diff --git a/src/core/CoreNode.ts b/src/core/CoreNode.ts
index 001d2e8..946a5d1 100644
--- a/src/core/CoreNode.ts
+++ b/src/core/CoreNode.ts
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ import type { IAnimationController } from '../common/IAnimationController.js';
 import { createAnimation } from './animations/CoreAnimation.js';
 import type { CoreShaderNode } from './renderers/CoreShaderNode.js';
 import { AutosizeMode, Autosizer } from './Autosizer.js';
-import { removeChild } from './lib/collectionUtils.js';
+import { removeChild, sortByZIndexStable } from './lib/collectionUtils.js';
 
 export enum CoreNodeRenderState {
   Init = 0,
@@ -63,11 +63,6 @@ const NO_CLIPPING_RECT: RectWithValid = {
   valid: false,
 };
 
-// Hoisted so `sortChildren` doesn't allocate a fresh comparator closure on
-// every z-index reorder.
-const compareZIndex = (a: CoreNode, b: CoreNode): number =>
-  a.props.zIndex - b.props.zIndex;
-
 const CoreNodeRenderStateMap: Map<CoreNodeRenderState, string> = new Map();
 CoreNodeRenderStateMap.set(CoreNodeRenderState.Init, 'init');
 CoreNodeRenderStateMap.set(CoreNodeRenderState.OutOfBounds, 'outOfBounds');
@@ -2207,7 +2202,7 @@ export class CoreNode extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   sortChildren() {
-    this.children.sort(compareZIndex);
+    sortByZIndexStable(this.children);
     this.stage.requestRenderListUpdate();
   }
 
diff --git a/src/core/lib/collectionUtils.test.ts b/src/core/lib/collectionUtils.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73f6e12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/lib/collectionUtils.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import type { CoreNode } from '../CoreNode.js';
+import { sortByZIndexStable } from './collectionUtils.js';
+
+const makeNode = (zIndex: number, tag: number): CoreNode =>
+  ({ props: { zIndex }, tag } as unknown as CoreNode);
+
+const tags = (nodes: CoreNode[]): number[] => {
+  const out: number[] = [];
+  for (let i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++) {
+    out.push((nodes[i] as unknown as { tag: number }).tag);
+  }
+  return out;
+};
+
+describe('sortByZIndexStable', () => {
+  it('should sort nodes ascending by zIndex', () => {
+    const nodes = [makeNode(3, 0), makeNode(1, 1), makeNode(2, 2)];
+
+    sortByZIndexStable(nodes);
+
+    expect(tags(nodes)).toEqual([1, 2, 0]);
+  });
+
+  it('should preserve insertion order for equal zIndex values', () => {
+    const nodes = [
+      makeNode(1, 0),
+      makeNode(0, 1),
+      makeNode(1, 2),
+      makeNode(0, 3),
+      makeNode(1, 4),
+    ];
+
+    sortByZIndexStable(nodes);
+
+    expect(tags(nodes)).toEqual([1, 3, 0, 2, 4]);
+  });
+
+  it('should be stable for arrays longer than 10 elements', () => {
+    // V8 on Chrome < 70 switched to an unstable quicksort above 10 elements;
+    // this guards the case the native sort got wrong.
+    const nodes: CoreNode[] = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
+      nodes.push(makeNode(i % 2, i));
+    }
+
+    sortByZIndexStable(nodes);
+
+    const expected: number[] = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < 20; i += 2) {
+      expected.push(i);
+    }
+    for (let i = 1; i < 20; i += 2) {
+      expected.push(i);
+    }
+    expect(tags(nodes)).toEqual(expected);
+  });
+
+  it('should handle negative and fractional zIndex values', () => {
+    const nodes = [
+      makeNode(0.5, 0),
+      makeNode(-2, 1),
+      makeNode(1000000000, 2),
+      makeNode(0, 3),
+      makeNode(-2, 4),
+    ];
+
+    sortByZIndexStable(nodes);
+
+    expect(tags(nodes)).toEqual([1, 4, 3, 0, 2]);
+  });
+
+  it('should leave an already sorted array unchanged', () => {
+    const nodes = [makeNode(0, 0), makeNode(0, 1), makeNode(1, 2)];
+
+    sortByZIndexStable(nodes);
+
+    expect(tags(nodes)).toEqual([0, 1, 2]);
+  });
+
+  it('should handle empty and single-element arrays', () => {
+    const empty: CoreNode[] = [];
+    const single = [makeNode(5, 0)];
+
+    sortByZIndexStable(empty);
+    sortByZIndexStable(single);
+
+    expect(empty.length).toBe(0);
+    expect(tags(single)).toEqual([0]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/core/lib/collectionUtils.ts b/src/core/lib/collectionUtils.ts
index 32830a2..2e7c590 100644
--- a/src/core/lib/collectionUtils.ts
+++ b/src/core/lib/collectionUtils.ts
@@ -1,44 +1,23 @@
 import type { CoreNode } from '../CoreNode.js';
 
-//Bucket sort implementation for sorting CoreNode arrays by zIndex
-export const bucketSortByZIndex = (nodes: CoreNode[], min: number): void => {
-  const buckets: CoreNode[][] = [];
-  const bucketIndices: number[] = [];
-  //distribute nodes into buckets
-  for (let i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++) {
+// Stable in-place sort by zIndex. Array.prototype.sort is not stable on
+// Chrome < 70 (V8 quicksorts arrays longer than 10), and equal-zIndex
+// siblings must keep insertion order or paint order silently reshuffles.
+// Children arrays are small and nearly sorted (kept sorted; a re-sort
+// usually follows a single zIndex change), so insertion sort is O(n) in
+// practice and allocation-free.
+export const sortByZIndexStable = (nodes: CoreNode[]): void => {
+  const len = nodes.length;
+  for (let i = 1; i < len; i++) {
     const node = nodes[i]!;
-    const index = node.props.zIndex - min;
-    //create bucket if it doesn't exist
-    if (buckets[index] === undefined) {
-      buckets[index] = [];
-      bucketIndices.push(index);
-    }
-    buckets[index]!.push(node);
-  }
-
-  //sort each bucket using insertion sort
-  for (let i = 1; i < bucketIndices.length; i++) {
-    const key = bucketIndices[i]!;
+    const z = node.props.zIndex;
     let j = i - 1;
-    while (j >= 0 && bucketIndices[j]! > key) {
-      bucketIndices[j + 1] = bucketIndices[j]!;
+    while (j >= 0 && nodes[j]!.props.zIndex > z) {
+      nodes[j + 1] = nodes[j]!;
       j--;
     }
-    bucketIndices[j + 1] = key;
+    nodes[j + 1] = node;
   }
-
-  //flatten buckets
-  let idx = 0;
-  for (let i = 0; i < bucketIndices.length; i++) {
-    const bucket = buckets[bucketIndices[i]!]!;
-    for (let j = 0; j < bucket.length; j++) {
-      nodes[idx++] = bucket[j]!;
-    }
-  }
-
-  //clean up
-  buckets.length = 0;
-  bucketIndices.length = 0;
 };
 
 export const incrementalRepositionByZIndex = (