBoundary from '@lexical/react/LexicalErrorBoundary'
import { HeadingNode, QuoteNode } from '@lexical/rich-text'
import { ListNode, ListItemNode } from '@lexical/list'
import { CodeNode } from '@lexical/code'
import { LinkNode } from '@lexical/link'

const initialConfig = {
  namespace: 'MyEditor',
  nodes: [HeadingNode, QuoteNode, ListNode, ListItemNode, CodeNode, LinkNode],
  theme,
  onError,
}

export default function RichTextEditor() {
  return (
    <LexicalComposer initialConfig={initialConfig}>
      <div className="border border-gray-300 rounded">
        <Toolbar />
        <div className="p-4">
          <RichTextPlugin
            contentEditable={
              <ContentEditable className="focus:outline-none min-h-[300px]" />
            }
            placeholder={<div>Start typing...</div>}
            ErrorBoundary={LexicalErrorBoundary}
          />
        </div>
        <HistoryPlugin />
      </div>
    </LexicalComposer>
  )
}

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Excellent performance
  • Modern architecture
  • Active development by Meta
  • Built-in accessibility
  • Strong TypeScript support

Cons:

  • Newer, less mature ecosystem
  • Fewer third-party plugins
  • Learning curve for concepts
  • Breaking changes still possible

Best For

  • Performance-critical applications
  • Large-scale applications
  • Real-time collaboration features
  • Projects willing to adopt newer technology

ProseMirror (Direct)

ProseMirror is the foundation that powers Tiptap. While most developers prefer Tiptap's higher-level API, using ProseMirror directly gives you maximum control.

Key Features

  • Maximum Flexibility - Complete control over editor behavior
  • Document Model - Structured document representation
  • Plugins - Powerful plugin system
  • Schema-Driven - Define document structure with schemas
  • Collaboration - Built-in collaboration primitives

Installation

yarn add prosemirror-state prosemirror-view prosemirror-model prosemirror-schema-basic prosemirror-commands

Basic Usage

'use client'

import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react'
import { EditorState } from 'prosemirror-state'
import { EditorView } from 'prosemirror-view'
import { Schema, DOMParser } from 'prosemirror-model'
import { schema } from 'prosemirror-schema-basic'
import { exampleSetup } from 'prosemirror-example-setup'

import 'prosemirror-view/style/prosemirror.css'
import 'prosemirror-menu/style/menu.css'

export default function ProseMirrorEditor() {
  const editorRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)

  useEffect(() => {
    if (!editorRef.current) return

    const state = EditorState.create({
      doc: DOMParser.fromSchema(schema).parse(
        document.createElement('div')
      ),
      plugins: exampleSetup({ schema }),
    })

    const view = new EditorView(editorRef.current, {
      state,
    })

    return () => {
      view.destroy()
    }
  }, [])

  return <div ref={editorRef} className="border border-gray-300 rounded p-4" />
}

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Maximum control and flexibility
  • Powerful plugin system
  • Solid foundation for custom editors
  • Excellent documentation

Cons:

  • Very steep learning curve
  • Requires deep understanding of concepts
  • More code for basic features
  • No default UI components

Best For

  • Highly specialized editing needs
  • Building your own editor framework
  • Projects requiring maximum control
  • Teams with advanced editor expertise

TinyMCE

TinyMCE is a mature, feature-rich WYSIWYG editor with an opinionated UI. It's been around since 2004 and powers many content management systems.

Key Features

  • Full-Featured - Comprehensive out-of-the-box functionality
  • Plugins - Hundreds of plugins available
  • Customizable - Extensive configuration options
  • Cloud/Self-Hosted - Flexible deployment options
  • Commercial Support - Professional support available

Installation

yarn add @tinymce/tinymce-react

Basic Usage

'use client'

import { Editor } from '@tinymce/tinymce-react'
import { useState } from 'react'

export default function TinyEditor() {
  const [content, setContent] = useState('')

  return (
    <Editor
      apiKey="your-api-key-here" // Get free key from tiny.cloud
      init={{
        height: 500,
        menubar: false,
        plugins: [
          'advlist',
          'autolink',
          'lists',
          'link',
          'image',
          'charmap',
          'preview',
          'anchor',
          'searchreplace',
          'visualblocks',
          'code',
          'fullscreen',
          'insertdatetime',
          'media',
          'table',
          'code',
          'help',
          'wordcount',
        ],
        toolbar:
          'undo redo | blocks | ' +
          'bold italic forecolor | alignleft aligncenter ' +
          'alignright alignjustify | bullist numlist outdent indent | ' +
          'removeformat | help',
      }}
      value={content}
      onEditorChange={setContent}
    />
  )
}

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Comprehensive feature set
  • Mature and stable
  • Extensive plugin ecosystem
  • Professional support available
  • Easy to implement

Cons:

  • Large bundle size
  • Requires API key (free tier available)
  • Less flexible UI customization
  • Opinionated design

Best For

  • Traditional CMS applications
  • Enterprise applications
  • Projects needing comprehensive features
  • Teams wanting professional support

CKEditor

CKEditor is another mature, full-featured WYSIWYG editor popular in enterprise applications. Like TinyMCE, it provides an opinionated, complete solution.

Key Features

  • Feature-Rich - Comprehensive editing capabilities
  • Modular - Choose only needed features
  • Collaboration - Real-time collaboration features
  • Accessibility - WCAG compliant
  • Commercial - Professional support and plugins

Installation

yarn add @ckeditor/ckeditor5-react @ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic

Basic Usage

'use client'

import { CKEditor } from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-react'
import ClassicEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic'
import { useState } from 'react'

export default function CKEditorComponent() {
  const [content, setContent] = useState('')

  return (
    <div className="ck-editor-wrapper">
      <CKEditor
        editor={ClassicEditor}
        data={content}
        onChange={(event, editor) => {
          const data = editor.getData()
          setContent(data)
        }}
        config={{
          toolbar: [
            'heading',
            '|',
            'bold',
            'italic',
            'link',
            'bulletedList',
            'numberedList',
            '|',
            'blockQuote',
            'insertTable',
            '|',
            'undo',
            'redo',
          ],
        }}
      />
    </div>
  )
}

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Comprehensive features
  • Excellent accessibility
  • Strong collaboration support
  • Active development
  • Modular architecture

Cons:

  • Large bundle size
  • Commercial license for advanced features
  • Complex customization
  • Opinionated UI

Best For

  • Enterprise applications
  • Collaborative editing platforms
  • Projects requiring accessibility compliance
  • Traditional content management systems

Comparison Table

FeatureTiptapDraft.jsSlateQuillLexicalProseMirror
TypeHeadlessHeadlessHeadlessWYSIWYGHeadlessHeadless
FrameworkAgnosticReactReactAgnosticAgnosticAgnostic
Bundle SizeSmallMediumSmallMediumSmallSmall
Learning CurveMediumSteepSteepEasyMediumVery Steep
CustomizationHighHighVery HighMediumHighMaximum
TypeScript Excellent⚠️ Basic Excellent⚠️ Basic Excellent Excellent
CommunityLargeMediumLargeLargeGrowingMedium
Collaboration Yes No⚠️ Plugin⚠️ Plugin Yes Yes
MaturityMatureVery MatureMatureVery MatureNewVery Mature

Choosing the Right Editor

Decision Flowchart

Need a quick solution with UI?

  • Yes → Use Quill or TinyMCE
  • No → Continue

Using React exclusively?

  • Yes → Continue
  • No → Consider Tiptap or ProseMirror

Need maximum customization?

  • Yes → Use Slate or ProseMirror directly
  • No → Continue

Want modern, well-maintained?

  • Yes → Use Tiptap or Lexical
  • No → Continue

Familiar with immutable data?

  • Yes → Consider Draft.js
  • No → Use Tiptap

By Use Case

Blog/CMS Platform

  • Primary: Tiptap
  • Alternative: Quill, TinyMCE

Note-Taking App

  • Primary: Tiptap
  • Alternative: Lexical, Slate

Collaborative Editor

  • Primary: Lexical
  • Alternative: Tiptap, ProseMirror

Comment System

  • Primary: Quill
  • Alternative: Tiptap

Enterprise CMS

  • Primary: CKEditor
  • Alternative: TinyMCE

Custom Document Editor

  • Primary: Slate
  • Alternative: ProseMirror, Lexical

Integration Patterns

With Form Libraries

import { useForm, Controller } from 'react-hook-form'
import { useEditor, EditorContent } from '@tiptap/react'
import StarterKit from '@tiptap/starter-kit'

interface FormData {
  title: string
  content: string
}

export default function FormWithEditor() {
  const { control, handleSubmit } = useForm<FormData>()

  const onSubmit = (data: FormData) => {
    console.log(data)
  }

  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <Controller
        name="content"
        control={control}
        render={({ field }) => {
          const editor = useEditor({
            extensions: [StarterKit],
            content: field.value,
            onUpdate: ({ editor }) => {
              field.onChange(editor.getHTML())
            },
            immediatelyRender: false,
          })

          return <EditorContent editor={editor} />
        }}
      />

      <button type="submit">Submit</button>
    </form>
  )
}

With State Management

import { create } from 'zustand'

interface EditorStore {
  content: string
  setContent: (content: string) => void
}

const useEditorStore = create<EditorStore>((set) => ({
  content: '',
  setContent: (content) => set({ content }),
}))

export default function EditorWithZustand() {
  const { content, setContent } = useEditorStore()

  const editor = useEditor({
    extensions: [StarterKit],
    content,
    onUpdate: ({ editor }) => {
      setContent(editor.getHTML())
    },
  })

  return <EditorContent editor={editor} />
}

Performance Considerations

Virtual Scrolling for Large Documents

For very large documents, consider implementing virtual scrolling:

import { VariableSizeList } from 'react-window'

function VirtualizedEditor() {
  // Implement virtual scrolling for paragraphs/blocks
  // This is advanced and typically not needed for most use cases
}

Code Splitting

Split editor code to reduce initial bundle:

const Editor = dynamic(() => import('./Editor'), {
  ssr: false,
  loading: () => <EditorSkeleton />,
})

Lazy Loading Extensions

Load extensions on-demand:

const loadTableExtension = async () => {
  const Table = await import('@tiptap/extension-table')
  editor?.registerPlugin(Table.default)
}

Accessibility Best Practices

All editors should implement:

  • Keyboard Navigation - Full keyboard support
  • ARIA Labels - Proper ARIA attributes
  • Focus Management - Clear focus indicators
  • Screen Reader Support - Meaningful announcements
  • High Contrast - Support for high contrast modes
const editor = useEditor({
  editorProps: {
    attributes: {
      role: 'textbox',
      'aria-label': 'Rich text editor',
      'aria-multiline': 'true',
    },
  },
})

Migration Strategies

From Draft.js to Tiptap

import { convertFromRaw } from 'draft-js'
import { generateHTML } from '@tiptap/html'
import StarterKit from '@tiptap/starter-kit'

function migrateDraftToTiptap(draftContent: any) {
  const contentState = convertFromRaw(draftContent)
  // Convert to HTML first
  const html = stateToHTML(contentState)
  // Then use in Tiptap
  return html
}

From Quill to Tiptap

function migrateQuillToTiptap(quillDelta: any) {
  const QuillDeltaToHtmlConverter = require('quill-delta-to-html').QuillDeltaToHtmlConverter
  const converter = new QuillDeltaToHtmlConverter(quillDelta.ops)
  return converter.convert()
}

Additional Resources

Tiptap

Draft.js

Slate

Quill

Lexical

ProseMirror

TinyMCE

CKEditor