# Plugin vs. theme component

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-vs-theme-component/240908>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [October 4, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-vs-theme-component/240908 "2022-10-04T16:41:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![RGJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/rgj/32/523185_2.png) [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-vs-theme-component/240908/2 "2022-10-04T16:45:47Z")

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First, the Reactions plugin and the change-like-icon theme component do not (almost) do the same thing.

Yes, you can use the Reactions plugin to change the like icon but its main purpose is to offer _multiple_ possible reactions, so its functionality is much broader than only a cosmetic change.

A plugin can do everything a theme component can do, but a theme component can not do everything a plugin can do.

A plugin consists of server-side and client-side code,  
and a theme component consists only on client-side code and has to rely on existing server-side code.

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