Comparison with Alternatives

Choosing the right form autosave solution is important. Here's how Form Guardian compares to other approaches.

Quick Comparison Table

Feature	Form Guardian	react-hook-form autosave	Browser Restore API	Formik Persistence	localStorage Manual	Backend Autosave
Storage Size	1GB+ (IndexedDB)	5-10MB (localStorage)	5-10MB (sessionStorage)	5-10MB (localStorage)	5-10MB (localStorage)	Unlimited
Performance	Async, non-blocking	Sync, blocks UI	Sync, blocks UI	Sync, blocks UI	Sync, blocks UI	Network latency
Security	Auto-excludes passwords	Manual	Manual	Manual	Manual	Server-side
Offline Support	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No
Framework Support	Universal (React, Vue, Angular, vanilla)	React only	Universal	React only	Universal	Universal
Setup Complexity	Low (1 line)	Medium	High	Medium	High	Very High
Dependencies	Zero	react-hook-form	None	Formik	None	Backend API
TTL Support	✅ Built-in	❌ Manual	❌ No	❌ Manual	❌ Manual	✅ Server-side
Debouncing	✅ Built-in	❌ Manual	❌ No	❌ Manual	❌ Manual	✅ Server-side

Detailed Comparisons

vs react-hook-form autosave

react-hook-form has built-in persistence, but it's limited:

// react-hook-form approach
const form = useForm({
  defaultValues: JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('form') || '{}'),
});

useEffect(() => {
  const subscription = form.watch((value) => {
    localStorage.setItem('form', JSON.stringify(value));
  });
  return () => subscription.unsubscribe();
}, [form]);

Limitations:

• ❌ Only works with React Hook Form
• ❌ localStorage size limits (5-10MB)
• ❌ Synchronous (blocks UI)
• ❌ No automatic password exclusion
• ❌ Manual TTL implementation
• ❌ No debouncing built-in

Form Guardian advantages:

• ✅ Works with any form library
• ✅ IndexedDB (1GB+ storage)
• ✅ Asynchronous (non-blocking)
• ✅ Automatic security
• ✅ Built-in TTL and debouncing

vs Browser Restore API (sessionStorage/localStorage)

Browser APIs are basic and require manual implementation:

// Manual localStorage approach
useEffect(() => {
  const saved = localStorage.getItem('form-data');
  if (saved) {
    setFormData(JSON.parse(saved));
  }
}, []);

useEffect(() => {
  localStorage.setItem('form-data', JSON.stringify(formData));
}, [formData]);

Limitations:

• ❌ 5-10MB storage limit
• ❌ Synchronous (blocks UI)
• ❌ No automatic field detection
• ❌ Manual serialization/deserialization
• ❌ No security (saves passwords)
• ❌ Race conditions
• ❌ No TTL support

Form Guardian advantages:

• ✅ 1GB+ storage
• ✅ Asynchronous
• ✅ Automatic field detection
• ✅ Built-in security
• ✅ Handles race conditions
• ✅ TTL support

vs Formik Persistence

Formik has a persistence plugin, but it's limited:

// Formik persistence
import { Formik } from 'formik';
import { persistFormikValues } from 'formik-persist';

<Formik
  initialValues={...}
  onSubmit={...}
>
  {({ values }) => {
    persistFormikValues('my-form', values);
    return <form>...</form>;
  }}
</Formik>

Limitations:

• ❌ Only works with Formik
• ❌ localStorage only (5-10MB)
• ❌ Synchronous
• ❌ Manual password exclusion
• ❌ No TTL
• ❌ Additional dependency

Form Guardian advantages:

• ✅ Framework agnostic
• ✅ IndexedDB storage
• ✅ Automatic security
• ✅ Built-in TTL
• ✅ Zero dependencies

vs Manual localStorage Solutions

Custom implementations require significant code:

// Custom hook with all edge cases
function useFormAutosave(formId, formData) {
  useEffect(() => {
    // Load
    const saved = localStorage.getItem(formId);
    if (saved) {
      try {
        const parsed = JSON.parse(saved);
        // Restore logic...
      } catch (e) {
        // Error handling...
      }
    }
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Save with debouncing
    const timer = setTimeout(() => {
      // Exclude passwords manually
      const safe = Object.entries(formData)
        .filter(([key]) => !key.includes('password'))
        .reduce((acc, [k, v]) => ({ ...acc, [k]: v }), {});
      localStorage.setItem(formId, JSON.stringify(safe));
    }, 500);
    return () => clearTimeout(timer);
  }, [formData]);

  // TTL logic...
  // Error handling...
  // Race condition prevention...
}

Limitations:

• ❌ Lots of boilerplate
• ❌ Easy to introduce bugs
• ❌ Storage limits
• ❌ Manual security
• ❌ Time-consuming to maintain

Form Guardian advantages:

• ✅ One line of code
• ✅ Battle-tested
• ✅ Handles all edge cases
• ✅ Automatic security
• ✅ Actively maintained

vs Backend Autosave

Backend solutions save to server:

// Backend autosave
useEffect(() => {
  const timer = setTimeout(() => {
    fetch('/api/save-draft', {
      method: 'POST',
      body: JSON.stringify(formData),
      headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}` },
    });
  }, 500);
  return () => clearTimeout(timer);
}, [formData]);

Limitations:

• ❌ Requires API calls (latency)
• ❌ Needs authentication
• ❌ Costs money (API usage)
• ❌ Doesn't work offline
• ❌ Privacy concerns
• ❌ Complex error handling
• ❌ Server load

Form Guardian advantages:

• ✅ No network calls (instant)
• ✅ No authentication needed
• ✅ Free
• ✅ Works offline
• ✅ Better privacy (data stays local)
• ✅ Simple error handling
• ✅ No server load

When to Use Each Solution

Use Form Guardian When:

• ✅ You want production-ready solution
• ✅ You need large storage capacity
• ✅ You want framework flexibility
• ✅ You need offline support
• ✅ You want automatic security
• ✅ You want minimal setup

Use react-hook-form autosave When:

• ✅ You're already using React Hook Form
• ✅ Forms are small (< 5MB)
• ✅ You don't need advanced features

Use Browser APIs When:

• ✅ You need simple, one-off solution
• ✅ Forms are very small
• ✅ You have time to build custom solution

Use Backend Autosave When:

• ✅ You need cross-device sync
• ✅ You need server-side validation
• ✅ You need audit trails
• ✅ You have backend infrastructure

Migration Guide

From localStorage Manual Solution

// Before
const [formData, setFormData] = useState(() => {
  const saved = localStorage.getItem('form');
  return saved ? JSON.parse(saved) : {};
});

useEffect(() => {
  localStorage.setItem('form', JSON.stringify(formData));
}, [formData]);

// After
const { formRef } = useFormAutosave('form', {
  autoRestore: true,
});

From react-hook-form autosave

// Before
const form = useForm({
  defaultValues: JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('form') || '{}'),
});

// After
const form = useForm();
const { formRef, restoreValues } = useFormAutosave('form', {
  autoRestore: false,
});

useEffect(() => {
  restoreValues(form.setValue, () => form.getValues());
}, []);

Conclusion

Form Guardian provides the best balance of:

• Simplicity - One line setup
• Performance - Async, non-blocking
• Storage - 1GB+ capacity
• Security - Automatic password exclusion
• Flexibility - Works with any framework
• Features - TTL, debouncing, conflict prevention

For most use cases, Form Guardian is the optimal choice.

Next Steps

• 🚀 Getting Started - Try it yourself
• 📖 Why Form Guardian? - Understand the value
• ⚡ Features - Analytics, batching, cross-tab sync
• 📚 API Reference - Complete documentation