State management in Flutter: main approaches, advantages and when to use each

One of the most important concepts when building applications with Flutter is state management. As an application grows, the way state is handled directly impacts maintainability, scalability, performance and testability.

There is no single solution that works for every project. The choice depends on the size of the application, the complexity of the business logic and the experience of the development team.

What is state?

State represents all the information that can change while the application is running and that affects the user interface.

Examples of state:

• Authenticated user.
• Product list.
• Shopping cart.
• Theme (light/dark).
• Search results.
• Loading indicator.

When state changes, the interface must update to reflect those changes.

1. Provider

For several years it was the solution officially recommended by Flutter. It’s based on ChangeNotifier and makes it easy to share state across multiple widgets.

Advantages

• Very easy to learn.
• Excellent documentation.
• Large community.
• Low learning curve.

Disadvantages

• Can produce very large Provider trees.
• Heavy use of ChangeNotifier can hurt maintainability.
• Scales worse than more modern alternatives.

Simple example

Suppose an application that displays the authenticated user’s name.

class UserProvider extends ChangeNotifier {
  String _name = "Marcos";
  String get name => _name;
  void changeName(String newName) {
    _name = newName;
    notifyListeners();
  }
}

From any widget:

final user = context.watch<UserProvider>();
Text(user.name);

When changeName() runs, every widget consuming UserProvider rebuilds automatically.

2. Riverpod

It is currently one of the state managers most recommended by the Flutter community. It was created by the same author as Provider, solving many of its limitations.

Advantages

• Independent of the widget tree.
• Better performance.
• More compile-time safety.
• Excellent async support.
• Makes unit testing easier.
• Scales very well.

Disadvantages

• Somewhat steeper learning curve.
• Requires understanding its own concepts.

Simple example

A provider is defined:

final counterProvider = StateProvider<int>((ref) => 0);

And used from a widget:

Text("${ref.watch(counterProvider)}");
ElevatedButton(
  onPressed: () {
    ref.read(counterProvider.notifier).state++;
  },
  child: const Text("Increment"),
);

Every time the provider’s value changes, Flutter updates only the widgets that are watching it.

3. Bloc / Cubit

Bloc implements an architecture based on events and states. The user triggers an event, the Bloc processes the business logic and emits a new state.

Cubit is a simplified version of the same approach, removing the concept of events.

Advantages

• Excellent separation of concerns.
• Very predictable.
• Easy to test.
• Widely used in corporate applications.

Disadvantages

• More code.
• Can be overkill for small projects.

Simple example

A Cubit for a counter:

class CounterCubit extends Cubit<int> {
  CounterCubit() : super(0);
  void increment() => emit(state + 1);
}

In the UI:

BlocBuilder<CounterCubit, int>(
  builder: (context, count) {
    return Text("$count");
  },
);

When increment() runs, the Cubit emits a new state and the interface updates.

4. GetX

GetX is a framework that combines state management, navigation and dependency injection.

Advantages

• Very little code.
• High productivity.
• Easy to get started.

Disadvantages

• High coupling.
• Heavy use of global variables.
• Less explicit architecture.
• Has lost popularity to Riverpod.

Simple example

A controller is created:

class CounterController extends GetxController {
  var counter = 0.obs;
  void increment() {
    counter++;
  }
}

On the screen:

Obx(() => Text("${controller.counter}"));

Every change to counter automatically updates the widgets inside Obx.

Overall comparison

Solution	Difficulty	Scalability	Performance	Testing
Provider	Low	Medium	Good	Good
Riverpod	Medium	Very high	Excellent	Excellent
Bloc/Cubit	High	Very high	Excellent	Excellent
GetX	Low	Medium	Very good	Medium

Which one to choose?

Medium-sized applications. Provider remains a good option when the team is looking for simplicity and a short learning curve.

Large applications. For long-lived projects, Riverpod and Bloc are the most solid options thanks to their scalability, testability and clear separation between UI and business logic.

Riverpod is usually the best choice when you’re after productivity, flexibility and a modern architecture. Bloc/Cubit shines in corporate environments where predictability and standardization are priorities.

Professional recommendation

In today’s Flutter ecosystem, the trend is to use Riverpod as the state management solution for new projects. Its independence from the widget tree, excellent support for reactive and asynchronous programming, and natural integration with architectures like Clean Architecture or MVVM make it one of the most robust options for applications of any size.

That said, no state manager replaces good architecture. A well-designed application clearly separates presentation, business logic and data access. The state manager should be a component that supports that separation — not the central axis the whole application depends on.