Pinia: is it worth using setup store

The Pinia documentation describes two ways to create a store: setup store and option-store.

Option syntax:

export const useCounter = defineStore("counter", {
  state: () => ({ count: 0 }),
  actions: {
    increment() { this.count++; }
  }
});

Setup syntax:

export const useCounter = defineStore("counter", () => {
  const count = ref(0);
  function increment() { count.value++; }
  return { count, increment };
});

Setup store allows you to use Composition API inside the store, but it has its own limitations:

• You must manually return all state properties and methods from setup().
• Missing values will cause problems with SSR, Vue Devtools, and third-party plugins.
• Typing and linting work with limitations, and there are no TS/ESLint checks.

Additionally: private state is only possible through separate store instances — for example, like this:

const usePrivateState = defineStore("store-private", () => {
  const secret = ref("Never seen outside");
  return { secret };
});

export const useStore = defineStore("store", () => {
  const privateState = usePrivateState();
  const censoredSecret = computed(() => "*".repeat(privateState.secret.length));
  return { censoredSecret };
});

More details: – Pinia docs: Setup Stores – Mastering Pinia: Private State

So, you can use setup store, but we don't recommend it until its architecture is clear and errors are caught by tools. For most projects, it's better to keep using option store — it's safer, more transparent, and better supported.