Goodbye Boilerplate: How Flutter Hooks Made StatefulWidget Obsolete

See the before-and-after code comparison that proves Hooks lead to cleaner, more reusable Flutter code.

Ravi Savaliya

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Nov 26, 2025

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Introduction

As the Flutter framework continues its remarkable journey of maturity, so too must our development practices. We are constantly seeking better, cleaner, and more maintainable ways to build exceptional mobile, web, and desktop experiences.

The biggest shift in our journey has been conquering state management. Below, we compare the old guard with the new philosophy, showcasing how far we’ve truly come in the Flutter ecosystem.

The Old Approach: 🥶 StatefulWidget

For years, the foundation of any dynamic Flutter widget was the StatefulWidget. While functional, it often introduced unnecessary overhead that complicated development, maintenance, and testing.

Key Issues with StatefulWidget:

• Required Separate State Class: Every stateful component needed two distinct files or classes (MyWidget and _MyWidgetState), cluttering the project structure.
• Excessive Boilerplate: Implementing basic features required manually overriding lifecycle methods like…