Best React Rich Text Editor in 2026: Integration Guide

Why Picking a React Rich Text Editor Is Tricky

React rich text editors have a complicated history. Draft.js — Meta's editor framework — was deprecated in 2022. Quill has no official React wrapper and react-quill has React 18 compatibility problems. TinyMCE works with React but requires an API key and GPLv2 license that complicates commercial use.

Four criteria matter most in 2026: React 18 compatibility, official controlled component with value/onChange, full TypeScript types, and a license that permits commercial use.

React Rich Text Editor Comparison

Installing RayEditor in a React Project

npm install @rohanyeole/ray-editor-react @rohanyeole/ray-editor

Basic React Component

import React from 'react';
import { RayEditor } from '@rohanyeole/ray-editor-react';
import '@rohanyeole/ray-editor/dist/ray-editor.css';

export default function App() {
  const [content, setContent] = React.useState('<p>Hello world</p>');
  return (
    <RayEditor
      value={content}
      onChange={setContent}
      options={{
        placeholder: 'Start writing...',
        toolbar: ['bold', 'italic', 'link', 'table', 'markdownToggle']
      }}
    />
  );
}

Next.js / SSR Usage

RayEditor is browser-only. Use dynamic import to avoid SSR errors in Next.js:

import dynamic from 'next/dynamic';
const RayEditor = dynamic(
  () => import('@rohanyeole/ray-editor-react').then(m => m.RayEditor),
  { ssr: false }
);

Displaying Saved Content Without the Editor

Because RayEditor stores plain HTML you do not need to load the editor runtime to display saved content:

function Article({ html }) {
  return <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: html }} />;
}

Key Options

• toolbar — array of toolbar button keys to display
• placeholder — placeholder text shown when empty
• darkMode — true | false | 'auto'
• readOnly — boolean, renders in preview mode
• maxHeight — string e.g. '400px'

Conclusion

For React projects in 2026, RayEditor is the best WYSIWYG rich text editor: MIT licensed, React 18 compatible, full TypeScript types, official wrapper, and clean HTML output. Draft.js is deprecated, react-quill has compatibility issues, and TinyMCE has a restrictive license. RayEditor is the modern, zero-dependency solution.