The following diagram always helps me to visualize the flow of hooks and also will let you clarify regarding why useLayoutEffect is recommended over useEffect for DOM based operations (where you're targetting stuff that you can update before current browser paint)

Link to the diagram - https://github.com/donavon/hook-flow

Answer from Lakshya Thakur on Stack Overflow
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DEV Community
dev.to › emmanuelthecoder › useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect-the-difference-and-when-to-use-them-124c
useEffect vs useLayoutEffect: the difference and when to use them - DEV Community
January 15, 2024 - Let's dive straight into it and see what this hooks are really all about, their difference(s) and when to use them. useEffect allows you perform side effects from a function component.
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JavaScript in Plain English
javascript.plainenglish.io › react-hooks-when-to-use-uselayouteffect-instead-of-useeffect-3271a96d881a
React Hooks - When to Use useLayoutEffect Instead of useEffect | JavaScript in Plain English
July 3, 2023 - The gif below shows two chat boxes — after the page loads, messages are “fetched” and then each chat box scrolls to the bottom. The left box uses the useLayoutEffect hook to scroll to the bottom and the right one uses useEffect. You can notice some strange flashing only in the right box using useEffect.
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DEV Community
dev.to › mroman7 › useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect-why-useeffect-is-a-better-choice-2gp8
UseEffect Vs. UseLayoutEffect: Why UseEffect Is a better Choice? - DEV Community
October 2, 2024 - This needs to happen before the ... time. In React, both useEffect vs useLayoutEffect are hooks designed to manage side effects, but they function differently, which impacts performance and user experience....
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OpenReplay
blog.openreplay.com › useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect-in-react
UseEffect vs UseLayoutEffect in React
April 10, 2023 - So, with their identical syntaxes, what is the difference between these two hooks? Well, there are three key differences: The asynchronous nature of useEffect The DOM flashes The fact that useLayoutEffect is executed before useEffect.
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LogRocket
blog.logrocket.com › home › react uselayouteffect vs. useeffect hooks with examples
React useLayoutEffect vs. useEffect Hooks with examples - LogRocket Blog
June 4, 2024 - Essentially, useEffect lets you ... more flexible and efficient. The useLayoutEffect Hook is a variation of the useEffect Hook that runs synchronously before the browser repaints the screen....
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Dave Ceddia
daveceddia.com › useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect
When to useLayoutEffect Instead of useEffect (example)
July 15, 2020 - Notice how the version with useLayoutEffect only updates visually once even though the component rendered twice. The useEffect version, on the other hand, visually renders twice, so you see a flicker where the value is briefly 0.
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Medium
medium.com › @shriharim006 › diving-into-useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect-in-react-4d9f5a1cb4d1
Diving into useEffect vs useLayoutEffect in React | by Shrihari Murali | Medium
April 13, 2024 - useLayoutEffect functions similarly to useEffect but operates synchronously after all DOM changes, right before the browser renders the screen.
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DEV Community
dev.to › nikhiltatpati › react-useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect-1bpd
React: useEffect vs useLayoutEffect - DEV Community
March 7, 2021 - To be honest there is not much difference between useEffect and useLayoutEffect the only noticable difference is that useLayoutEffect runs before browser paints DOM elements on the screen as you can see in the image below.
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Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 73886356 › difference-between-useeffect-and-uselayouteffect-in-react-18
reactjs - Difference between useEffect and useLayoutEffect in react 18 - Stack Overflow
this only affects the timing of ... are still deferred. This is different than useLayoutEffect, which fires the function and processes the updates inside of it immediately....
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NamasteDev
namastedev.com › home › react › react uselayouteffect vs useeffect
React useLayoutEffect vs useEffect - NamasteDev Blogs
April 26, 2025 - Use useEffect for effects that don’t require immediate visual feedback, such as fetching data or subscriptions. Use useLayoutEffect when you need to read layout properties and make DOM measurements that could impact layout before painting.
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DEV Community
dev.to › solo474 › difference-between-useeffect-and-uselayouteffect-in-react-2aeg
Difference Between useEffect and useLayoutEffect in React - DEV Community
September 14, 2025 - The difference between useEffect and useLayoutEffect is usually described in terms of timing one executes before the browser paints, and the other executes after.
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Kent C. Dodds
kentcdodds.com › blog › useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect
useEffect vs useLayoutEffect
useLayoutEffect: If you need to mutate the DOM and/or do need to perform measurements · useEffect: If you don't need to interact with the DOM at all or your DOM changes are unobservable (seriously, most of the time you should use this).
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Refine
refine.dev › home › blog › tutorials › a guide to using the uselayouteffect hook in react
A Guide to Using the useLayoutEffect Hook in React | Refine
August 12, 2024 - As stated above the useEffect hook is asynchronous this has a significant drawback in that it can only be called after the component has been mounted. This implies that side effects that depend on the layout of the component cannot be carried out using useEffect. Now how do we solve this problem, this is where useLayoutEffect comes in.
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Arbuznik
arbuznik.com › blog › useeffect vs uselayouteffect
useEffect vs useLayoutEffect | arbuznik.com
March 2, 2023 - In short, it’s slower compared to useEffect. By using useLayoutEffect we are saying to React that whatever the effect is going to do, it is absolutely essential that we wait for rendering the screen until it is done.
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JavaScript in Plain English
javascript.plainenglish.io › when-to-use-useeffect-or-uselayouteffect-533becacdbd5
When To Use useEffect Or useLayoutEffect? | by Xiuer Old | May, 2025 | JavaScript in Plain English
May 18, 2025 - The fundamental difference between useEffect and useLayoutEffect lies in their execution timing and how they affect the rendering process.
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Talent500
talent500.com › blog › useeffect-vs-uselayouteffect-in-react
useEffect vs useLayoutEffect in React: Key Differences and Best Practices
September 15, 2022 - Following cleanup, the useLayoutEffect hook is invoked. ... Your effect will typically involve synchronizing some state or props with something that doesn’t need to happen instantly or that doesn’t visually change the page. We might only need to retrieve data from an API, set an event handler, or take action when the state changes. The useEffect hook is employed to accomplish these kinds of tasks.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/reactjs › when to use useeffect or uselayouteffect
r/reactjs on Reddit: When to use useEffect or useLayoutEffect
February 15, 2020 - Thus you can manipulate what the user actually sees before the initial render. useEffect on the other hand always occurs AFTER the dom gets painted, thus you can’t use it to calculate something based on the dom (like current width of an auto-width ...