What is the difference between React Node, React Element, and a React Component?

TL;DR

A React Node is anything React can render: a React Element, a string, a number, an array of nodes, a fragment, a portal, null, undefined, false, or true. A React Element is the immutable plain object React produces from JSX or React.createElement describing what to render. A React Component is a function (or, historically, a class) that accepts props and returns React Nodes. Elements describe the UI; components are the factories that produce those elements.

React node

A React Node is anything that can appear in a JSX child position. The set includes:

• React Elements (e.g. <div />, <MyComponent />)
• Strings and numbers (rendered as text)
• Arrays of React Nodes (commonly produced by .map(...))
• Fragments (<>...</> or <React.Fragment>)
• Portals (created with createPortal)
• null, undefined, false, and true - these are valid nodes that render nothing (they are skipped, not converted to text)

const stringNode = "Hello, world!";
const numberNode = 123;
const arrayNode = [<li key="a">a</li>, <li key="b">b</li>];
const fragmentNode = (
  <>
    <span>one</span>
    <span>two</span>
  </>
);
const nothingNode = null; // also: undefined, false, true - render nothing
const elementNode = <div>Hello, world!</div>;

This is why condition && <Thing /> works: when condition is false, the child is just a node that renders nothing.

React element

A React Element is an immutable, plain JavaScript object that describes what should appear on screen. It includes a type (a string for host elements like 'div', or a component reference), props (including children), and a key. JSX is sugar for React.createElement (or, with the modern JSX transform, react/jsx-runtime's jsx function), which produces these objects.

const element = <div className="greeting">Hello, world!</div>;

// Roughly equivalent to:
const sameElement = React.createElement(
  "div",
  { className: "greeting" },
  "Hello, world!",
);

Internally each element carries a $$typeof symbol (Symbol.for('react.element') / 'react.transitional.element' in newer versions) that React and serializers use to recognise a real element and prevent injection attacks from JSON. Elements are cheap to create and are throwaway descriptions - React diffs them against the previous tree and updates the actual DOM.

React component

A React Component accepts inputs (props) and returns React Nodes that describe the UI. Component names are conventionally PascalCase so JSX can distinguish them from host elements (<button> is a DOM element; <Button> is a component).

• Function components are the standard form. They are plain functions of props that return a node:

  jsxCopy

  function Welcome({ name }) {
    return <h1>Hello, {name}</h1>;
  }
  

  Hooks (useState, useEffect, useMemo, etc.) cover what used to require a class.

• Class components still work but are legacy in React 19 - there are no new class-only features, the legacy lifecycles (componentWillMount, componentWillReceiveProps, componentWillUpdate) and string refs are gone, and new APIs (Hooks, Server Components, the React Compiler) target functions only. Prefer functions for new code.

  jsxCopy

  class Welcome extends React.Component {
    render() {
      return <h1>Hello, {this.props.name}</h1>;
    }
  }
  

The mental model: a component is a recipe, an element is a single dish made from that recipe, and a node is anything React is willing to plate up - including "nothing."

Further reading

• React documentation: Render and commit
• React documentation: Passing Props to a Component
• React documentation: Writing Markup with JSX
• React documentation: Your First Component