redux-thunk, redux-saga, and redux-observable on the same row of criteria — an Ultimate Comparison: one sheet, numbers you can sort, and enough links to re-check later. Numbers here are a snapshot from when I exported the matrix (stars, downloads, and Bundlephobia figures drift); use them as signals, not contracts.
Raw export: ultimate-comparison-redux-side-effect-libs.csv.
What I’m comparing
| redux-thunk | redux-saga | redux-observable |
|---|
| Mental model | functions that dispatch later | generator sagas, declarative effects | RxJS epics, actions as streams |
| Typical fit | tiny async in Redux | long-running flows, cancellation | teams already fluent in Rx |
All three sit next to Redux / Redux Toolkit; RTK’s createAsyncThunk and RTK Query often replace thunk for new code, but the comparison stays useful for legacy apps and for “pure middleware” discussions.
GitHub (snapshot)
| redux-thunk | redux-saga | redux-observable |
|---|
| Stars | 17.5k | 22.4k | 7.8k |
| Open issues | 2 | 18 | 71 |
| Open PRs | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| Last activity (export) | ~2 days | ~3 weeks | May 16, 2022 |
| License | MIT | MIT | MIT |
| Contributors | 49 | 317 | 103 |
| Used by (GitHub) | 1.7m | 281k | 21.1k |
| Forks | 1.1k | 2k | 506 |
npm (snapshot)
| redux-thunk | redux-saga | redux-observable |
|---|
| Version (export) | 2.4.2 | 1.2.2 | 2.0.0 |
| Weekly downloads | ~3.1m | ~800k | ~157k |
| Package dependencies | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Dependants | 6463 | 3026 | 613 |
| TypeScript types in box | yes | yes | yes |
Bundle / cost (Bundlephobia snapshot)
| redux-thunk | redux-saga | redux-observable |
|---|
| Minified | 352B | 13kB | 24kB |
| Min + gzip | 236B | 5kB | 7.1kB |
| Tree-shakeable (flag) | yes | yes | yes |
| “Side-effect free” (flag) | yes | unclear | yes |
Community signals (snapshot)
| redux-thunk | redux-saga | redux-observable |
|---|
| Stack Overflow — questions tagged | 2567 | 2492 | 684 |
| Google Trends (relative, export) | lower | highest of three | lowest of three |
| StackShare — stacks / followers | 254 / 170 | 386 / 335 | 53 / 43 |
How I use this format
Ultimate Comparison = same criteria down the left, same options across the top, fill from GitHub / npm / Bundlephobia / trends until the decision is boring. Next time I add a row (e.g. RTK Query-only baseline, or maintenance risk score), I re-export CSV and bump the narrative paragraph — not a holy table, a reusable scratchpad shape.