Livewire 4 vs Inertia.js 3: Which Laravel Frontend Stack Should You Use in 2026?

Originally published at hafiz.dev If you asked a room of Laravel developers "Livewire or Inertia?" two years ago, the answer split cleanly down one fault line: do you want to write JavaScript? Livewire for PHP purists. Inertia for anyone with Vue or React muscle memory. That framing still holds as a starting point. But it doesn't tell the whole story anymore. In January 2026, Livewire shipped version 4. In March 2026, Inertia.js shipped version 3. Both are major releases, and both of them solved problems that used to tip the scale one way or the other. The comparison has shifted. So let's answer the question properly, with both tools at their current state. What Livewire 4 Actually Changed Livewire 4 shipped in January 2026 with substantially more than a few incremental improvements. The most visible change is how you write components. Instead of two files (a PHP class and a Blade view), you now put everything in a single file with a ⚡ prefix: <?php // resources/views/components/⚡co