I've always been a big fan of Framer Motion for React animations. It's declarative, predictable, and feels right at home in a React codebase. But I kept hearing good things about Anime.js and curiosity got the better of me. So I decided to give it a shot.

Following the Tutorial… Kinda

I started by following a "staggered grid animation" tutorial I found on YouTube. The example looked cool enough and seemed like a good way to learn the basics.

Except… it was written for an older version of Anime.js.

When I looked for updated docs, the only v4 example I could find for React was this one lonely page. That was my first red flag.

Wrestling With the New Syntax

Because the tutorial used outdated syntax, I had to rewrite a lot of the code to work with v4. And to be honest, many of the changes felt unnecessary and confusing; like the library had made things more complicated for no clear reason.

Integrating Anime.js into a React project was even messier. The library doesn't feel reactive at all. Instead of working nicely with React's declarative model, you end up juggling refs, DOM queries, and individual click handlers inside the animation scope. It's a weird, imperative hodgepodge that just doesn't match the way React apps are typically built.

Here's what the Anime.js implementation looked like after wrestling with it:

Performance Problems Galore

After a couple hours of fighting with syntax and architecture, I finally had a working version. But when I scaled the grid past about 15x15 elements, the framerate started to nosedive. Not a good sign.

At that point, I decided to see how hard it would be to just build the same thing using a simple canvas implementation. Spoiler: it was easier, faster, and much more performant.

Here's the Canvas version running smoothly at 50x50 with multiple concurrent ripples:

You can check out the full interactive demo I built here: Interactive Dot Grid Demo.

The Canvas Solution

Instead of manipulating 2,500 individual DOM elements (for a 50x50 grid), the Canvas approach uses a single element with optimized draw calls. The key improvements include:

• Single Canvas Element: Reduced from 5,000 DOM nodes to just 1
• Efficient Animation: Only animates dots within a configurable radius
• Concurrent Ripples: Multiple animations can run simultaneously with proper wave blending
• Smart Rendering: Uses requestAnimationFrame for consistent 60fps
• Mathematical Hit Detection: No DOM queries needed

The implementation is actually simpler than the Anime.js version and performs orders of magnitude better.

My Verdict: Stick With Framer Motion (or Canvas)

In the end, Anime.js left me unimpressed. It was:

• Harder to set up: Poor documentation and breaking changes between versions
• Slower to run: Performance degrades quickly with more elements
• Less React-friendly: Imperative API that fights React's declarative model
• More trouble than it's worth: The learning curve isn't justified by the results

If you're building animations for a React or Next.js project, just use Framer Motion. It's built for the React mental model and feels like a natural part of your component tree.

For performance-critical animations with many elements, consider going straight to Canvas. It's more work upfront but gives you complete control and blazing-fast performance.

Anime.js might still have a place, but that place is probably in the world of Vanilla JS demos and one-off DOM experiments. For modern frontend apps, it's a square peg in a round hole.

Try It Yourself

Want to see the difference? Check out the Interactive Dot Grid Demo where you can play with the Canvas implementation, adjust parameters in real-time, and watch it maintain 60fps even with massive grids and animation radii.

The source code demonstrates how a thoughtful Canvas implementation can outperform even specialized animation libraries when dealing with large numbers of animated elements.

I've always been a big fan of Framer Motion for React animations. It's declarative, predictable, and feels right at home in a React codebase. But I kept hearing good things about Anime.js and curiosity got the better of me. So I decided to give it a shot.

Following the Tutorial… Kinda

I started by following a "staggered grid animation" tutorial I found on YouTube. The example looked cool enough and seemed like a good way to learn the basics.

Except… it was written for an older version of Anime.js.

When I looked for updated docs, the only v4 example I could find for React was this one lonely page. That was my first red flag.

Wrestling With the New Syntax

Because the tutorial used outdated syntax, I had to rewrite a lot of the code to work with v4. And to be honest, many of the changes felt unnecessary and confusing; like the library had made things more complicated for no clear reason.

Integrating Anime.js into a React project was even messier. The library doesn't feel reactive at all. Instead of working nicely with React's declarative model, you end up juggling refs, DOM queries, and individual click handlers inside the animation scope. It's a weird, imperative hodgepodge that just doesn't match the way React apps are typically built.

Here's what the Anime.js implementation looked like after wrestling with it:

Performance Problems Galore

After a couple hours of fighting with syntax and architecture, I finally had a working version. But when I scaled the grid past about 15x15 elements, the framerate started to nosedive. Not a good sign.

At that point, I decided to see how hard it would be to just build the same thing using a simple canvas implementation. Spoiler: it was easier, faster, and much more performant.

Here's the Canvas version running smoothly at 50x50 with multiple concurrent ripples:

You can check out the full interactive demo I built here: Interactive Dot Grid Demo.

The Canvas Solution

Instead of manipulating 2,500 individual DOM elements (for a 50x50 grid), the Canvas approach uses a single element with optimized draw calls. The key improvements include:

• Single Canvas Element: Reduced from 5,000 DOM nodes to just 1
• Efficient Animation: Only animates dots within a configurable radius
• Concurrent Ripples: Multiple animations can run simultaneously with proper wave blending
• Smart Rendering: Uses requestAnimationFrame for consistent 60fps
• Mathematical Hit Detection: No DOM queries needed

The implementation is actually simpler than the Anime.js version and performs orders of magnitude better.

My Verdict: Stick With Framer Motion (or Canvas)

In the end, Anime.js left me unimpressed. It was:

• Harder to set up: Poor documentation and breaking changes between versions
• Slower to run: Performance degrades quickly with more elements
• Less React-friendly: Imperative API that fights React's declarative model
• More trouble than it's worth: The learning curve isn't justified by the results

If you're building animations for a React or Next.js project, just use Framer Motion. It's built for the React mental model and feels like a natural part of your component tree.

For performance-critical animations with many elements, consider going straight to Canvas. It's more work upfront but gives you complete control and blazing-fast performance.

Anime.js might still have a place, but that place is probably in the world of Vanilla JS demos and one-off DOM experiments. For modern frontend apps, it's a square peg in a round hole.

Try It Yourself

Want to see the difference? Check out the Interactive Dot Grid Demo where you can play with the Canvas implementation, adjust parameters in real-time, and watch it maintain 60fps even with massive grids and animation radii.

The source code demonstrates how a thoughtful Canvas implementation can outperform even specialized animation libraries when dealing with large numbers of animated elements.