Comparison with other libraries
This page compares React Query Builder with other query builder libraries in detail for react-awesome-query-builder, and with a summary matrix for everything else.
react-awesome-query-builder
The query builder library most often compared to React Query Builder (RQB) is react-awesome-query-builder (RAQB). Both render an interactive UI for building filter criteria, and both can export those criteria to several query languages, but they take meaningfully different approaches.
This page summarizes the differences as of RQB v8 and RAQB v6.6.15 (May 2025). If you're moving an existing RAQB implementation to RQB, see Migrating from react-awesome-query-builder.
Philosophy
| React Query Builder | react-awesome-query-builder | |
|---|---|---|
| Query storage | Plain JSON (RuleGroupType), serializable as-is | immutable.js tree; plain JSON via Utils.getTree() |
| Configuration | Discrete props (fields, operators, combinators, controlElements, etc.) | One monolithic Config object (types, widgets, operators, funcs, settings) |
| Packaging | Composable packages — core, React, UI styles, and optional feature packages | Core package plus UI-specific packages |
| Non-React usage | @react-querybuilder/core has no React dependency (server-safe); official Solid, Svelte, and Vue ports | Core depends on React |
RQB's plain-JSON query format means you can store queries in a database, send them over the wire, diff them, and hand-edit them without any conversion step. RQB's discrete props mean you only configure (and only bundle) the parts you use.
Query model
| Aspect | React Query Builder | react-awesome-query-builder |
|---|---|---|
| Group children | rules | children1 (array, or keyed object when children1AsArray: false) |
| Combinators | combinator on the group, or independent combinators interleaved between rules | conjunction on the group only |
| Negation | not on groups | not on groups |
| Rule value | Scalar or array, depending on the operator | Always an array (one entry per operand) |
| Subqueries | Match modes — all, some, none, atLeast, atMost, exactly (with threshold) | !group fields with some/all/none and count operators |
| Disabled rules | disabled | isLocked |
| Muted rules | muted (kept in the query, excluded from exports) | — |
| Ternary/CASE | — | switch_group / case_group |
| Value sources | value, field, expressions, parameters | value, field, func |
| Left-hand side | Expressions supported on the LHS as well as the RHS | fieldSrc: "func" |
Formats
RQB's formatQuery supports considerably more export targets, and its parsers support more import sources.
| Direction | React Query Builder | react-awesome-query-builder |
|---|---|---|
| Export | JSON, SQL (plain/parameterized/named), MongoDB, CEL, JsonLogic, SpEL, ElasticSearch, JSONata, LDAP, natural language, Drizzle, TanStack DB, Prisma, Sequelize, Cypher, GraphQL, SPARQL, Gremlin, and more | SQL, MongoDB, JsonLogic, SpEL, ElasticSearch (partial), query string |
| Import | SQL, CEL, JsonLogic, MongoDB, SpEL, JSONata, Cypher, GraphQL, SPARQL, Gremlin, RAQB | JsonLogic, SpEL, SQL (separate package) |
Ecosystem
| Aspect | React Query Builder | react-awesome-query-builder |
|---|---|---|
| UI style packs | Ant Design, Bootstrap, Bulma, Chakra UI, Fluent UI, Mantine, MUI/Material, PrimeReact, Tremor, shadcn/ui (registry) | Ant Design, MUI, Material (v4), Bootstrap, Fluent UI |
| React Native | @react-querybuilder/native | — |
| Other frameworks | Official Solid, Svelte, and Vue ports sharing the same core | — |
| Drag-and-drop | @react-querybuilder/dnd (opt-in) | Built in |
| Date/time | @react-querybuilder/datetime (relative dates, per-dialect formatting) | Built in (widgets and functions) |
| Expressions | @react-querybuilder/expr | Built in (config funcs) |
| Rules engine | @react-querybuilder/rules-engine | — |
| Accessibility | ARIA attributes, keyboard navigation, data-testid hooks | Not documented |
| Internationalization | translations prop accepting strings or JSX | i18next-based locale packs |
| Validation | Per-field validator plus defaultValidator | sanitizeTree / validateTree / isValidTree |
| Styling | Unstyled by default with CSS custom properties; official style packs | Bundled SCSS per UI package |
Feature-by-feature notes
Most RAQB concepts have a direct RQB counterpart. These are the exceptions:
- Ternary (
switch_group) — RAQB can build CASE/WHEN-style expressions. RQB has no equivalent in the query builder itself; conditional logic is generally modeled with@react-querybuilder/rules-engineinstead. proximityoperator — RAQB's full-text proximity operator (and itsoperatorOptions) has no RQB equivalent.is_empty/is_not_empty— RQB expresses these as=and!=against an empty string.- Locking — RQB models this with the
disabledproperty rather than a separatelockedproperty, but the behavior and UI are equivalent. TheshowLockButtonsprop displays "Lock rule"/"Lock group" toggle buttons, which setdisabledon the rule or group. As in RAQB, a locked group disables its header elements and all descendants. RQB has no equivalent to RAQB'scanDeleteLockedsetting. - Date/time functions — RAQB models
NOW,TODAY,RELATIVE_DATETIME, etc. as functions. RQB treats the same concept as a value:@react-querybuilder/datetimerelative date/time values, which each rule processor serializes symbolically (e.g.current_timestamp - interval '7 days'). - Cardinality operators — RQB's match modes are a superset of RAQB's
!groupcount operators, except that RQB has no strict-inequality modes (RAQB'sless/greatercounts).
Other libraries
The table below summarizes other query builders and adjacent filtering UIs. "Export" and "Import" list built-in query languages only. Every library can save and load its own native format. Details were checked in October 2026.
| Library | Framework | License | Nested groups | Native format | Export | Import | Drag-and-drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| React Query Builder | React, React Native; official Solid, Svelte, and Vue ports | MIT | Yes | Plain JSON ({ combinator, rules }) | 20+ formats | 10+ formats | Yes (opt-in) |
| react-awesome-query-builder | React | MIT | Yes | immutable.js tree (plain JSON via getTree) | SQL, MongoDB, JsonLogic, SpEL, ElasticSearch | JsonLogic, SpEL, SQL | Yes |
| jQuery QueryBuilder | jQuery + Bootstrap | MIT | Yes | Plain JSON ({ condition, rules }) | SQL, MongoDB (plugins) | SQL, MongoDB (plugins) | Yes (sortable plugin) |
| angular2-query-builder and forks (ngx-angular-query-builder) | Angular | MIT | Yes | Plain JSON ({ condition, rules }) | — | — | No |
| vue-query-builder / query-builder-vue | Vue 2 | MIT | Yes | Plain JSON | — | — | query-builder-vue only |
| Syncfusion QueryBuilder | React, Angular, Vue, JS, Blazor | Commercial (free community license) | Yes | Plain JSON ({ condition, not, rules }) | SQL (inline/parameterized), MongoDB | SQL, MongoDB | Yes |
| KendoReact Filter | React | Commercial | Yes | CompositeFilterDescriptor ({ logic, filters }) | OData (via kendo-data-query) | — | No |
| DevExtreme FilterBuilder | React, Angular, Vue, jQuery | Commercial | Yes | Nested arrays ([["price", ">", 10], "and", [...]]) | — (consumed by DevExtreme data sources) | — | No |
| MUI X Data Grid filtering | React | MIT (Pro/Premium commercial) | No (flat list, single and/or) | GridFilterModel | — | — | No |
| AG Grid Advanced Filter | React, Angular, Vue, JS | Commercial (Enterprise) | Yes | AdvancedFilterModel ({ filterType: 'join', type, conditions }) | — | — | Yes (builder dialog) |
| Elastic EUI SearchBar | React | Elastic License 2.0 / SSPL | Limited (OR clauses) | Text syntax parsed to a Query AST | Elasticsearch DSL | Text syntax | No |
| react-filter-box | React | MIT | Yes (parentheses) | Text syntax parsed to an expression array | — | Text syntax | No |
| Blockly | Framework-agnostic | Apache-2.0 | Yes | Block workspace (XML/JSON) | Via custom code generators | — | Yes (inherent) |
Some notes on these categories:
- jQuery QueryBuilder is the predecessor of most libraries in this space. RQB's original API was modeled on it, so concepts map closely. See Migrating from jQuery QueryBuilder.
- Angular and Vue query builders mostly follow jQuery QueryBuilder's data model but don't export to any query language, and the community Vue builders are unmaintained. RQB has official Solid, Svelte, and Vue ports that share its query format, import/export utilities, and class-compatible styling. For Angular or any other framework,
@react-querybuilder/coreprovides the framework-agnostic derivations those ports are built on, along with query management, validation, import, and export. - Commercial suites (Syncfusion, Kendo, DevExtreme) are a good fit if you already use their component library, since their builders share its theming and data layers. Syncfusion's is the most similar to RQB in scope. Kendo and DevExtreme filter builders are designed mainly to feed their own grids and data sources.
- Data grid filter panels (MUI X, AG Grid) cover the common case of filtering one table without a standalone query object. MUI X's filter model has no nested groups. AG Grid's Advanced Filter combines a text expression bar with a tree builder.
- Search-bar style inputs (EUI SearchBar, react-filter-box) trade the tree UI for typed syntax with autocomplete. That works well for power users but is harder to discover.
- Blockly can be used as a visual query editor with custom blocks and code generators, but no maintained Blockly-based query builder package exists.