How kitr compares · kitr docs

Where kitr overlaps with Next.js, Remix and React Router, TanStack Start, Expo, AdonisJS and Laravel, and when to pick each.

This page compares kitr with the frameworks it overlaps with. It says where kitr overlaps with each, where it differs, and when the other one is the better choice. If you are coming from Next.js, Migrate from Next.js maps each Next.js idea to its kitr equivalent.

Next.js

Both build React apps with server rendering, static output and an API layer.

Next.js is one framework with its own router, bundler and server conventions. kitr is a set of packages over TanStack Router, Query and Start, and Vite, with pages listed on a route table in app/routes.ts.

Pick Next.js when you want the most widely used React framework and its hosting options. Pick kitr when you want the pieces to be separate libraries you can leave.

Remix and React Router 7

Both lean on web standards and let a route own its data loading.

kitr uses TanStack Router, where loaders, search params and links are typed, and adds query caching and mutation effects. It also covers the server, forms, auth and mail through the same CLI.

Pick React Router when you want a focused router with a long track record. Pick kitr when you want the surrounding conventions as well.

TanStack Start

This is the closest relative: kitr's web() platform uses TanStack Start for server rendering, and kitr re-exports TanStack Router and Query, so TanStack knowledge carries over.

Start gives you the framework core. kitr adds a project layout, the kitrrc.ts wiring, a package system with generators and a CLI.

Pick Start when you want to make your own choices about everything around it. Pick kitr when you want those choices made and written down.

Expo

Both aim at one codebase for several platforms.

Expo builds React Native apps that render native views. kitr's mobile and desktop platforms (Capacitor, Electron and Tauri) wrap your web app in a native shell that shows it in a web view.

Pick Expo when you need native views and platform-specific interaction. Pick kitr when your app is a web app that you also want in a shell.

AdonisJS

kitr borrows from Adonis: explicit wiring in a config file, providers with a lifecycle, a container, controllers and generators. The server kit has Adonis-style controllers on h3.

Adonis is a batteries-included Node framework with its own ORM, auth and mail. kitr's server side is lighter, and its front end is React with TanStack.

Pick Adonis for a backend with a full-featured ecosystem. Pick kitr when the same project also has a React front end and you want one CLI for both.

Laravel

Laravel is the reference point for a framework with an opinion on everything. kitr shares the idea that a CLI and fixed conventions beat assembling libraries by hand, and it has packages for mail, jobs, cache and flags.

Laravel is PHP, with a first-party auth system and hosting products. kitr is TypeScript; its auth package gives you cookie sessions, password hashing and user stores inside your own API, or connects to Better Auth.

Pick Laravel for a PHP team that wants a complete stack. Pick kitr when your team works in TypeScript end to end.

At a glance

	kitr	Next.js	Remix / React Router 7	TanStack Start	Expo	AdonisJS	Laravel
Routing	A route table in `app/routes.ts`, over TanStack Router	Files in folders	Route modules, config or files	TanStack Router, files by default	File-based, in the Expo router	Route file in code	Route file in code
Data loading	Query contracts and loaders, cache effects	Server components and fetch	Loaders and actions	Loaders and server functions	Your choice of library	Controllers	Controllers
Server	`server()` on h3, or Start	Built in	Built in	Built in	Not the focus	Core of the framework	Core of the framework
Native apps	Yes, web view shells	No	No	No	Yes, React Native	No	No
How opinions are enforced	`kitr add`, generators, `kitr doctor`, `AGENTS.md`	Conventions and lint rules	Conventions	Few	Templates and config plugins	Generators and conventions	Conventions and tooling
Leaving	Rewrite imports to the upstream libraries (`kitr eject all` prints it)	Rewrite to another framework	Rewrite loaders and routes	Small	Rewrite native parts	Rewrite to another backend	Rewrite to another backend

Cells for other frameworks are general. Check their own documentation for current behaviour.

What kitr does not have

No hosted identity service. Sessions, passwords and users run inside your API through the auth package, or through Better Auth; there is no managed sign-in product to subscribe to.
Native shells are web views, not React Native.