What is the difference between a React element and a component?

Elements are plain objects. They are cheap to create and describe what should appear. A component is the reusable code that produces those elements, often using props, state and hooks.

const element = <h1>Hello</h1>;

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

const componentElement = <Greeting name="Asha" />;

Why the distinction matters

• Elements are immutable; you create a new one on each render
• Components can hold state, run effects and return different elements over time
• An element's type can be a string for a DOM tag or a function for a component
• React instances are the internal state associated with a mounted component

A common interview trap is saying an element is a component instance. It is not. An element is a description; React creates and manages the instance when it renders that description.