Comparison

Scribe vs Draft.js

Q: Is Draft.js still maintained?

No. Draft.js was archived by Meta and is no longer actively developed. Meta itself recommends moving to maintained alternatives. Scribe, by contrast, is actively maintained and under active development.

Q: Is Scribe a good Draft.js alternative?

Yes. Scribe is actively maintained, framework-agnostic (React, Vue 3, Svelte, Vanilla JS), under 50KB gzipped, and works with plain HTML. Draft.js is React-only and uses an immutable EditorState/ContentState model rather than HTML.

Q: How does the content model differ?

Draft.js stores content as an immutable EditorState wrapping a ContentState; persisting it means converting to and from raw JSON. Scribe works directly with HTML — editor.getHTML() and editor.setHTML() are all you need to save and load content.

Q: Can I use Scribe outside React like Draft.js requires?

Yes. Draft.js is tied to React. Scribe is framework-agnostic and ships first-class support for React, Vue 3, Svelte, Web Components, and Vanilla JS.

Draft.js was a capable editor in its time, but Meta archived the repository and it no longer receives active development. New projects building on it inherit an unmaintained, React-only foundation with a learning curve all its own.

Try Scribe →View Docs

The maintenance question

The biggest difference is not features — it is longevity. Draft.js has been archived by Meta, meaning no new releases, no security fixes, and no React-version compatibility guarantees going forward. Building new product on an archived library is a risk you can avoid.

Scribe is actively maintained; Draft.js is archived
Scribe works with plain HTML; Draft.js uses an immutable EditorState model
Scribe runs anywhere; Draft.js is React-only

Feature Comparison

Feature	Scribe	Draft.js
Maintenance status	Actively maintained	Archived by Meta
Framework support	React, Vue, Svelte, Vanilla	React only
Bundle size (gzipped)	< 50KB	TODO(verify)
Runtime dependencies	Zero	React + Immutable.js
Content model	Plain HTML	EditorState / ContentState
Direct API (bold())
Read & write HTML directly
TypeScript		Community typings
Built-in sanitization
Iframe editing
Floating + fixed toolbars
Zero config init

Setup Comparison

Scribe
Plain HTML

import { Scribe } from 'scribejs-editor';

// Works with any element. Reads and writes plain HTML.
const editor = Scribe.init('#editor');

editor.bold();
editor.heading(2);
editor.link('https://example.com');

const html = editor.getHTML();
editor.setHTML('<p>Loaded from your API</p>');

Draft.js
EditorState model

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

// State lives in an immutable EditorState object
function MyEditor() {
  const [state, setState] = useState(EditorState.createEmpty());

  const onBold = () =>
    setState(RichUtils.toggleInlineStyle(state, 'BOLD'));

  // To persist you must convert ContentState -> raw JSON,
  // then back again on load. There is no getHTML().
  return <Editor editorState={state} onChange={setState} />;
}

Choose Scribe when…

You want an actively maintained editor

You need to store and load plain HTML

Your app is Vue, Svelte, or Vanilla JS — not just React

Bundle size matters (under 50KB gzipped)

You want built-in XSS sanitization and safe paste

You want iframe editing out of the box

Choose Draft.js when…

You are maintaining an existing Draft.js codebase

You rely on its immutable EditorState model

You have an established library of Draft.js plugins

You accept it is archived and unmaintained

Migrate off archived Draft.js.

Free, open source, MIT-licensed, and actively maintained. Up and running in under 5 minutes.

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