react-router Redirect vs history.push

The <Redirect> component will, by default, replace the current location with a new location in the history stack, basically working as a server-side redirect.

But it can also be used with the property push and in this case it will push a new entry into the history stack, working the same way as history.push.

In fact the <Redirect> component uses the history push and replace methods behinds the scene. It is just a more React way of navigating.

So basically you have two ways of navigating:

1. Use the history.push and history.replace in a component (usually wrapped with the withRouter HOC, so that you can have access to the location object without having to pass it from parent to child.

2. Use the <Redirect> component with or without the push property, depending

I noticed a difference between the two in my use case with Redux and Typescript.

Here's a simplified version of it:

export const LandingPage = () => {
  const { history } = useHistory();
    const { viewer } = useSelector(state => state.viewer);

    // Redirect method returns another component that handles the redirect
    // without mounting any of the route components
    if (!viewer?.token) {
        return <Redirect to="/signin" />;
    }

    // History.push method mounts the route component and runs 'onload' functions
    // Which can still throw an error if there's no viewer 
    // if (!viewer?.token) {
    //  history.push('/signin');
    //    // return history.push('/signin');  // throws Typescript error
    // }

    return (
        <Switch>
            <Route path="/dashboard" component={Dashboard}/>
            <Route path="/profile" component={Profile}/>
            <Route path="/" component={Home}/>
        </Switch>
    );
};

When using history.push() method, the JSX in your return statement can still mount and run, whereas returning Redirect can block the rest of your code.

Redirect

Rendering a <Redirect> will navigate to a new location. The new location will override the current location in the history stack, like server-side redirects (HTTP 3xx) do.

whereas History

push function Pushes a new entry onto the history stack