Emotion vs Styled-components

Side-by-side NPM package comparison

emotion

Popular

Version 11.0.0

59
Fair

The Next Generation of CSS-in-JS.

Weekly Downloads
761.4K
↑19%
Bundle (gzip)
228.0 B
Updated
Vulns
0

Health Score Breakdown

Maintenance
20
Popularity
90
Quality
50
Security
100
Stability
70

styled-components

Very Popular

Version 6.3.11

85
Excellent

CSS for the <Component> Age. Style components your way with speed, strong typing, and flexibility.

Weekly Downloads
8.9M
Bundle (gzip)
8.4 KB
Updated
Vulns
0

Health Score Breakdown

Maintenance
100
Popularity
100
Quality
50
Security
100
Stability
70

Choosing between Emotion and Styled-components? Here's a data-driven comparison based on real npm data — downloads, bundle size, health scores, and more — to help you decide which package fits your project best.

Downloads & Popularity

Styled-components leads with 8.9M weekly downloads — roughly 11.7x more. Emotion has 761.4K weekly downloads. Higher download counts generally indicate broader community adoption and a larger ecosystem of tutorials, plugins, and support.

Bundle Size

Emotion has the smallest gzipped bundle at 228.0 B. Styled-components comes in at 8.4 KB. A smaller bundle size means faster page loads, which improves user experience and Core Web Vitals scores.

Health Score Comparison

Styled-components has an overall health score of 85/100 (very good), with strong maintenance, security, popularity scores. Emotion has an overall health score of 59/100 (moderate), with strong security, popularity scores. Health scores are calculated from maintenance activity, code quality, security posture, popularity, and stability metrics.

When to Choose Each

Choose Emotion if you value minimal bundle footprint, strong security track record. Choose Styled-components if you value large community support, actively maintained, strong security track record.

Our Verdict

Both Emotion and Styled-components are solid choices for JavaScript development. Styled-components has the edge in overall health score (85/100), while each package brings unique strengths to the table. Evaluate them based on your project's priorities — whether that's community size, bundle efficiency, or maintenance activity — and choose the one that aligns best with your requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is emotion better than styled-components?
It depends on your needs. Emotion has a health score of 59/100 while Styled-components scores 85/100. Styled-components has more weekly downloads (8.9M), suggesting broader adoption. Consider your specific requirements — bundle size, community support, and feature set — to decide which is the better fit.
Which has a smaller bundle size, emotion or styled-components?
Emotion has the smaller gzipped bundle at 228.0 B. A smaller bundle means faster load times for your users, which can positively impact SEO and user experience.
How many developers use emotion vs styled-components?
Based on npm download statistics, Emotion has approximately 761.4K weekly downloads and Styled-components has approximately 8.9M weekly downloads. These numbers reflect package installations, not unique developers, but they indicate relative adoption levels.
Which is better maintained, emotion or styled-components?
Styled-components currently has the higher overall health score at 85/100. Emotion has a maintenance score of 20/100 and Styled-components scores 100/100 on maintenance.